h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: East Lothian, from the Edinburgh - North Berwick railway line - A593804
Author: Cloviscat - U146988

This entry has been in the making for nearly two years, but I've finally got around to finishing it! I liked the idea of those grand travel books, but applied to a tiny, un-grandios bit of the world. This entry is thoroughly grounded in personal esperience - i commuted this line for seven years. It's a little on the long side, although I have tried to be strict about only including things visible from, or within easy distance of, the railway.

I hope you like it

great entry clovis cat, that I'm sure will soon be an excellent addition to the eg!!

Another great entry, Cloviscat! While it's quite long, it all hangs together very well.

I'll certainly keep this area in mind next time I go to Edinburgh. One small point - perhaps you could explain about Beeching (as in 'the legacy of Beeching') for non-UK readers.


Azara

A very good point Azara - done!

And thanks for your positive comments

Great entry and shows what can make the guide with a bit of imagination.

Personally I feel you're being a bit hard on Beeching, who was driven by the requirements of the time and faced with a behemoth that was eating public funds. I feel it would be fairer to berate the transport ministers of the last 15 years for failing to confront the road lobby when it was becoming obvious that they were dictating how the country was being carved up. Climbs off soapbox.

Good read, and shows the value of a little research.

Hello McKay! I tried to word it in such a way that didn't actually say Beeching did the wrong thing, but that it was something that we wish hadn't had to happen. And the countryside *is litterd* with these features. I mention one such cycleway later on, and my village hgas a 'ghost platform'. I felt all this was acceptable within the context of the entry - what alternatives would you suggest, without going too far off the point?

Perhaps there's a good entry waiting to be written, about Beeching and later transport plans...?

Just a bit of a bug-bear of mine - I work for the company that took over running the computers for British Rail, and I hear too many "oh, its all because of Beeching," or "oh its all because of privitisation." It tends to upset these people when alternatives to their complaints are pointed out to them - nowadays I tend to automatically leap to the defense of Beeching each time his name is mentioned.

A defense of Beeching would be out of place in your excellent piece, but to refrain from mentioning him would also be wrong.

Don't mind me.

We all have those sort of ignition points, don't we? Mine are probably too numerous to mention

Like this Clovis Cat. I'm currently researching the BAthgate to Airdre line while if it still a cycle path before it get de-Beechingfied and taken out of mothballs.

I can't tell if you think that's a good idea or a bad!

I can see that old railways make good cyclepaths, because the gradient is all sorted, but they can make pretty dull, there-and-back-again walk routes

Yeah I mean a look at the history of the route.

There's more and more of these re-openings
If only they'd do the decent thing and sort the St Andrews link

Gosh, has this been here a whole week already?

Very good. Do you mean 'forays' rather than 'foras'?

I only remember one thing about the North Berwick line from my time at the Edinburgh festival. Firstly, it was nicknamed the 'Shag Express' - the older trains (I think the Class 305?) had been refurbished for the line, and had had new toilets added to them in the process. Ergo, probably due to EU regulations, they were built to a size suitable for use by those in wheelchairs. This meant that they were:
a) very large
and
b) quite new and clean.

Add those ingredients to
c) the huge influx of many youthful and lusty thespian types in Edinburgh for the month of the Festival, most of whom were sleeping 12 to a 3-bedroom flat - which made the North Berwick line a popular choice for those who found themselves in suddenly need of somewhere private to go...

I must apologise, Number Six, for the churlish delay in replying. I have been trying to correct the foras typo - and another I spotted just below it, but the system is running slower than A-Very-Slow-Thing and keeps timing out on my update entry...

Your comments reminded me that I *did* want to mention the existence of toilets - though for the more obvious reasons! God bless the Edinburgh Festival - such a charming bunch of people arrive, as you so rightly point out - but oh boy I'm sick of working on the Royal Mile when it's on!

Will update as soon as the d*mn thing will let me

Right: that typo - and a few others - all fixed

Ever get the feeling that you're talking to yourself?

I've run through the entry one more time, and carried out countless tiny tweaks, corrections, improvements and clarifications. I do hope that someone out there likes them...

...wil the last person to leave this entry please switch off the light?

Well, I like it.

It's a nice entry, no doubt about it.

And very thorough - I wouldn't want to read the one you'd write on the trans-siberian! Although to be fair there is probably less to see...

Sprout

Thank you - both of you!

I think it's travelling it day in, day out, that means you notice so many details: I hope not too many people use the Trans-Siberian for commuting