Blog
The joys of the railway ticket office
“MAKE sure you mention me in your article,” says the ticket lady at Enfield Chase, a modest station on the suburban line from London’s Moorgate to Stevenage. “I’m Grace. ‘Amazing Grace’, they call me. And she is indeed part of an amazing army of super-knowledgable people who issue tickets on our railways. Want the cheapest […]
Read More Goodbye old car, it’s time to say farewell
IT SEEMS wrong-headed in these times of climate crisis to get sentimental over a car. And yet…Today I got rid of my trusty Mini-Cooper S after 18-years of fault-free motoring. I shall not be buying another car, ending an adult lifetime of car ownership in London. I am no petrolhead, but in the past I […]
Read More The bell tolls for the wise kings of the railways
BOOKING clerks are the wise kings of the flawed realm of the railway fare system. Want a super off-peak ticket from Nuneaton to Peterborough? Or Wigan to Rose Grove? Then the man or woman behind the glass booth is your person. They will help you navigate the byzantine ticketing system in which there are hundreds […]
Read More Dream of new sleeper trains across Europe is coming true
FOR YEARS we have been accustomed to the idea that sleeper trains were a thing of the past. Slow, uncomfortable and uncompetitive with zippy low cost airlines. The grand days of the Orient Express and the Night Ferry were deemed to be over But all of a sudden, that is changing. We are waking up […]
Read More Germany’s £43 transport pass sets an example to Britain
THE German government has just introduced a revolutionary new deal for public transport, enabling people to buy a monthly pass covering local and regional bus, train and tram services all over the country for just 49 euros (£43). The 49-euro Deutschland ticket is a radical plan to get motorists out of their cars and follows […]
Read More Service, quality and charm – what we can learn from the golden age of Britain’s railways
IMAGINE a mighty express engine heading north on the West Coast main line powering its way effortlessly over the formidable Shap summit in the Westmorland fells. On this brilliant May morning the sun is glinting off the burnished Brunswick green of the boiler as a plume of steam rises high into the azure sky. The […]
Read More Goodbye to the Pacer trains – unlike many, I’m sad to see them go
Nicknamed the Nodding Donkeys, because of their rough riding on the track, the last Pacer trains in northern England made their final journey last Friday November 27, on a service from Kirkby in Lancashire to Manchester Victoria. Built as stopgap trains in the 1980s, and initially constructed from Leyland bus parts, they were hated by […]
Read More The golden age of the train – filming with Michael Portillo for new series of the BBC’s Great British Railway Journeys
ENJOYED breakfast with Michael Portillo at the Great Northern Hotel at King’s Cross filming an episode for the new series of Great British Railway Journeys for the BBC. We were talking about the Golden Age of rail travel in the 1920s and 1930s, when the Flying Scotsman made the first non-stop journey between London and […]
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