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 do various routes, it is just an interchange (ironically, I rarely am just going to Edinburgh). This is part of the difficulty, I don’t get to know what I am doing. And anyway, the LNER trains go from either side, so it still means wandering round to work out which side of the circular route that particular train will be at on that particular day.

I feel my route variety makes me an excellent candidate for the role of Signage Improvement Leader.

There's a reason it's named for a work of fiction 😆

I can always get to the platform I need but I can't direct someone to their platform 🤷‍♀️ (I have taken bewildered tourists rather than try to explain!)

@TallOrLong have you seen the plans for the revamped Waverley with super and lower platforms? Yes that's correct its going to be a 2 story train station with trains arriving and leaving from both levels 🫣

Again, the guy in the wacky hat is all over accessibility at Waverley. It's his job! He is used to helping people from all places arriving in Waverley with mobility issues or if they're lost and unsure where to go.

Thanks to your Dad and Grandad, Radiator for keeping it open. It's still my favourite line and takes my breath away - in more ways than one😁

Waverley NEEDS ZONES.

I feel New St is a contender with the other suggestion of St P for sorting out next. I find it ok, but I note it has had two votes and is therefore on the list,

But Waverley first. Priorities priorities.

This is truth, right here.

Birmingham New Street is basically a badly designed airport now. You walk for miles occasionally seeing a Pret in the distance that you can't get to. I'm not sure they're working cafes that serve food or drink, I think they're more of a set really.

I've been using Euston for the best part of 28 years, it is unfeasibly unattractive but so simple. I love black and white photos of the original Euston, though that was the opposite - incredibly beautiful but only practical for a handful of passengers per day!

There is no proper concourse, either, which is wrong.

The individual lifts are actually well-signposted.

"Lift ➡️" says the sign.

But stringing together a route is like one of those 90s adventure games of twisty little passages, where you know there IS a correct path through, but it may take several days to play to till the end of the game...

[edited for SPAG]

🤣 primes need to stick together!

Platform 13 is my favourite, hiding itself away.

It's beginning to sound more like an Escape Room than a railway station. Must go and have a look.

Note to self - take breadcrumbs.........

Okay, I take it back that I know my way around Waverley. I have just been looking at the station map online and there appears to be a platform 13 which I never knew was there and cannot picture where it fits at all. And I have been on platform 12 and platform 14 many a time.
I may of course be unobservant.

Beware the pigeons!

I'm just coming on to say I have travelled to Waverley just once, found it reasonably easy to get out of, flew home and have never thought about it since. But this thread so full of love frustration for the Great British Railway Station has made me very happy. Honorary Portillos the lot of you! 😊

To take things a little international, I'm always amazed at how developed St Pancreas (as it's always been known to me) is compared to Gare du Nord or Bruxelles Midi. It's one of those odd moments where as a Brit you expect central European rail stations to be much more modern than UK ones as they were back in the 1980s and realise that actually its more the other way round these days. I didn't think it was possible for a manufacturer to create a seat as uncomfortable as the ones at Midi. They should win some sort of reverse industry award. And there are only about 3 of them.

Sorry to stray so far from Edinburgh, @TallOrLong but lets face it in the time it takes you to work out where platform 20 is at Waverley you could have travelled from Scotland to Paris, eaten a freshly baked croissant and made it back home with some duty free Guerlain before the platform for the 18.34 to Dundee has been located...

Me too! I didn’t like to mention it in case I was just incredibly stupid.

They are indeed worth visiting (and I am from neither so the Tourist Board can also compensate me).

The thing with a tunnocks is that really they should be served with a good cup of tea. And surely we all agree that this is unlikely on a train. Percy pigs can be consumed with go ginger beer, lemonade or that fake orangina that m&s sell.

I had the same issue at St Pancras. Ended up on the lettered platforms when I needed the numbered ones!

New street is impossible to leave correctly, as well as impossible to find your platform.

I’m now thinking maybe I have not been to New St since this up-do. I would never have placed it in this category. But this talk of a pret mirage has me intrigued. They do good orange juice for breakfast, it would not be good if this were to now prove difficult.

5 pages of comments and not a single person has questioned your demands for payment "Payment terms are a baguette from upper crust, a bag of percy pigs from M&S and some scottish fudge"
Are you mad???
Think of the cost, surely we can negotiate - would you like a pony?? A house??
This service is obviously needed but the payment may well tip the National rail over the edge

It is. But not one that you knowingly signed up for.

Has he done Waverley! He could do a whole feature length episode on it.

And to be fair the map belies the additional complexity of the different levels. Platform 13 is probably on the upper level, and 12 and 14 the lower. And if so you probably have to get to the upper level by going down the up escalator.

WTF were you thinking driving in Edinburgh?? There should actually be a test required before you’re allowed to take a car within the city bypass