Rail Ale Trail

RAIL ALE TRAIL Take a tour of Britain's best boozers by train or while away your waiting time in the comfort of a platform pub. The Free Trade, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland The Bridge Inn, Wennington, Lancashire The Manor House, Quorn, Leicestershire O Compleat Angler, Norwich, Norfolk O The King & Castle, Kidderminster, Worcestershire The Smith & Western, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent PUBS ON PLATFORMS With all that waiting around, plat- forms are the perfect place for a sneaky pint. Here's our selection of station boozers: The Running Horse inn, Alresford, Hampshire BORIS BAN Although no stranger to the odd beer, Mayor of London, Boris John- son, officially banned drinking alcohol on the Tube, tram, bus, and Docklands Light Railway on the 1st STARTING JOURNEY There are 2525 railway stations on our rail network. But that's nothing compared 52,000 pubs in the UK! the i ii of June 2008. MOST POPULAR PUB NAMES RED LION YARDS OF ALE ROYAL OAK ii i ii ii At 7040 yards (6437m) Severn Tunnel is the longest in Britain. That's 17600 pints in i ii WHITE HART ROSE & CROWN KINGS HEAD yard of ale terms. Drinking yards of ale is thought to have started in the 1600's, and the record for the fastest downing of a yard is just 5 seconds. Hic! 17,600 PINTS KEGS ABOVE The forth rail bridge in Edinburgh, Scotland is nearly 190 barrels high, and over 4600 barrels long. That's over 420,000 pints, almost one for every resident! THE R.A.T. RAILS Why not let off some steam with the R.A.T. (or Real Ale Train)? The restored bar carriage is pulled by a FOR ALES The Bass Brewery steam locomotive and runs from opened a railway through the town of Burton in 1839. In it's heyday, this was the largest private railway network in the country, Alton to Alresford, serving quality local Ale from Hampshire and surrounding counties. TOP 10 TRAIN TEXTS Midnight on the Great Western, by Thomas Hardy Strangers on a Train, by Patricia Highsmith Stamboul Train, by Graham Greene Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie Breakheart Pass, by Alistair Maclean Emil and the Detectives, by Erich Kästner Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, by JK Rowling Night Mail, by WH Auden The Whitsun Weddings, by Philip Larkin with 16 miles of track. STYLISH SIP HEAVY DRINKING Europe's longest champagne bar runs a whopping 90m along the Eurostar platform at St. Pan- A standard railway sleeper weighs about 130lbs. If you weighed all the sleepers used to build the original 171 miles of Great Western Railway, it would be the equivalent to cras station. compiled by The Guardian 513,000 barrels of beer! 203 ALE TRAILS o o oo o a THE TAMAR TRANS-PENNINE ESK VALLEY VALLEY LINE PUB CRAWL • RAIL ALE TRAIL Start to finish stations: Great Ayton, Battersby, - Kildale, Commondale, • Danby Castleton, Leal- holm, Glaisdale, Egton Bridge, Grosmont, Sleights, Ruswarp, Whitby, Total distance: 27 miles Time between stops: Start to finish stations: Start to finish stations: Plymouth, Devonport, Dockyard, Keyham, St. Budeaux-Victoria Road, Stalybridge, Greenfield, -- Marsden, Slaithwaite, Huddersfield, Mirfield, Dewsbury, Batley Bere Ferrers, Bere Alston, Calstock, Total distance: 18 miles Gunnislake Time between stops: Total distance: 14 miles Time between stops: 10-15mins Service: hourly Number of pubs: 8 5-10 mins Service: Every 2 hours Number of pubs: 9 5-10mins Service: Every 3 hours Number of pubs: 12 .... redspottedhanky.com