The age of the train

Back in the 70s when Jimmy Saville was making those ads about British Rail, how would we have described what rail travel would be like in the 21st century? I doubt it would have matched my experience this week.

First of all the station car park at Preston station is being redeveloped at the moment, so there were no spaces. Worse, the vast shopping car park across the road was closed until 8:30am, and a sign placed at each entrance made it clear that rail travellers weren't welcome anyway. One poor driver, who hadn't seen the sign because it had been moved, had taken his token from the machine and driven past the automatic barrier only to find the way in was blocked by a gate - leaving him with no way in or out. He'd rang for assistance and was told curtly it was his fault anyway and what did he expect if he moved the sign! Not surprisingly he was almost literally hopping mad. Meanwhile I tried to find somewhere else to park before my train left but no such luck - the only car parks available for all day parking were some distance away, so there was no way of getting back for my train.

The way back home in the evening was no better - my train was destined for Birmingham, where I could change for another to Preston, however when I arrived at the station I discovered it had been cancelled. Great! So my improvised journey back involved changing trains at Nuneaton and again at Crewe, and both these trains ended up being late, although according to Virgin if a train arrives within 10 minutes of its scheduled time, then it's classed as being on time (I wonder if their staff are afforded similar leeway when they arrive late for work?).

Eventually I made it home an hour later than planned. Will I be travelling by train again in a hurry? Perhaps, but only because the alternatives these days aren't any better.

Waiting on station platforms gets boring after a while.