Welcome
One of the privileges of this job is the opportunity to go behind the scenes and see aspects of the working railway that are unknown to the travelling public.
So it was for me on a November evening. Frequent trips to events in London mean I am familiar with an evening ride down the Midland main line to my home in the East Midlands. But this was different – East Midlands Trains’ Driver Strategy Manager Martin Ward kindly offered me the opportunity to ride ‘up front’ and see the journey from the driver’s perspective, and the different challenges presented by a dark autumnal evening.
Our 19.55 HST departure leaves spot on time, but I am all too familiar with the prospect of following a late-running Thameslink service until it crosses from the fast to the slow lines. As we reach St Albans, I comment (perhaps unwisely) that things are going well in this regard, but just past Luton the green aspects turn to yellow as a Bedford-bound service crosses at Leagrave – only three minutes late, but enough to hold us up. Ordinarily, the braking would have prompted me to check Realtime Trains to identify the guilty party, but there are no such luxuries in the cab, of course, with my phone safely turned off.
We…
