I’m on holiday at present in the suburbs of Edinburgh, visiting Queensferry and enjoying a coffee just under the Forth Bridge. Engineers it seems, really do work on maintaining the bridge all the time. Here’s a photo of one dangled on a rope beneath it. You might need to enlarge the photo to verify that really is a person so precariously dangled! More seriously, Scotrail seem to have a train running over the bridge every few minutes. Local stations such as Dalmeny and North Queensferry fare significantly better than similar sized communities such as Widdrington (1 train a day) or Belford (nothing). Inverkeithing had a service every few minutes (6 per hour weekdays) which again left me wondering about the hapless Cramlington (1 train an hour). This is the same East Coast Main Line, though admittedly with fewer long-distance services north of Edinburgh.
I could not let it go, without support for your your comment about hapless Cramlington 1 train an hour. Without offing my full support.
It is amazing how some communities are so well served by a good rail service while others have long since forgotten they have a rail service at all such as Widdrington.
This goes to the heart of SENRUG,’s (as I understand it) thinking.
Provide a good, affordable rail service tell people about it – and they’ll use it.