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With the Newcastle home game kicking off at 8:15pm, the 2321 departure to Ashington will come in handy. It is also 2 x 156. The only one of the day, it seems.

The old ones were comfy but they quickly needed a refurb’. I much prefer them to the LNER seats, although you are tightly packed in. Anyway, I digress. I get staff travel but £13.90 advance from Morpeth to Glasgow isn’t bad at all.

Might have to do a Morpeth - Glasgow run in the New Year. I haven’t been on Lumo since they refurbished the seats.

Would you not have to do something with Ashington Station if that were to happen? It is for terminating trains only at the moment. Good to see the appetite for it, though. Newbiggin can be the new Beadnell!

Very true. In the New Year, hopefully we will get dates for Bedlington and Northumberland Park.

It looked like a lot of the Newcastle - MetroCentre trains were getting cancelled, too. I'll be travelling on the Tyne Valley next week and I'm interested on how the timetable will be embedded. Train Crew Issues = High levels of sickness due to flu, Wear/Tyne Derby and using up leave before...

A lot of work has been done by Network Rail preparing for this. Internally, there has been a big focus on avoiding service affecting failures and make sure the optics and PR are good for the 10 days up until Christmas. Does anyone know how the TOC feel about it? Nervous? Excited?

Hexham is decent. Cosy may be pushing it. Nice bar on the station with a historic footbridge and signal box. Corbridge, too, if you’re in the Indian restaurant!

Wrong choice of words. All covered, I should’ve said.

On the handful of occasions I have had to get a taxi due to disruption and missing the last train, LNER have been spot on in arranging a taxi from Newcastle going north. All paid for by LNER upfront and no money to be claimed back. Last time, I got out at Morpeth whilst the other passengers...

You may just have been unlucky. I think TPE have been generally decent over the past 18 months and certainly an improvement on the chaos beforehand. Mind, I can only say this for Newcastle - Edinburgh, and Newcastle to Manchester. Couldn’t comment on other routes. Their First Class offering is...

I remember listening to a programme on Radio 4 about pioneering NHS Trusts working to improve hospital meals through initiatives like cooking from scratch, sourcing local ingredients, and incorporating dietetic leadership to meet diverse patient needs. The outcome of this was that they actually...

Of course. I'm no health puritan and can pouch a couple of Kit Kat Chunkys with a cup of tea with the best of them. My thinking was based on being tired, on a dark evening, on a train and the options were limited to chocolate, crips etc. when I think my body was calling out for something a tad...

Yes, this is the case and, ultimately, bottom lines matter. One can dream! If you are lucky, you can go to M&S near a station and not pay the 20% uplift in price.

Is there a market for actual decent, fresh food on a trolley service? It seems that barring the odd First Class offering, most options on board a train are ultra processed rubbish that is wrapped in various bits of plastic. I know there is the logistical problem to solve but would something...

Indeed, so. I’m currently at Darlington watching them go North and they are pretty much full.

I did see a slideshow that said that the December 2025 timetable would bring in an extra £60 million per annum. LNER will be on the hook for it as a lot of Network Rail's capital funding has been spent on East Coast in the last five years or so preparing for this change. Projects such as Kings...

It will be, as it always is, about money. If you want a laugh, you should read their TripAdvisor reviews. They'll need a lot of PR expertise to recover their reputation. This week, I just couldn't face a 4 car Voyager from Birmingham New Street to Newcastle. It was late, the platform was rammed...

I was at a conference when the Head of Operational Planning at LNER gave a talk. It was very commercially driven with all the talk about increasing revenue, reducing subsidy and the usual stuff. It was interesting that he did say that legally TOCs are not allowed to discuss fare structures...

Reston. Lots of concrete on the edge of a windswept village with no amenities, a row of council houses and an empty car park. Utter bereft of any character, service or need.