Taking the Train to China

Monday, 4 June

My first trip to England in college was before email and digital cameras, back in the day when we sent pretty picture postcards home to record our travels and adventures. Back then I took every spare moment to squeeze in writing postcards to my friends and family. I remember sitting on a train one day, on the way to Canterbury, with a postcard in front of me but my mind on shopping for English bone china. (Before I actually purchased any, I was obsessed with which pattern and manufacturer to buy. This was, by the way, the days when the exchange rate was great and English china was a great bargain. Everyone who came to England bought some. Plates and cups and saucers were being shipped overseas by the gross.) I started scribbling away on my postcard and then read what I had written—"I am on the train to China." My friend Jean and I got quite a kick out of that Freudian slip. (It didn't take much to amuse us—we laughed for years about Jean saying that she was going to "scald Andrew" for giving us bad directions.)

So I wasn't really on the train to China back then, but you can indeed take a train to china in England—that is to the place where china is made, a place called Stoke-on-Trent. Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire is a unique city made up of six separate towns: Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley (the City Centre), Stoke, Fenton and Longton—collectively known as "The Potteries." These towns have been for many years, and are still, the production center for English ceramics of all kinds, from stoneware to fine bone china.

I had traveled to Stoke-on-Trent a couple of times over the years, primarily with the intention of buying even cheaper china at the factory seconds shops. Before my pattern (Minton Consort) was discontinued about twelve years ago, I spent hours pouring through stacks of seconds, picking out plates and other pieces which, despite being seconds, had no visible flaws (to my very picky and discriminating eye).

Although I had no china to buy, I thought a train trip to Stoke-on-Trent would be an interesting change of pace (after weeks in the bucolic countryside). So this Monday we took an abrupt change of direction and jumped on the train northward to Stoke-on-Trent.

Our objective was two-fold: one, to visit the Wedgwood Visitor Centre and tour the Wedgwood factory; and two, to take a nice long train ride where we could take as much advantage of possible of the perks of traveling first class. This was because the train to Stoke (which is the train that goes on to Manchester), is part of Virgin Trains (the train line owned by Richard Branson), the most first-rate of the first-class trains.

Now, when I say we hopped on the train, that was only after we spent hours the night before studying the timetables and website to establish exactly what we were entitled to and make sure that we got on a train that maximized our perks! My father and I debated extensively before agreeing that we would be offered free breakfast on our outbound trip, although our return trip would only offer beverages and snacks (pretty substantial snacks, though).

This was a very important thing to resolve because it affected whether we needed or wanted to have breakfast at the hotel before going to the station. We agreed to have breakfast on the train, so we would leave the hotel at 8:30 to walk to Euston Station for the 9:05 train. Skipping the hotel breakfast would certainly eliminate some time pressure in the morning.

But funny thing, as I came back into the hotel at around 7:45 after my run in Regent's Park, I saw my dad in the hotel dining room, apparently having an early first breakfast! Later he told me he had gone in for just a "light breakfast," fruit and cereal and a banana, coffee and toast, and two fried eggs. I guess that would keep him going for a while, until we got on the train anyway.

Our train was the Manchester train, leaving from Euston station every half hour, which made it easy to get onto. Stoke-on-Trent was about half an hour before Manchester. When we got to the station at about ten minutes before nine, the platform number had not yet been posted, so we joined a throng of other passengers hovering under the departures board, waiting for our platform number to go up. It's pretty common on British trains leaving London stations for the boarding platform not to be announced until just a few minutes before departure, which can be very stressful if you are travelling with luggage that you have to drag to the platform and onto the train. But on a short day trip like this, where we were traveling light (carrying only light daypacks), there was no real pressure (although you are always a bit anxious until you are actually on the train!).

A few minutes later the platform number flashed onto the screen—Platform 7, not too far from where we were waiting. Moments later, we were boarding the waiting train. It took only moments to succumb to first class fever, as we snatched up the menu cards that described all we had to choose from. Since our train left at 9:05, we didn't qualify for the "Great British Breakfast" offered on trains leaving prior to 9:00, but instead could choose a full English breakfast (which is essentially the same thing anyway), or vegetarian or fruit plates, should we desire.

The Pendolino trains are sleek and modern, and the seats are roomy and comfortable. Train attendants, dressed in red uniforms to match the red seats and general color theme of the trains, appear promptly to take our breakfast orders, pour coffee, tea, or other drinks, and offer newspapers. (Our attendant brought me a copy of Marie Claire magazine, apparently determining that I was the only member of our party who would be interested in a young, trendy fashion magazine!) My mother and I ordered the English breakfast, but my father, having already had his "light" breakfast earlier, opted for the fruit plate.





The glamour and comfort of the train and the lure of free food led me and my mother into a flight of fantasy where we contemplated planning a trip in which you spent all your time traveling on the trains and eating the free food. If you planned it right, you would never have to buy a meal! However, I think you would need to have a place to stay at night, because even if you could arrange your travel around overnight train journeys, the comfy first class seats might become less so if you tried to do all your sleeping sitting up in them. Later on in the day, the idea of constant train travel seemed less appealing than it had in the morning, but still I think we left a lot of train travel benefits untapped. (There is a special breakfast menu if you are traveling from Manchester to Euston in the morning, and if you are traveling from Euston to Manchester during a certain part of the afternoon, or a certain time in the evening, you will be served afternoon tea or a full dinner! I am still intrigued with the idea of hopping on the train at Euston and riding north long enough to have tea, or dinner, then getting off and taking the next train back to London. This would only work, of course, if you already had a railpass so that you didn't have to pay for a ticket.)

We arrived at Stoke-on-Trent to discover yet another change in what I believed was true (recent years in England seem full of changes to things which have been constant for hundreds of years). The fun little train from Stoke to Wedgwood had been changed to a rail replacement bus! Transportation-wise, it didn't matter, of course, but the ambience of riding a bus is completely different from hopping on and off a train.

Oh well, it could not be helped, and we got on the bus for the 15 minute ride to Wedgwood. The bus lets you off about a quarter to half a mile from the Wedgwood factory, so we followed the road past the Wedgwood railroad platform (waiting for two intercity trains to pass before crossing the tracks), and across a park and parking lot (which I remember as a field some thirteen years ago) to the back entrance of the Wedgwood factory.

In addition to the potteries, a major attraction in the Stoke-on-Trent area is a theme park called Alton Towers. But as we walked toward the Wedgwood factory, I noticed another potential attraction to the area, the Waterways of Stoke-on-Trent, canals which are lined with towpaths for walking as well as canal boats for riding the water. Staffordshire has more miles of canals within its borders than any other part of England. In the past, these canals provided a system of transportation for the pottery industry. In the 18th century Josiah Wedgwood commissioned a local engineer to create the Trent and Mersey Canal which enabled kaolin (china clay) to be brought from Cornwall right to the door of his factory. Equally important, the finished products could be taken away smoothly, with the minimum of breakages. Nowadays the canals are thick with boats offering holiday cruises and tours.

We approached The Wedgwood Visitor Centre from the back, the "canal entrance" as well as the employee entrance. After walking through hallways lined with historical Wedgwood pictures, we entered the main section of the visitor center, where we could go on the tour or visit the shop. I was rather disappointed to learn that the factory part of the tour was closed that day, so we were limited to the exhibition section (a display of historical china pieces with an audio guide) as well as a demonstration area, where craftspeople demonstrated some of the techniques of china decoration. I particularly enjoyed an exhibition and film about Royal Doulton (now owned by Wedgwood), focusing particularly on the making of Royal Doulton figurines. (Royal Doulton also includes Minton and Royal Albert, so by acquiring Royal Doulton, Wedgwood seems to have taken over a large segment of the entire china industry!)

After browsing through the Wedgwood shop, I insisted on stopping at the restaurant for tea and a scone. I had been lured by the website to believe that there is a special Wedgwood Tea Room (which opened in 2007), but apparently the special teas are only served on Sundays, by reservation, and the manager of the restaurant indicated to me that this is especially popular with groups of Japanese visitors. Apparently not, however, something that you can just drop by for.

Finishing with Wedgwood, we made our way back to the road to catch the bus back to the railway station. This was a little bit stressful, as there is no marked bus stop, but we successfully waved down the bus as it approached and stopped. (My mother was convinced that we were on the wrong bus, even though it had the right number—X-1—and came at the right time. She was disturbed that it wasn't yellow, like the first bus had been, and was certain that she did not recognize the roads we were on! However, after about 15-20 minutes we pulled up in front of the Stoke-on-Trent station.)

Charmed by the Virgin Trains, we decided to maximize our trip a bit by riding the train on to Manchester, then turning around and taking the train from Manchester back to London. We were just a tiny bit embarrassed (at least I was) that our train back to London was the exact same train that we got off in Manchester, so the crew recognized us and commented on our quick turnaround!

On the afternoon and evening trains into London, there are no "meals" served, just "snacks." But what snacks! The menu offered sandwiches, a wrap, quiche, and salad. I had a piece of the very tasty salmon quiche with some salad and bread, and that certainly made a nice supper in my estimation. In addition to the snacks and other meals, they offer complimentary tea, coffee, soft drinks, and alcohol for those who so desire. First Class travel on Virgin Trains is definitely the way to go!

Our return to Euston Station was the end of our planned day. We now had only one full day ahead of us in England before heading home on Wednesday. I had a rather full schedule in mind of "last minute" things to see and do on Tuesday, and my father wanted to squeeze in one last train trip. My mother preferred to start worrying about packing and the flight home.

Back at the hotel I pulled out our flight information to check on our departure time (15:05 on Wednesday). In looking over our itinerary I saw something which, I admit, I should have noticed before—a change in the baggage restrictions from our flight over. Flying to the U.K. on British Air we were allowed two checked bags, plus one carry-on and an additional laptop/briefcase/purse. On the return flight leaving the U.K., our carry-on allowance was decreased to one carry-on only, without the additional laptop/briefcase/purse! This was incredibly annoying since the tendency is to increase baggage on the return home, not decrease it!

So this created an additional tension as we had to contemplate reorganizing our luggage so that each of us would carry only one item onto the plane. This mostly affected me, of course, since I had my laptop bag plus my regular carry-on which I had already packed full of breakable china mugs. In my past experience, British air has always been very lenient about carrying extra stuff on the plane (especially if it is a bag of purchases from duty-free), but I didn't think this was the time to test their patience. Especially with my mother along—I didn't want to send her into a nervous breakdown (if it could possibly be avoided). In the end, of course, we did manage to pack everything up and do it within acceptable guidelines, but not without some 24 hours of anxiety to come!