Couple on track to visit 2,563 stations in 3 months
MOST people would see boarding a packed train as a way of getting from A to B.
But one couple are devoting their whole summer to travelling through 2,563 stations in three months, a challenge which will cost £10,000 in tickets alone.
geoff Marshall, 44, and Vicki Pipe, 34, are nearly four weeks into their adventure, inspired by a debate about how long it would take to visit every station in the UK, and have so far passed through more than 800.
Starting in Penzance, Cornwall, the most southerly station, the pair from London will be working their way up the country, documenting their journey as they go.
For a station to count the train has to actually stop, although the pair will only get off at those they deem most interesting. They start at 9am and finish by 5pm, and have posted pictures of themselves befriending conductors, enjoying ice creams and even comparing seat colours.
The ‘All the Stations’ challenge will see them visit an average of 30 each day before ending up in Thurso, the mainland’s northernmost town, in August. They raised more than £38,600 for the trip using a crowdfunding campaign.
Mr Marshall, a freelance video producer and avid train fan, and Miss Pipe, who has taken a sabbatical from her job at the London Transport Museum, say they are completing the project partly to capture a ‘critical moment in rail history’ and will turn their travels into a film.
‘The railway gets some negative attention but it really is brilliant, there’s so much to explore and see by train,’ Mr Marshall said. ‘We want to show people the good bits.’ he added that strangers had contacted them through their website to offer a bed for the night.
So far, Mr Marshall ranks Coombe Junction halt, in Cornwall, ‘a beautiful little station’, as his favourite. To make the trip manageable, the pair have excluded the London Underground, Tyne and Wear Metro, glasgow Subway and heritage railways and stations in Northern Ireland.
Miss Pipe said: ‘It’s been everything and more I could have hoped for. I’m discovering new places and meeting so many interesting people.’
‘Interesting people’