Nick Jackson

For once I’m not going to complain about something! I love the way that children are still inspired and made to go “wow” by the rail network.

Whilst heading home yesterday, I intended to catch the 1809 service from Lincoln Central to Newark North Gate (Operated by East Midlands Trains), from there to catch the NXEC service to Leeds. Unfortunately, upon arriving at Lincoln, I discovered that my train had been cancelled.

At this time of year, the reasons for cancelling trains are wide and varied. The wrong kind of frost on the line, snow, inclement weather, and attack of killer snowmen are all possibilities. My train was cancelled for an altogether less acceptable reason - a shortage of train crews.

Now, call me cynical, but aren’t the timetables for trains available months in advance? This is plenty of time to make sure there are crews for all timetabled services. If there aren’t, don’t timetable them in the first place!

A huge thanks to National Express, who have finally got the hang of this customer service thing in providing free WiFi on their East Coast train service. This is a welcome departure from GNER’s somewhat irritating “Pay us $100,000,000 for the privilege of connecting!” stance, however in the spirit of being big business they still ask for some information - namely your email address so that they may better spam you with unwanted offers.

Surely if you’re offering free WiFi, you may as well just leave it open and not require a HTML login form so that users with browserless devices (VoIP phones, for example) can take advantage. Oh well, it’s still better than nothing.

Getting from Lincoln to Leeds on a Friday is fun, including a change at Newark. On the plus side, I have a reserved seat from Newark to Leeds, so I can do some work!

You’ve usually got around 2,000 horsepower. Put your fucking foot down!

Addendum: following this freight train, we remained stood at the level crossing for 13 minutes before the barriers raised. No other train went by.