[T]oday Virgin Trains welcomed a couple at Carlisle, who are travelling to all railway stations in Britain for a project entitled ‘All The Stations’, which sees them visit 2,563 stations over 14 weeks.
Geoff and Vicki, who are on day 97 of their ‘All The Stations’ adventure, passed through Carlisle on their journey to Stranraer; providing them with a glimpse of the new roof – a project by Network Rail in partnership with Virgin Trains to transform the roof of Carlisle station.
Members of the Virgin Trains Station Team at Carlisle presented the couple with a 1930s-style railway poster, featuring a Pendolino and congratulatory message, specially designed by Nicky Thompson from Lemondrop Creative, a design studio in Chester.
Inspired by Geoff and Vicki’s adventure, Virgin Trains approached Nicky to design a railway poster to celebrate their achievement. Nicky recently created 14 iconic railway posters, influenced by railway poster artist, Frank Henry Mason, depicting destinations along the Mid Cheshire line (Chester – Manchester Piccadilly) for Mid Cheshire Community Rail Partnership’s ‘Marvellous Days Out’ campaign, which aims to encourage people to take the train to visit destinations local to the Mid Cheshire line.
Michael Byrne, Virgin Trains Station Manager at Carlisle, said: “At Virgin Trains we have been following Geoff and Vicki’s adventure, since they set off in May. We love their story and wanted to celebrate their amazing journey with a keepsake that captures the essence of their adventure – enjoying days out by train. We’re proud to welcome Geoff and Vicki to our beautiful station – the gateway to Carlisle, where we’ve seen a record number of journeys between the Cumbrian city and London, highlighting that train travel is more popular than ever, as we celebrate our 20th birthday. We wish them both all the best continuing their adventure to all stations across Britain.”
For others wanting to visit Carlisle station like Geoff and Vicki, Virgin Trains runs 27 trains a day (on a typical weekday) between London Euston and Carlisle.