Edinburgh Waverley station needs me.

[TallOrLong]

Here are the facts:

• I go to many train stations, I never ever get confused elsewhere.
• I never go to Waverley without walking round in a big loop in a state of confusion.
• From observation I am not the only one.

I am prepared to provide executive advice. Payment terms are a baguette from upper crust, a bag of percy pigs from M&S and some scottish fudge from, well, somewhere that sells good fudge.

This is not actually an AIBU, because I am not being unreasonable. I am on a train leaving Edinburgh having finally found my platform. See you next time for the same fun again Waverley!

I think it’s to do with all the different levels being in an unexpected place (both the station and the city overall) - I can never quite get a bearing on what’s where, it’s like an Escher drawing (to me - but I have absolutely zero sense of direction - I can’t even quite place which room is above which room in my own house because the stairs go round a bend and back on themselves (it is a fairly new house….maybe I’ll get my bearing eventually). I also perpetually expect there to be a river down in the dip where Waverly is and am sort of perennially surprised to see train tracks.

My life changed overnight when I discovered this. No more palpitations as I entered Waverley dreading that I’d have to spend 10 minutes following signs from one end to the other to find my train. Now I stride in confidently in the right direction every time, with plenty of time to buy Percy pigs on the way. I’m not even defeated by platforms 2 and 19 being different ends of the same platform. If you know, you know.

no, all departures appear on those boards!

My MIL was thrilled, grateful and relieved in equal proportions. As were all the other in-laws (I think there were about 10 in total on the train) many of whom were making their first journey north of Doncaster and already deep into here be dragons territory in their minds. And that was before they went even Scottisher....

I have had this at King's Cross too. Unnecessarily traumatic.

Princes Street Gardens used to be a loch.

The key thing that I don’t think anyone has mentioned about the secret John Lewis exit is that you can park there and pick people up (and drop them off, obviously). Mind you nobody has mentioned that you can exit into the main car park either.

No I can do 13. Go through the gates in the main concourse bit to 14. Walk past all the offices in the left hand side and you get to a very dark and dirty little platform hiding beyond the building. That's 13.

Unfortunately Great Western don't run trains in Scotland, so I think you're doomed to wandering Waverley for a while. Avanti West coast maybe?

Edited sorry quoted wrong poster. That was for @GoBazGo

They drained the Nor' Loch (big bog helpful for defending the castle) in 18something to allow the joining of the New Town & the Old Town

Fun fact: when first built, the railway terminated at Haymarket.

They had to get another Act of Parliament c.1844 to extend the line to Waverley and join up with the existing Newhaven line.

As Provost Adam Black put it in evidence to the Commons committee, "Nature seems to have left the hollow on purpose".

It still is if it rains hard enough!!

Eastern end drained around 1765, according to WP: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nor_Loch

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mound

Other side of the Mound drained 1813 to 1820.

Of course the Mound or Mud Bridge was built with spoil from the building of the New Town.

Amazing news everyone, I have just been out and seen this first hand:

ALL of the escalators at Waverley Steps are working.

Crowds gathered to witness the spectacle. Influencers were doing laps up and down, livestreaming the event. I think later on John Swinney is going to come over and do a piece to camera. What a day for our great nation!

I give them til 2pm @Namechangeforthis88

And even that isn't straightforward! There are several Edinburgh to Glasgow Routes so depends which one you want!! Mine is the Edinburgh to Helensburgh train (via Airdrie) and goes to Glasgow Queen Street Low Level. Platforms vary!!

The problem with Waverley is that all the platforms are on one level - but in order to access some of them you have to go up the escalator/stairs and along the higher level and then back down more stairs to reach the platform. Platforms 8 and 9 ( both east and west) and platform 10 fall into this category.Platforms 13 and 18 are through the 'main' barriers on the main concourse, but aren't visible from the main concourse until you go through them and walk a bit ( Platform 13 is on the left and platform 18 is on the right).

Platforms 11 and 7 use the same bit of track - God help you if you need to use platform 7. You have to walk miles as 11 is the first one you come to.

I can't remember where you access platforms 1 and 20! Platforms 3-6 are all beyond the waiting area for trains not going through Haymarket

When I read the thread title - I honestly thought it was a long forgotten, slightly disappointing follow up by R Dean Taylor of his 1971 hit

‘Indiana Wants Me’

Anyone ended up in Waverley when they were booked to go to Glasgow Central? I used to get the train (1980's) on a Friday from Manchester Victoria to either Waverley or Central and it split in two at Carstairs Junction. When you get on the train in Manchester they would tell you Edinburgh at the front, Glasgow at the back. But everyone who got on the train checked. "Is this for Edinburgh" No one looked up, just a general Yeh noise with one or two folks getting up and shuffling to the other end.

But the problem was that sometimes there were only 3 carriages and you had to work out where the split would be. The ticket collector would come and make sure we were all in the correct part of the train.

But, and this happened all the time, someone would change which part was going where. So when entering Carstairs junction, we would all get up and gather our luggage around us just in case they announced that the front was now the back and vice versa.

I have ended up on the wrong part of the train on a few occasions and ended up in Waverley when I was heading for Glasgow.

To remedy this I used to get collected at Carstairs Junction and complete my journey by car. But as Carstairs is also the home of the Scottish State Hospital the plan was that I had to hang out of the carriage door window and if I saw my boyfriend waiting on the platform I would get off. Otherwise I had to stay on the train and hope I was on the right end for Waverley. No mobile phones at the time but if I ended up in Glasgow by mistake he would always come and collect me.

Has anyone discovered Platform nine-and-three-quarters yet?

Love this thread! The number of times I come to Waverley and just wander about like it's groundhog day trying to find out where I'm going.

Also, there's a SECRET EXIT to John Lewis????!

and an overflow platform mainly used for trains to Liverpool and other dubious destinations.

There is nothing dubious about Liverpool @RadiatorDrying
I look for any excuse to vist DD who is living there. Lime Street is such a straightforward station as well.

Has anyone discovered Platform nine-and-three-quarters yet?

Just the photo opportunity with a big queue in front of it at King's Cross.

Not just you ! Even worse when you are trying to catch a train due any minute(worse with pram and all those silly bridges )

Edinburgh born and bred and YANBU. Compared with a station like Glasgow Central or Queen St where you walk in and the mainline train platforms are all there in front of you, left to right, Waverley is all over the place.

And if you get the wrong exit you end up somewhere near Inverness.