Trains across Yorkshire on a long weekend

Despite its plethora of attractions, including its stunning Victorian Quarter, it wasn’t seeing the city itself which led to me spending four nights in Leeds recently. No I’d chosen the Park Plaza hotel because it was opposite Leeds City station.

Day One - England's Greatest Railway Journey

“A day return to Appleby, that’s £22 please love” made me pause, I didn’t think it was that far from Leeds, but no matter, today was going to see a long term ambition fulfilled and opportunities to do that don’t tend to come cheap.

Ultimately it was to prove to be a contender for what must be one of the greatest travel bargains on earth.!

The Settle and Carlisle line is regularly cited as England’s most scenic railway. And having risen phoenix like from the threat of closure back in the 1980s, it still fulfills one of the functions that justified its construction, namely a railway route between Yorkshire and the West Coast Main Line linking the two industrial powerhouses of Leeds and Glasgow - though these days you have to change trains at Carlisle.

There’s no need to travel all the way to Carlisle from Leeds to see the best of the scenery, the route begins to flatten out after Appleby, so that was my chosen destination.

Living in London, the modern railway journey from the capital to Glasgow takes me nowhere Leeds. I’ve also  never had any specific reason for needing to go to the likes of Settle or Appleby, or ever likely to, so I was going to have to be a tad eccentric and make the journey simply for the sake of it.

Just to see for myself if the Settle and Carlisle line lived up to its reputation, well I’ll let the pictures below speak for themselves. What I didn’t catch on camera were the huge birds of prey and the RAF fighter jet that flew over the train!

The train itself couldn’t be less romantic, but I made sure that I got to the station in time to bag a seat with a grandstand view. British trains have a knack for not lining up the seats with the windows, but I got lucky.

I was also fortunate with the weather, I’d hoped for a dramatic sky and snow still lingering on the peaks and thanks to a tortuously long winter that was still lingering into April, I wasn’t disappointed.

The line out of Leeds to Skipton must be a contender for England’s most dramatic commuter route, but it’s merely a prelude for the ascent to the country’s highest station at Dent over the awe inspiring Ribblehead viaduct.

Having saved the route from closure, the ‘Friends of The Settle And The Carlisle Line’ have seemingly demonstrated their gratitude by volunteering to restore the majority of the stations to how they appeared in their heyday, when the Midland Railway’s expresses passed by on their way to and from Scotland.

This makes the journey even more charming and makes it easier to imagine that you’re not travelling on such a humdrum train.

In the summer months it’s still possible to travel most of the route behind a magnificent steam engine on The Fellsman which operates every Wednesday in 2013 from June 12th - August 28th -  it’s now been added to mymust do list!

On arrival at Appleby presumably the last of this year’s sleet was falling, so I sought shelter in the award winning bar of the Midland Hotel in the station forecourt. It proved to an excellent location in which to spend a happy hour until it was time for the return journey.

An easy change of train at Skipton then took me to Saltaire to explore one of Britain’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the magnificent Salts Mill which is across the road from the station.

A happy hour seeing the permanent David Hockney exhibition and exploring the streets of the one time mill worker’s houses capped a day that surpassed all expectations

Day Two - Over the Moors to Whitby

Maldon station houses an independently owned café that judging by the locals who descended, despite the fact that they weren’t travelling on to anywhere, serves one of the best breakfasts to be found on any station in the British Isles. I was soon regretting that I’d grabbed a bite to eat at Leeds station, but I hadn’t come to Maldon to experience its café.

The railway line between Maldon and Pickering was a Dr Beeching casualty, but unlike so many other routes that lost their trains, the ‘replacement’ bus service to Pickering still departs every hour from Maldon’s bus station.

Very fortuitously the remainder of the railway line from the charming town of Pickering to Whitby was preserved by a band of volunteers and is now the NorthYorkshire Moors Railway. An all-day up and down the line Rover Ticket is a tad pricey at £25, but as the gracious station master at Pickering pointed out, you can travel the length of the line all day, which makes it worth every penny.

On the day I was there, a Saturday, there were only two departures from Pickering all the way to Whitby, but for some reason the engine seemed to be struggling to keep time, as it heaved its train through the landscape.

 In any case the timetable only allowed a brief, tantalising glimpse of Whitby. The choice was spending 15 minutes in the town or four hours, so Britain’s reputably best fish and chips had to be sacrificed for another day, I had steam engine sheds to explore, so it was straight back on the train.

I’d planned on travelling twice over the most scenic stretch of the line between Grosmont and Goathland, 

but with the trains running late I decided not to gamble on missing the hourly bus connection from Pickering. But I couldn’t resist exploring Grosmont station as I’d instantly realised it was heaven on earth for steam train enthusiasts!

Lurking in the shed was arguably the North Yorkshire Moors Railways star attraction, the A4 pacific engine named after its designer, Sir Nigel Gresley.

The delays to the trains caused me to continually look at my watch like an anxious commuter, once I’d reached Goathland, but I made it to the bus stop in Pickering with two minutes to spare and two hours later I was back in Leeds.

Day Three - Drenched in nostalgia at Oakworth

Back in the 1980s ago when I was studying in Yorkshire I could have caught a bus to Keighley from the end of the road, but I never did because in my trying in vain to be ‘oh so cool’ student days, I suppressed my wish to go there.

The Keighley & Worth Valley Railway shares its station in the town 

with the trains from Leeds, so having come to my senses, I was finally about to visit a place I’d yearned to see since I was five years old.

‘The Railway Children’ was the first film I was ever taken to see at a cinema, I would have been too young to see it on first release, so can only assume that the manager of the ABC in Catford was trying to pull in an audience during the school holidays.

I was entranced by the children’s upheaval to the countryside, buy what really captured my imagination was the steam trains that they ran down the fields to see pass by. The station, that became the focus of their adventures, is at Oakworth, on the Keighley  & Worth Valley Railway.

When the film crew descended on Oakworth , the efforts of local volunteers and steam train enthusiasts to restore the line were in their infancy. Only a few years had passed since steam trains had disappeared from Britain’s railways, but the branch line from Keighley was still intact, nobody had yet arrived to remove the track and bulldoze the stations.

The fact that the stations,  the railway and some of its still engines still looked much as they had done when the line was opened back in Victorian times - the branch line up the valley to Oxenhope wasn’t a 1950s Modernisation Plan priority - gave ‘The Railway Children’ so much of its period charm. 

My five year old imagination thought that the film must have been made a hundred years ago, but it couldn’t possibly look like exactly that now, more than 40 years on, surely?

No, not quite, but oh so very nearly and more than enough for me to be entranced.  The copious amounts of volunteers, who have restored the dozens of steam railway lines across Britain, are national heroes to me, but in their efforts to show the best of their craft, the stations and trains are polished so they look like new.

But to my delight it was still possible to spend time at Oakwarth station and feel as though Perks, The ‘The Railway Children’s porter would come dashing out of his beautifully preserved office every time the bell rang.

Back at Keighley station I’d spotted a notice that a tour of the engine shed, down the hill from The Bronte family’s parsonage at Haworth, was being conducted that afternoon, so I grabbed the chance to get close to the engines. In my view too many preserved railways lock them out of site, but this was an opportunity to sneak past the health & safety regulations.

Thanks to our guide I learned why on so many of Britain’s preserved railways, there always seem to be more engines that are static museum pieces, in comparison to those which travel up and down the line. The steam engines need to undergo heavy maintenance approximately every 10 years and even with volunteers carrying out the work, the costs can still spiral to more than £500,000 per engine.

Some of the locomotives are privately owned and the time taken to raise the money and carry out the work means that engines can be in pieces for2 0 years or more.

It explains why smelly old diesels pull some of the trains, it takes such a massive effort to keep the steam engines in working condition.

The volunteers who keep the trains running on the Keighley And Worth Valley Railway and The North Yorkshire Moors Railway deserve nothing but admiration and I hope to join their ranks some day!

10 Tips When Taking The Scenic Train Routes

The Rhine Valley taken from a train between Mainz and Cologne

One of the best things about travelling in Europe by train, particularly in southern Europe and through the Alps, is the frequently stunning landscape that the trains pass through.

Certain train travellers seem unmoved by this, for them any train journey is an endurance test, but if you’re in the camp that may choose one route over another because it’s more scenic; or (gasp!) take a journey by train for no other reason to be wowed by a landscape; then the tips below will hopefully be of use.

Sitting in that grandstand seat for an amazing once in a lifetime travel experience can be easier said than done!

1. Try to know which side of the train you should be sitting on

A casual glance at the scenic routes pages on ThereByTrain.com will tell you that this is a minor obsession of mine

However, often on European trains, if you’re sitting on one side of the train your jaw will be dropping as you gaze at the stunning coastal, mountain, river valley landscape, while those on the other side of the train are seeing nothing remarkable at all.

2. Sit back and relax, put the camera away

Capturing that view from the window on a camera, I-phone etc is not easy; because (1) you’ll be moving fast; (2) just when you’re about to click the shutter a tree, bridge, other train etc will block the view and (3) you’ve got to deal with taking a picture through the glass etc.

And your images are likely to be a tad dull without a smiling ‘I’m loving this view’ person in them, or any other sense of perspective.

Instead of sitting there a tad obsessively thinking along the lines of; - ‘damn that’s a bit blurred’; ‘I was a couple of seconds too late there’; oh no that tree’s got in the way etc etc, just sit back and relax and enjoy your journey. Not many people will think your pictures you took from the train are that interesting anyway – or is that just me?

3. Avoid trains on which you have to make reservations

Obvious statement alert but only 50% of seats on trains that have compulsory reservations, such as TGV trains, are by the window.

In addition, if you need to be one particular side of the train and not the other to see the best of the views, then your odds of being sat where you want to be have dropped to 1 in 4.

You can maximise your chances of being by the window if you reserve early, seats by the windows tend to be assigned first.

However, there’s one simple solution to avoiding fretting over whether you’ll be able to see something amazing or not – when it's an option, take an alternative train that doesn’t have to be reserved.

It’s likely to be slower, but that can be a big plus when taking in the view!

Local trains provide alternatives to trains that have to be reserved, in either direction, on the following stunning routes:

·         Marseilles – Nice – Ventimiglia (avoid the TGVs and ICs)

·         Genoa – Pisa (avoid the FB trains)

·         Verona – Innsbruck (avoid the EC trains)

4. If your reserved seat isn’t where you need to sit, then move

I’m about to annoy train conductors across Europe, but if you board a train that you’ve had to reserve and discover that you’ve lost in the reservation lottery and aren’t seated in that prime position to see the scenery, then you can take a small risk and move seats!

Acknowledging that I’m heading off into slightly obsessive territory; the trick is to wait until the train has left the station and all passengers have settled down. Then have a casual wander up and down the train and look for unoccupied window seats on the side of the train from which you’ll be able to see the best views!

If the train has reservation information that’s clearly visible, check to see between which stations the seat has been reserved for, it might actually be free for your entire journey.

Or you might find a nearly empty carriage, even though your carriage is full (quite common on TGVs), but in any scenario, if you do find a window seat that’s unoccupied then casually occupy it.

If you’re able to stay in the same carriage then leave your bags by the seat that you’re supposed to be in. When the conductor appears leap back to the seat that’s yours!

If you have luggage, but have only found a window seat in another carriage, then you can risk taking it with you.

You’ll have to front it out with the conductor, but many regular travellers are confused by reservations, so there’s usually no huge drama in claiming ignorance and being shown back to your original seat.

What can more embarrassing is when the rightful occupier, of the seat you’re now sitting in, boards the train at the next station - but you’ll soon get over being the recipient of glares from your fellow travellers.

5. Or travel 1^st class

In the slightly pointless debate over whether travelling 1^st class is worth the extra cost, one thing that’s usually overlooked is that on trains on which making reservations are highly recommended; holders of 1^st class tickets/rail passes have a much better chance of finding a seat without making a reservation.

On many scenic routes taken by express/long distance trains that don’t have to be reserved such as:

·         EC trains between Dresden – Prague/Prague – Dresden

·         ICE trains along the Rhine Valley

·         IC trains between Rome and Sicily

reserving a seat when travelling 2^nd class on such trains is virtually compulsory in the summer months, if you want to be sat in any seat at all.

Though of course you can lose out by not being the window, but the balance tips in favour of comfort on long journeys like these.

That tip about moving seats to be by the window won’t be an option unless you’re travelling 1^st class.

When travelling 1^st class on such trains, and therefore free of the burden of making a reservation, it’s nearly always possible to simply board and find a window seat on the right side of the train.

Knowing before you board, even the most crowded trains, that you’ll be able to see the best of the views can make the extra euros seem worthwhile.

6. Head off in the opposite direction first

We’re firmly rooted in obsessive territory now, but opting to take the slower trains on scenic routes; or when they’re the only option available, can be far from guarantee a view from the window.

This can be particulary so in the summer months.When the train arrives at the station at which you’ll be boarding, you might find yourself grateful at being able to squeeze on board at all.

When all you can see is the back of someone’s head in a corridor, you’ll be oh so near, but so very far from seeing the landscape that you’ve been dreaming of.

Those that have boarded the train at the station where it started its journey are less likely to be in this situation, particularly if they’ve arrived at the station in plenty of time to be there when the train’s departure details are announced. They have therefore had the luxury or boarding a near empty train.

If the station where you’ll be boarding is only a couple of stops down the line from where the train through landscape commenced its journey, it can be worthwhile to head first in the opposite direction, so that you can board the train you need to take, at its starting point.

But check the timetables first, on some routes there can be gaps of several hours between trains.

7. Avoid the height of the summer.

The scenery can be so much more dramatic in autumn and winter and heavy rain aside, turbulent weather can enhance a landscape.

May and September can be also be good months for exploring scenic routes; the days are long, but the trains will be less crowded; so at these times of year you’re  maximising your chances of seeing those views.

8. Stunning views don’t have to come at a high price

Many of the marketing images of European trains passing through stunning scenery are of special one-of-a-kind trains such as the famous mountain trains in Switzerland; the Glacier Express; The Bernina Express etc.

Tickets to ride these special trains are expensive, but arguably worth every last euro.

Next down the price scale are regular express trains, riding an EC train between Switzerland and Italy on both the classic Gotthard and Simplon routes is comparatively pricey compared to European train journeys of a similar distance.

It’s nothing to do with the scenery, the Swiss have yet to embrace the concept of obtaining a discount if you book in advance -  they’ve obviously decided to avoid the confusion it causes elsewhere.

But you don’t have to pay a premium to experience the most beautiful railway routes in Europe.

Cheaper trains travel the same routes as those taken by the Glacier and Bernina Expresses.

If you have a rail pass, you can also avoid the EC trains when travelling through the alps  on routes such as Lucerne/Luzern – Milan; Zurich – Milan and Munich - Verona by hopping on  and off local trains on which you’ll have no difficulty in bagging a window seat.

It’s also possible to travel by local, comparatively cheap, trains all the way round the Mediterranean coast between Valencia and Palermo.

Since you’re now dying to know to how this is possible if you’re travelling clockwise, you’ll probably find yourself changing trains in  L’Aldea-Amposta; Barcelona; Cerbere; Montpellier or Nimes; Nice; Ventimiglia; Genoa; Pisa, Rome, Naples, Salerno, Paola; Villa San Giovani, the ferry to Messina and then on to Palermo.

No ticket for each of the separate journeys above is likely to cost more than €25 and most will probably be a lot less!

9. Looking up is cheaper than looking down.

Take a look at this highly informative railway map of Switzerland and check out the key that explains the rules for each coloured line.

The lines on which the Eurail and InterRail pass users can travel for free (passes are valid) have cheaper tickets available to non rail pass users, than those on which the rail pass users can only obtain a discount.

Top of the most expensive price list are the lines on which rail passes aren’t valid at all.

The more expensive lines tend to be those special rack railways that take people to the tops of mountains,so that they can see some of the most spectacular views on earth, without risking death by partaking in mountain climbing etc.

Stick to the trains that cross the valley floors between the mountains and you’ll save (a lot of) money.Or travel on the amazing network of lines operated by Rhb between both Landquart and Chur and the Italian border at Tirano.

One of the best, and least acknowledged, reasons for obtaining a Eurail or InterRail pass is the fact that you can cross Switzerland on a network of tourist railways without having to buy any other tickets.

The trains you need to take are on this page under the ‘crossing Switzerland header’

10. Be wary of travelling solely to see the scenery.

Having said all of the above, experiencing memorable destinations when travelling around Europe by train, is probably more important than enjoying the ride.

If you base your travel plans primarily around seeing one amazing landscape after another, you can find yourself being disappointed by the weather, or a crowded train, or being stuck in a seat on one side of train while the view is on the other.

Don’t fret, there’s always another journey to look forward to!

 

Glasgow to Mallaig by train - Doesn't Get Bettter!

I haven't got around yet, to adding travelling around Britain by train to ThereByTrain.com, it's on the very long to do list!

So the Glasgow - Mallaig/Mallaig - Glasgow journey by train isn't yet on the site's Most scenic railway routes in Europe list, but when I do add the Britain section to the site, it'll be right at the top - because it's the most spectacular train journey I've ever taken.

It's clearly also a favourite of Daily Telgraph writer Anthony Lambert as he's included this amazing journey as one of his picks of his series of Great Train Journeys.

Anthony tells you all you need to know about the trip, but what I particularly like about this article is that stretch of the journey between Fort William and Mallaig often appears on many 'Best Train Journeys on Earth lists, but the continuation of the journey between Glasgow and Fort William is even better!

The line between Mallaig and Fort William is incredible, but it may also be favoured because it's possible to travel between these towns on a steam train! The Jacobite which in 2013 will be running from May 13th - October 25th.

But the route between Glasgow and Fort Wiliam has the views of the River Clyde, Loch Lomond, Rannoch Moor and as Anthony says it also has arguably the most spectacular site of all, the horseshoe curve at Tyndrum!

(Erm, this might not actually be Tyndrum from the train in the rain, it may be further up the line)

If taking the Jacobite train is on your must do list then change trains at Fort William and also travel to or from Glasgow by train.

Try and sit on the left of the train facing The Clyde when departing from Glasgow and/or on the right of the train, when sitting in the direction of travel, on leaving Fort William!

10 Tips For Using Italian Trains

Travelling by train in Italy can be exhilarating and great value for money, it can also be confusing and frustrating.

The Italians have adopted a democratic approach to train travel, wherever possible ensuring that it is affordable to the many. Great if you're an Italian and know how to choose the cheapest trains, tickets etc and are familiar with less obvious rules of Italian train travel.

But if you've never travelled by train in Italy before it can seem chaotic and bewildering.
Hence these 10 Tips that will help avoid the pitfalls of Italian train travel and enable you to enjoy journey after journey, from one amazing destination to another!

These 10 tips don't include the need to stamp your train ticket - any train ticket including rail passes -  in those yellow machines before you board any train.  

1 - Avoid travelling in the summer   

There are three primary reasons why the summer isn’t the best time of year to appreciate Italian train travel at its best:

1 - The trains that don’t have to be reserved can be full to bursting; particularly on the busiest routes; such as along the Mediterranean coast, down the central spine of Italy between Milan/Venice - Rome and in southern Italy/Sicily.
2 - The majority of local and regional trains aren’t air-conditioned, so the overcrowding and outside temperature of 35 degrees (+) isn’t the most enticing of combinations.
3 - Those discounted advance tickets on the ’Freccia’ and IC express trains sell out fast, so finding the cheapest advertised prices can be a needle in a haystack scenario.
 
Also if you’ve opted for a slow train, so that you can make the most of the fantastic scenery, your chances of sitting by the window in a prime position seat can be as low as 1 in 10.

These factors apply also come into play all year round on Friday and Sunday evenings and on either side of festivals, religious holidays etc.

2 - Book tickets ahead if you can

 
Don't rush into booking 'Super Economy' tickets -  know the restrictions/T&Cs that covers these tickets before clicking that 'buy' button. Question/answer No. 12  on ThereByTrain.com's train tickets FAQs has more info about this.
 
If you’re happy to forego the flexibility of being able to change your mind regarding your travel plans, the ‘super economy’ tickets  offered by Trenitalia  for travel on long distance express 'Freccia' and IC trains are  one of the best travel bargains in all of Europe.
 
Less good news is that they tend to sell out weeks ahead, months ahead in the summer months, and can be particularly hard to track down on the most popular routes such as Venice/Venezia – Rome/Roma.
Better news is that the Tenitalia website is up there on the ‘easier train ticket  booking sites to use list’, particularly once you’ve mastered the fact that you need to look for the city names in Italian - even when you’re on the English language version of the site.

More information about using the Trenitalia site is available HERE 

3 - Always reserve on IC trains    

The fact you don’t have  to reserve seats on Italian IC trains seems like a big tick in the box for using them, particularly if you can’t be bothered with having to reserve on the ‘Freccia’ trains or want to skip paying any supplement/reservation fees.

Resist this temptation and make the effort to reserve! Here’s why this is a good idea… 

The seats on the IC trains aren’t marked as reserved on the train -  the only upside of this is that you can still make the reservation up to a few minutes before the train departs (if there are any seats left at all!)

The downside is that if you haven’t reserved  on the Italian IC train you can easily find yourself in the following manic scenario:
1 - You find a seemingly available seat on the IC train, after all there’s nothing to tell you it’s been reserved.   
2 - At the next station someone boards the train who has reserved the seat you’re already sitting in so you HAVE to move seats (staying put is not an option, you can be fined or thrown off the train)
3 - At the next station the pattern repeats itself, you have to move seats because somebody produces a reservation for where you are sitting. This can happen again and again, by the time you’ve got off the train you might have changed seats six times!

And that’s often a best case scenario. You can also easily find yourself in the situation below, particularly in the summer months:
1 - You can give up a seat  because someone with a reservation claims it, and then find that there are no more seats available on the train.
2 - In this scenario at each station you will then have to wait and then see if a seat becomes free AFTER  the trains departs.
3 - Keep losing on the IC train seat lottery and you could be stood in the crowded corridor for five hours or more.

Italians know this,  it’s why they make the reservations.  Avoid thinking, ‘nobody else will bother’.

However, just because you have a reservation, don’t assume that you'll be always be able to sit in your assigned seat. 
You could ask the conductor to move the heavily pregnant woman, or the man that looks like he’s  100. But they didn’t know you had reserved the seat.
If you don’t want a small crowd of impassioned Italians shouting at you for making the old or infirm move, then stepping back and letting them remain sitting in your seat, can be the lesser of two evils.
That’s assuming you know the Italian for , “Excuse me, I’m pretty sure you’re sitting in the seat that I have reserved, it says so on my ticket here”.

However, on balance that €3 reservation fee can be worth every last cent!

 4 - Buy 1st class tickets for the REG trains

Some of the faster ‘Regionale’  REG trains  have 1st class seats available. 
You’ll know if the train does when you see the option on the ticket machine, or always ask if they do at the ticket office.
The difference between travelling 1st and 2nd class on these trains is often only a couple of €s.

This is one scenario in which paying extra for 1st class is worth every cent because it can make the difference between having a comfortable seat on the train and stood squashed in a corridor.
 
These 1st class tickets are a particularly good idea if you’ll be joining a crowded REG train in stations along the route, including the likes of Verona and Piacenza.
 
The gamble is that a 1st class ticket still won’t guarantee you a seat, these trains can’t be reserved so finding any seat can be a lottery, particularly in the summer.

REG trains with 1st class can usually be found on the routes between Milan/Millano and both Venice/Venezia and Bologna and on the Pisa – Roma/Roma route.

If you’re willing to save money by forsaking the IC and ‘Freccia trains’ and use these REG trains instead, then a one country Eurail or InterRail pass for Italy, is much less likely to be a money saver. 

5 - If you can, join local/REG trains at stations at which they commence their journeys.

The faster ‘Interegionale’ REG trains can be prone to overcrowding and can’t be reserved so finding a seat can be a lottery.
But not neccessarily if you’re joining one of these trains at the first station it departs from. 
If you arrive at the likes of Bologna, Firenze (S M.N.), Milano (Centrale), Roma (Termini) or Venezia (St Lucia) stations, a minimum of 20 mins before departure, you should be able to find a seat on a non-reservable REG train.

If you time it right when making a journey (in either direction) such as;
Bologna – Milano; 
Bologna – Venezia;
Firenze – Roma or 
Milano – Venezia
using these REG trains can save the bother of having to make reservations on the ‘Freccia’ (or IC) trains
The journey times are often only 20-30 mins slower in comparison to the express (IC) trains, but what you lose in time saving,  you can gain in stress saving.

If you're planning to travel around Italy by local trains in the summer, because you want to be wowed by  the most scenic railway routes in Italy, then obviously you want to be by the window on the train..
However. in the summer, if you don't join a local train at the station where it commences its journey, your chances of finding a window seat on a once-in-a-lifetime journey can be as low as 1 in 5.
It seems a tad bonkers, but you can massively increasing your chances of seeing what you've come (a long distance) to see, by initially setting off in the opposite direction. Travel back down the line to the station at which the crowded train started its journey and board it there.
If you find yourself having to wait between trains, seeking out a café to while away the time is no hardship.
Return to the station 30mins (ish) before the train back down the line departs and you can bag that window seat!

6 -  Work out your departure times before heading to the station.

Yes this is easier said than done, but if you can access an internet connection you can enter the name of the station that you will be departing from on the D-Bahn website (and no it has no direct connection to Italian railways, but trust us on this one).

Working out the departure times of Italian trains can make a difference if you’re trying to save money. 

Aside from the commuter routes in the main cities, a general rule in Italy, is ‘the more expensive a train is, the more likely it is to operate more frequently’.

On the busiest ‘Freccia’ routes the trains operate at least hourly during the day, but those REG trains that we recommend above only operate every two hours.

When choosing between  ‘Freccia’ and IC trains is apparently an option,  the more expensive ‘Freccia’ trains can be up to 10x more frequent than the IC trains. 
On some IC routes there are only one or two trains per day.

Italian station waiting rooms are often full of people who didn’t release that the train with the cheapest ticket options, isn’t departing for another two hours.
Try to time it, so that when you arrive at the station and discover that all the discounted tickets for the ‘Freccia’ trains have sold out, you won’t have too long to wait for the train that is less than half the cost!

Also local trains away from the big cities can operate to a sparse timetable, there can be gaps of more than 4 hours between trains on some rural lines, particularly in southern Italy.

7 -  Make use of the Trenitalia ticket machines at stations.

No ticket booking machine is ever perfect, but Trenitalia’s machines at stations are amongst the easiest we’ve used.
The English language option presents the information you need in a way that you don’t need a degree in ICT to comprehend.
It’s particularly easy to work out the different prices/ticket options for your journey and to choose the train that meets your budget.

Using the machines can save (a lot) of queuing time at station booking offices. 

They also sell reservations separate to tickets and rail pass users can also obtain supplements/reservations from them.

If you can’t find your destination on a Trenitalia machine, it may because your destination isn’t served by trains operated by Trenitalia. This is often the case for local train journeys around Milan including trains to/from Malpensa Airport.

8 -  Check your train ticket covers the route you will be taking.

This can be a tricky concept to grasp, but it can catch out unwary travellers – including some friends of mine, who insisted that I include it as one of the tips!

Imagine this scenario:

• You’ve a ticket for the REG train from Rome/Roma to Pisa. 
• It doesn’t have a seat reservation so you think you can use it on any train. 
• But you just miss the direct train to Pisa. 
• So you look at the departure board and see that there is a REG train to Florence/Firenze departing in 20 mins*.
• You think ‘why don’t we catch that REG train to Firenze and then another train from there to Pisa, it will be quicker than hanging around in Roma (Termini) for two hours waiting for the next REG train to Pisa.

This is not an option!
Your ticket will only be valid on the direct train to Pisa and not for the trains via Florence/Firenze.
It’s not that obvious, but train tickets in Italy are route specific.
 
The scenario that tripped up my  friends was travelling by train between Udine and Venezia/Venice.
Trains between these two cities travel on two routes, a shorter direct route and a longer route via Trieste.
The ticket they had was only valid for the shorter route, but without even realising that there were two options, they boarded a train that was travelling via Trieste. 
They therefore then had to pay extra  for the ticket once they were on the train - hence feeling ripped off and vowing to ‘never travel on an Italian train ever again!

9 -   Don’t let the graffiti put you off!

OK we may now be heading into stating the obvious territory, but many Italian trains can be covered in graffiti on the outside, but are clean and comfortable on the inside.

You’re very unlikely to actually encounter the gang of teenagers, who have been busy with the spray cans of paint, on the train itself!

10 - Don’t  be too  hasty in dismissing the 'Freccia' high speed trains from your travel plans.

IF you can find it online, a $29 2nd class ‘Super Economy’ ticket on a ‘Freccia’ train from Milan or Venice to Rome is up there amongst Europe’s best travel bargains - a journey of more than three hours on a state of the art high speed train, for less than the cost of a black taxi cab ride from Heathrow Airport to central London!

The cheapest tickets for ‘Freccia bianca/gento/rossa’ trains are cheaper than a standard ticket price on the slower IC trains AND tickets for a Freccia train include the reservation fee.
 
Therefore if you look far enough ahead (Freccia train tickets are available 3 months ahead of a travel date) and get lucky with finding a bargain fare, you can take can advantage of the multiple benefits of the Freccia trains:

• A guaranteed reserved seat throughout the journey, that you won’t be asked to give up and nobody can take away from you – sit back and relax
• Less overcrowding -  go to/from your seat without having to navigate a mass of people
• Having more time to spend at your final destination - because you'll get there faster
• Air-conditioning that’s more likely to work
• Use the main city center stations (nearly always)

Also if you’re a budget minded rail pass user, don’t dismiss the ‘Freccia’ trains because of the €10 supplements. 
Once you’ve factored in the reservation fee for an alternative IC train, (see above why skipping it isn’t a good idea), the price difference is €6 (or less).
Arguably a small price to pay for a comparatively stress free journey with all the benefits outlined above.

Users of 1st class Eurail or InterRail passes should make the most of the ‘Freccia’ trains, the fact that they still pay the supplement at the €10 rate is one of the major benefits of opting for a 1st class pass.