Renfrew to yoker on a boat in the Clyde! if that's not mental enough let's get rid of the old boat…read moreand stick in it's place a thing that looks and feels as safe as one of the top gear inventions! But I do have a soft spot for this boat! Mainly because I can see it bobbing across the Clyde day and night from my flat window, it's so cute i nearly named it! Iv only been on it twice on nice summers day just to go a walk (in yoker yes I know what I just said but there's nice views along the Clyde) however £1.60 each way is a hefty price when the bus is cheaper, but I guess it's an expensive wee thing to run but we couldn't let it go!

A classic West journey, the Yoker to Renfrew ferry, a distance which stretches just 200 metres,…read morewill cease to exist in just a few weeks time. SPT opted to end the service in March 2010 as part of budget cuts. As such, if you've never done it before why not get yourself along for one last shot on a route which has been in existence for over 200 years. OK, so it's not life changing, but it is kind of cool and something which will be sorely missed by those who enjoyed the experience of floating along the Clyde while out doing their shopping. The service is set to be replaced by a bus which can go through the water. Also kind of cool, but I'll miss the ferry.

It's only a little station but it's a good one. There's only two platforms and this is a terminus…read morestation so trains just shuttle back and forth taking passengers to Glasgow, Edinburgh or Motherwell, stopping at other small stations along the way. There's a staffed ticket office but there are machines to buy tickets from as well. The station also has bike racks, a small car park, a coffee kiosk, waiting rooms and free WiFi via the Cloud. You can reach Milngavie centre via an underpass just outside the station. Also right outside the station is a small but pretty little square with a couple of benches - possibly a nicer place to sit in sunny weather. It's a well kept station with baskets of flowers and plants around and is apparently a grade B listed building.

One of the slicker stations offered on the local line, Milngavie is well maintained and relatively…read moreaesthetically pleasing. Unsurprising, I guess, given the affluence of the area. With an elaborately decorated underpass leading into the town centre, it's a nice way to welcome the abudance of visitors the town gets who are preparing to start the West Highland Way. Indeed, it gets an extra star for the provision of bike lockers, which is obviously particularly handy in this location.

An interesting fact about Bearsden station is that it was named Bearsden before the town, which was…read moreinitially known as New Kilpatrick, was. And that's about all that's interesting about it really. Despite serving a fairly big area, the station itself is quite simple and houses just two platforms. Indeed the best aspect of it is the attached pub, the Inn, which offers an ideal place to wait for your train. It is serviced by both the Argyle and North Clyde lines, which means it has four trains to Glasgow an hour from Monday to Saturday, two to Queen Street, two to Central.

For most people new to Glasgow, "The Drum" is considered a bit of a no-go area. During my bleak few…read moremonths living in nearby Knightswood, this was one of the many distant train stations I'd hike to in order to avoid the smell of Tesco's extra strong lager and jobseeker's allowance on the bus. Perhaps surprisingly, the station is surrounded by what I could only call "aspirational" housing, including some incredibly large Victorian numbers, and is in a fairly quiet area a good bit away from the less welcoming 50s / 60s embodiment of Drumchapel. As you'd expect, several trains pass each hour and 15 minutes should see you into town.

Chaffinches and blue tits singing in the nearby sycamore trees greeted me as I alighted at…read moreDrumchapel station. As if there could be a bigger possible contrast, I soon noticed a group of neds horsing around in the waiting room of the opposite platform, on this dark weekday afternoon (whatever happened to a thing called school, or work?). Drumchapel is served by trains between Balloch and Dalmuir to the west, and Glasgow Queen Street/Central, Drumgelloch and Larkhall to the east. The trains pass stop by roughly every 15 minutes. There is also a regular bus service that stops right at the entrance to the station - very useful. These are the, very frequent, no. 9's for the most part. There is a ticket office at Drumchapel and the new blue ScotRail colour scheme certainly brightens up the station's somewhat dilapidated appearance.

I've discussed my depressing but thankfully brief time living in the Knightswood backwater in a few…read moreother reviews. It was certainly grim, but the good view from the hill at Westerton station, along with the bizarre circular ramp thing you had to go down to get to the street, were a couple of very small silver linings. Westerton station was actually almost half an hour's walk away from my flat at the time, but a combination of wanting to spend as little time in the flat as possible, and a steadfast refusal to travel by bus, meant I made a good few trips here. It's in an area considered part of Bearsden rather than Glasgow, but I think most of the Daily Mail reading curtain twitchers from the main part of Bearsden would rather it wasn't. Trains are ridiculously frequent here though, almost on par with the subway. There's not exactly a lot of sights to see in the area bar a couple of newsagents and a chippy that acts as a sort of common room for local glue sniffers so unless you live nearby I doubt you'll end up here, but the view is cracking as you can see pretty much the whole city.

Westerton station lies right next to the Forth and Clyde Canal, giving a very brief scenic…read moreinterlude to travellers. It is the junction for the Milngavie branch, with trains also passing through from the west (Balloch, Dumbarton, Dalmuir) to the south and east ends of Glasgow (Motherwell, Airdrie) via the city centre. Interestingly, the Caledonian Sleeper service to Fort William also calls here in the early morning and late evening, with a connecting service to Glasgow Queen Street. Westerton station has very good facilities, the sort of facilities one would love all suburban stations to have. There is a very large car park, bicycle racks, ticket office and ticket vending machines. You can even pick up a copy of the Metro in the morning too. Westerton is also very close to Canniesburn Hospital. Definitely one of the better suburban stations in Glasgow.

Scotstounhill station lies just off a side street from Danes Drive, making it only a short walk…read morefrom Scotstoun Leisure Centre. It lies on the Argyle and North Clyde lines, meaning one can travel on SPT services to Balloch, Clydebank and Helensburgh to the west, Glasgow city centre and Airdrie to the east, and Motherwell and Lanark to the south. I found that to get back to the city centre from this station there wasn't even much point planning out your journey with a timetable, such is the frequency of the trains. There is a train nearly every 10 minutes, with roughly every second one to Queen Street and the others to Central. So like Partick station, your best bet is to just turn up at the station and get the next train you see. The station is very quiet most of the time, though probably a good but busier during the rush hours. It is also handy that if you are getting a train back to the city centre if you look down the line towards Clydebank, you can actually see oncoming trains stopping at Garscadden station a very short length away, so you get plenty of warning of your train arriving. But beware, it is not an island platform here so if you're running late for the train you may have to hot foot it over the footbridge before it leaves!

Scotstounhill Station is a small, two-platform station that services the Scotstoun and Knightswood…read moreareas, connecting them to Glasgow city centre via regular trains for Glasgow Queen Street and Glasgow Central. From here trains go on to Cumbernauld, Dalmuir, Dumbarton and Motherwell. It's quite a nice station, with covered waiting areas and a bridge that connects the two platforms. There's a staffed ticket office as well as self service ticket machines but no barriers. There are bike racks available and you can pick up Scotrail's free WiFi here. There's no shop or anything within the station, but there's a small post office nearby. There's nothing much special going on here but as a small commuter station it's A-Ok.

Modernisation and industrial decline has certainly taken its toll on Singer station, so-named due…read moreto its use by workers of the nearby Singer sewing machine factory, which closed some time in the 1960s. The unusual old footbridge entrance above the line still stands but looks in a very forlorn state, kind of summing up the decline of this station. However the large modern waiting rooms on either platform help to brighten things up a bit. Singer is served by a regular 15-minute service between Balloch/Dalmuir and Glasgow Queen Street/Central/Larkhall/Drumgelloch. The station is actually in Clydebank, which I didn't realise due to its name. The road next to the entrance is well-served by buses. It also leads to one end of the Clyde Shopping Centre, virtually just across the road so it's really not even very far from Clydebank station on the other line.

Regular trains and a nice open and busy feeling station - even at night - makes this station feel…read moresafe and pratical not a bad one in my eyes. It's right beside the Clydebank shopping centre and a business office park, so I imagine it gets pretty busy in rush hour and at weekends. It's pretty old fashioned feeling though, and not much shelter on the platform, so not much fun when it's raining.

Taking an obscure side road off the main dual carriageway into Dumbarton, you will come across a…read moredark little corner of the universe hidden away amongst the trees known as Kilpatrick, which has a railway station lying underneath the massive Erskine Bridge. Unfortunately the train service here is only half-hourly in each direction, as the Helensburgh Central services don't even bother to stop here. Trains run between Balloch/Dumbarton and the city of Glasgow. It is another quiet station with no ticket office. Both platforms are connected via a footbridge but unfortunately the eastbound platform does not have a timetable for passengers to check for the time of the next train, meaning they have to check the one on the other side - not very handy. When I visited here to take a photograph the woman waiting for the incoming Balloch train on the opposite platform asked me if I was waiting for it too; concerned that I was waiting on the wrong platform and would miss the train. Aww bless, I hope all of the locals here are as nice.

This station is rubbish. There isn't even a ticket office and you couldn't swing a kitten in the…read morerain shelter. Scotrail seems to have forgotten it exists. Or so I thought. During one particularly icy day, as I made my way from the platform to the back path that leads to Old Kilpatrick, I went absolutely flying and landed on the ground. A man walking his dog rushed over and his pet slobbered all over my face as I tried to get up. Then a voice came out of nowhere. "Would all passengers please take care in the station area during these adverse weather conditions." I have never seen a member of staff in Kilpatrick. Ever. Someone, somewhere was watching me. So I wouldn't pick Kilpatrick Station as the location to spend a public penny or indulge in some drunken al fresco friskiness. It's not as secluded as you think.

Is there really any need for train station signs to be translated into Gaelic?…read more Don't get me wrong, I don't lose any sleep over it. I'd even understand it in Glasgow or Edinburgh. After all, the tourists will revel in it and it's genuinely nice to see its use encouraged. But Dalmuir? Really? Who are these people who wouldn't understand where they were unless all of the umpteen dozen signs at the station didn't have "Dal Mhoire" bolted underneath them. OK, it's a token gesture, but I bet those Gaelic speakers among us would also prefer to see this money to go towards, say, a heated waiting room or a wee man dishing out cups of tea on the 7.42 service to Drumgelloch. Nevertheless, the rest of Dalmuir station is terrific, particularly the long awaited improvements to disabled access. As a commuter hub the station really needed to up its game in recent years and although the building work took a little longer than most passengers hoped, the station has improved beyond belief and has even kept the handy little newsagent kiosk which many feared would close. It's certainly made travelling from here a much more pleasant experience so a big well done, or should that be tapadh leat, to Network Rail.

Dalmuir station excels in its status as an interchange station, with frequent services to many…read moredestinations across and around Glasgow: namely Balloch, Helensburgh Central, Springburn, Drumgelloch and Motherwell. There is a new state-of-the-art footbridge, complete with an elevator built in (gee whiz!). Unfortunately, Dalmuir is also plagued by a lot of local neds, which probably explains the signs about CCTV equipment.