A Series of Short Train Journeys (and Some Unfortunate Events)

Three Rail Trips in Five Days

It so happened that Lincolnshire's "half-term" holiday seemed to be a week earlier than most other counties', so by the time our grandchildren, none of whom live in the county, came to stay for a few days each there was little open for them to do. That was fine, we made quite a lot of entertainment at home, but it also meant that having the little poppets, joy though it is, would leave me fairly exhausted just before a couple of busy days. We never shrink from a challenge, though, and for me one highlight was taking my little grandson home to Letchworth Garden City on the Thursday of the week in time to do the All Hallows Eve stuff that Granny and Grandpa don't do and leaving two of his cousins to help Granny with making the Christmas cake and Christmas pudding, which she had promised they could do. 

The trip to Letchworth would be fun on several counts: first, I would get a big chunk of the day with a child I seldom get to myself; it would be reminiscent of the days out I used to have with my own sons when they were this sort of age, and I looked forward to it enormously. Second, although we often visit the family in Letchworth we almost always drive because the railway journey is not exactly convenient, but that day we were in no hurry at all, wanting to leave early to let the others get on with their baking but need not to get there too soon as the parents were both working in the morning. Third, I could make it a bit of an adventure for myself by taking him one way and returning home another way, using a route I have not used for many decades.

We bought our tickets at the station, a return for me and a single for my grandson, and boarded the 09:54 for Stansted Airport. There was loads of space when we boarded at Stamford and we sat opposite each other at a table, both having a window seat and able to converse face-to-face. It was a bright morning and all was going really well, although the train was just a touch late.

It began to unravel at Peterborough when a huge influx of passengers came aboard, including what seemed to be about fifty Spanish students, some of whom claimed the seats we were in - fair enough, they had seat reservations on their smartphones, but the staff and not labelled the seats or we'd never have taken them. They took pity on me and let me stay, and I reciprocated by hoisting my little companion on my lap for the rest of the ride to Cambridge where we were due to change trains. Not the most comfortable trip I've ver had, but I was at least sitting down and we still enjoyed each other's company. Seldom have I seen these trains so busy on this section of the line - the presumed student party all had substantial suitcases, too, and the little train really did struggle to take them all.

By the time we arrived at Cambridge the train was several minutes down and we had quite a trek to our connection. It was unfortunate that the following train to Letchworth had been cancelled, so in order to avoid arriving an hour later than promised we really had to make that connection. So we stood by the door and I briefed the little lad on the need to walk quickly and stay close to me and that I would carry his luggage (he'd taken his own so far - so sweet). We went as fast as my atrial fibrillation and his little legs would permit and made the connection with one minute to spare! One piece of faff and we'd have been sunk.

Our train to Letchworth Garden City was very spacious and comfortable compared with the one we'd arrived on at Cambridge, and we had the facility to keep my phone charged as well. Oh to have better trains on our local line which is, after all, a route between Cambridge and Birmingham via Peterborough and Leicester, no mean cities. It was a short trip to Letchworth and when we left the train and made our way out of the station we took a taxi to the family home, not far, but we were short of time before lunch which had to be fitted in before theatre booking for my daughter and grandson (while I would travel home on my own). I must say it was good to be able to walk out of a station and straight into a taxi: that seldom happens in Stamford.

The three of us had lunch together at a Loungers restaurant and then said our farewells and I made my way to the station for my trip home. I would return the other way, taking a train to Hitchin, one stop towards London, and then down the main line to Peterborough for my connection to Stamford. There were some delays and cancellations owing to a points failure between Royston and Cambridge but that did not affect my journey and I was able to sit in the waiting room with the coffee I had bought at the station kiosk to round off my lunch. At Hitchin I had a short wait for the Thameslink train to Peterborough which left on time and took me to my on-time train home. It had been a good day, but I should have preferred to be without the drama of the outward journey with its lack of reservation cards and extremely tight connection, the first of the Unfortunate Events.

The children had all gone by Friday and normality began to resume, but then on Saturday I had a trip to London and left home a little earlier than I had on Thursday, taking the 07:54 train to Peterborough for a London connection. Again, I bought my ticket at the station ticket office so that I could discuss the best fare for my journey: apps and websites tend to sell you the quickest/soonest journey which is not always what you prefer. I ended up with a return that was good value and restricted me to Thameslink or Great Northern for the main line section, which suited me well this time because it gave me a choice of central London stations. All my trains were on time on this occasion, but when I boarded the Peterborough train at Stamford station it soon became clear that there were no seats spare. A lot of people were already on board and by their clothing it looked like they were going to a football match somewhere. No matter: I was only going a very short distance and was quite content to stand in the vestibule area - as we sometimes do from choice when we have a lot of luggage, although this time I had little. This was the second Unfortunate Event, although in the great scheme of things it was not too unfortunate!

"A Foggy Day in London Town:" the view from Blackfriars station

The Thameslink train to London took me direct through to London Blackfriars from where I could easily walk via Blackfriars Road to my meeting. Indeed, so efficient was the travel that I was early and went for coffee at a chain coffee shop around the corner from my meeting venue in Southwark.  Blackfriars Road was eerily quiet: it is largely buses, taxis, cycles and access only, and all the buses and taxis I saw were electric; in London delivery vans are largely electric, too, and a high proportion of the cars are electric. It did seem very strange, and very, very welcome. Probably the quietest it has ever been, horse-drawn carriages being at least noisy as motor traffic.

After my meeting I struggled a bit with Thameslink's app which seemed to suggest that there were large gaps in the timetable so I caught a bus to Kings Cross thinking that in the event of a problem I might get a Great Northern train from there instead, and the bus ought to get me there in time for the Thameslink train I wanted from St Pancras if it were running as planned ... but the bus was held up in roadworks and time slipped by. It terminated in York Road, beside Kings Cross, and I hoofed it round the corner and across the Kings Cross forecourt to St Pancras, down the escalators onto the Thameslink platforms (in the cellar!) with just three minutes to go until my train to Peterborough came into the platform, on time, having called at Blackfriars ... nothing wrong with it at all and there had been no need for the bus or the hurry, the next Unfortunate Event. The rest of the trip home was uneventful, mercifully, and I was home on time, but I could have done without the fuss. Again, the train from Peterborough to Stamford was pretty full; this time everyone who wanted a seat had one but there were few empty seats. Travel has definitely returned and on this line in particular it seems to me that there are more people travelling than ever, in spite of the persistent gaps in the timetable. Where we would like to have a half-hourly service there is not even a full hourly service, but at least Cross Country Trains have now acquired enough coaches for all the train to have three, rather than some having only two.

Two days later I had three successive meetings in Lincoln, and I don't recall any Unfortunate Events that day, mercifully! It all went very smoothly, both meeting-wise and travel-wise! This was more like the sort of trip I like to describe here, positive and encouraging - although, having said that, the previous two trips did work and all was well in the end.

I don't think I'll ever quite understand UK rail ticketing, even though I am a frequent traveller on many routes, and especially between Stamford and Lincoln or London. This time my best option turned out to be a Standard Class Anytime day return through to Lincoln and back; no split tickets, not separate out and back. I could use any train and because my first engagement in Lincoln was not until 11:00 I could await the LNER Azuma at Peterborough instead of the slightly earlier East Midlands Railway local service via Spalding and Sleaford. This would be more comfortable and give me the option of on-board catering if I required it. I would also finish my last engagement there in convenient time for taking a LNER service back to Peterborough, so I would use their trains both ways, nd in the case of the return trip it would get me home earlier, although it is always good to know that EMR operate a more frequent service and if I am running late there will always be another train. On the way out, though, it did seem strange to see my usual EMR train leave while I waited for the express ... On these work trips, the time spend waiting for connections is never wasted, giving the opportunity to catch up with email and, for me, usually preparing for the meeting I am to attend. On the occasions I have to drive to Lincoln I have to remember to prepare in advance - and then I am never so well prepared after a night's sleep and an hour's drive.

It was an intensive five days' travel by my standards, all short, bitty journeys that are not kind of trips that most of us would naturally take by rail as a first thought (except perhaps the London one), but they all worked very well. I do like to take the challenge of managing without the car, and almost never find myself wishing I had driven instead. I do often find myself wishing the railway service were better: more frequent trans on our local line, and later trains, too, especially at weekends, would be a huge improvement. Better Sunday service to and from Lincoln, and, most of all: easier-to-understand ticketing! More frequent trains automatically leads to better connections, too. But even as things are, I do find the train a good option most of the time, and best option fairly often, too.

A Weekend in Lincoln

Lincoln Has a Better Train Service Than Ever, but What About Sundays?

I had been invited to a special service at Lincoln Cathedral to celebrate, or at least to mark, the 150th anniversary of the founding of the erstwhile Theological College there which I had attended from 1980 to 1983 but which had been closed for some years now. There would be a chance to meet some old friends from those days (although I knew not who or how many) as well as some people I knew who had been there before or after me, so I leapt at the chance to go. As it happened, my wife would be at the cathedral on the day before, attending the first meeting of the newly-elected Diocesan Synod. As we had little else on that weekend we decided to make a weekend break out of it, and as, for various reasons, we, and especially she, had used our car rather a lot recently, we would go by train and relax properly. We booked two nights at the newly-refurbished White Hart Hotel in Bailgate, where we had stayed briefly a few months earlier, and I ensured that there were suitable train services. This last was especially important because we would be returning on a Sunday evening, after the early-evening service and the socialising over refreshments which would follow it, not knowing how long we should wish to stay to that.

On Sundays the roughly-hourly East Midlands train service via Sleaford and Spalding does not operate; it is Monday-Saturday only, so there would be a much-reduced choice of trains, all going on the LNER route via Newark and Grantham. However, it all looked fine, with trains back at a couple of suitable times in the evening which would allow enough flexibility, and with Super Off Peak tickets we would not be at all restricted.

So we set off from Stamford on a Friday afternoon and during our change-of-train at Peterborough bought tea (well, it was tea time!) to drink on the East Midlands Railway train to Lincoln. This service now uses decent trains with comfortable seats but still does not have any on-board catering, so we either have to take our own or buy at the station. Arriving at Lincoln we made our way across to the bus station and took the next bus up to the Cathedral, about a five-minute wait for a five-minute ride. It was then a short walk to the White Hart where we checked in and unpacked in our cosy and well-appointed room. We booked dinner in the hotel for the first night and really enjoyed the meal, served by friendly and efficient staff.

Breakfast at the hotel on Saturday morning was another matter: despite being almost the first to arrive when the dining room opened we were almost the last to be served, and my wife had a meeting to get to. I had given up and hurriedly eaten a croissant when my poached egg finally arrived - I managed about half of it when we had to rush off. Not good, but a chat with the duty manager elicited not just an apology but a substantial discount on the total bill which made everything look all right again and, sure enough, the following morning we were very well served indeed and we shall look to stay at the White Hart again when we need a hotel in uphill Lincoln. To be fair, the breakfast service was difficult that morning because a large party all needed to be ready at once, and there was also a wedding party all wanting time to get ready for the big event. And us ... and they didn't start until quite late on Saturdays so we all arrived in a short time - but still, we could have been served in order of arrival.

I went off around the city centre shops during the meeting, and in the afternoon attended a service at the cathedral marking thirty years since the first ordination of women priests in the Church of England (brilliant sermon!) while my wife went round the city centre shops. In the evening we went to an Italian restaurant in downhill Lincoln and then found a bus back up the hill at bedtime - not so easy as bus services thin out substantially after the evening peak, but it was OK provided we used the timetable (I use the live departures on Apple Maps on my iPhone) rather than just turn up and wait as we can do during the day. It was essential to get a bus (or taxi otherwise) because my current health condition would not easily cope with climbing the hill - anyone who thinks Lincolnshire is flat needs to see Lincoln.

Sunday morning breakfast could not have gone better, then we attended the morning Sung Eucharist at the Cathedral, had a rather less-then-usual Sunday lunch after the gastronomic delights of the previous two evenings and made our way back to the Cathedral for the special afternoon Evensong. It was good to meet some old friends and acquaintances, as well as some newer and current ones who had been at the college after my time. Two former members of staff who are now retired bishops were present, one of them preaching.

We had spoken to everyone we knew and exchanged contact details with some with whom we had lost touch and it was time to make our way home. The vergers had kindly stowed our luggage in their vestry and once I had recovered it we said our farewells and walked to the station. We'd had a choice of a departure which had a short wait at Newark and a long wait at Peterborough, or one that had a long wait at Newark and a short wait at Peterborough: we took the former, a long wait at Newark being a daunting prospect. Peterborough station is drab enough but Newark Northgate can be grim on an autumn night! In the event we arrived at Peterborough and decided to call a private-hire cab to take us home - this cost us an extra £25 but we were home before the long wait at Peterborough would have ended! We really do need a more frequent service between Peterborough and Stamford, or maybe we just need more Sunday services everywhere - the options for coming home were very sparse compared with the outward trip. Nevertheless, it was a great weekend, and I maintain still better than taking the car, with no restriction on drinking wine with friends and no trying to drive in the dark while tired after doing so much.

On the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express

Travelling home from Venice on a special train service

On our last morning in Venice our journey with Belmond began: the centrepiece, of course, was their luxury re-creation of the Orient Express train, but it began with a representative meeting us at our hotel and taking us and our suitcases to a private-hire water taxi for the trip to Venice Santa Lucia railway station to wait for our train. It did not properly end until we arrived in London St Pancras in Eurostar's Business Premier Class which was an integral part of the Belmond package.

Given the gastronomic experience we were expecting during the 24 hours on board the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express it might have been better for our health to have walked to the railway station, but the boat service was provided as part of the through journey, and it was in any case great to have one last trip up part of the grand canal. On arrival at the railway station waterbus terminal a team of porters was standing by to take our luggage which would be delivered to our allocated compartment. Those with more luggage than ours would have their larger cases stowed in a baggage car, just taking to their compartments what they would need overnight.

And so we arrived at Venezia Santa Lucia railway station and made our way to platform 2 where our escort went to the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express desk that had been set up there, ensuring that our arrival had been noted. The train was brought into the platform about half an hour before departure so that there was an unhurried boarding and loading of luggage. As a fan of Art Deco style and the inter-war "Dieselpunk" era, this journey was something I had wanted to do for a long time, and I was not disappointed in the slightest. The Art Deco feel of this train has been so well preserved, restored and enhanced, even though modern features like wi-fi and, discreetly hidden, electric charging points have been installed. 

Our steward Gloria took our passports in case they needed to be seen at a border in the night, put our luggage on the rack and introduced us to the features of our compartment - critically, how to lock the door! -  and a waiter came along and poured Champagne into the two flute glasses that stood waiting on the table. The Maitre D came along and asked our preference for the noon or two o'clock sitting for lunch, which, of course, was linked to the seven or nine o'clock sitting for dinner (we went for the earlier in both cases).

The train trundled away falteringly from Venice to begin with, with frequent stops and often moving slowly, but soon it was noon and we washed our hands in our little wash basin and made our way to the third restaurant car,  l'Oriental, for lunch, which was an unhurried affair with included Champagne and a wide variety of wine available, most of it included, but you could easily spend a few hundred pounds on special vintages if you wished to do so. The three-course lunch was delicious and relaxing: we accompanied it with a non-alcoholic rosé, given the amount of Champagne we had already had and that dinner with more alcohol would be coming along later. A meal on a train is always rather special, and in an Art Deco restaurant car in Italy especially special!

 

The train eventually arrived at Verona where the first locomotive change took place. Here we took an opportunity to have a stroll on the platform - just a little more exercise - and reboarded the train when the rain started. It was a fair while before we got going again, and the next service train from the same platform was indicated running 72 minutes late, which made us wonder what sort of disruption was holding us up and for how long. But once we got going we moved fairly swiftly, more like an express train, and were soon into Alpine mountain scenery. Before long Gloria came to our compartment offering afternoon tea, which include a variety of teas and some small pastries, both savoury and sweet. 

I wrote some postcards to the family (which I knew would arrive long after we were home, but they would be posted with the special Venice Simplon-Orient-Express postmark and would be nice for our family members to receive) and then we repaired to the bar car, which we had not yet seen, for a cocktail before dressing for dinner. I could not resist ordering the Vesper Martini, but I am unsure whether it was shaken or stirred. The bar car had a very relaxing lounge-like atmosphere and our drinks were served with a selection of nibbles - you do not go hungry on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express! And so back to our compartment to dress for dinner. Now, smart clothing is required throughout a journey on this train, and I did wear a jacket and tie for lunch, but for dinner, "formal" wear is required and so we did wash and change into formal evening wear. Two people changing their clothes in the confines of a railway compartment is quite a challenge but we did manage within the hour we had allocated to present ourselves smartly attired ready for dinner.

Dinner was in a different restaurant car from lunch, the idea being that we would get to experience everything the train had to offer in our twenty-four hours aboard. This time we were in the Côte d'Azur car, all decorated in blue. This was my favourite, and it was good to have the longest mealtime there. Most people played the game and turned up in formal clothes, some really spectacular, and no-one was in less than a jacket and tie. Once more this was a leisurely meal with all the water and wine you could wish, and started with Champagne. We were not far into the meal when darkness came and we were travelling through the night. The route took us through the Alps to Innsbruck in Austria where the train reversed and made its way eastwards through Liechtenstein towards France. No murders so far, although there was a party of some fifty Americans on board, so the Agatha Christie scenario was not impossible. No Russian assassin attempting to kill a British assassin, either. Time to get ready for bed, and if dressing for dinner in the daytime compartment was a challenge, undressing for bed in a compartment which had been transformed by our attendant into a bedroom with a ladder to the top bunk was even more so! At least the ladder meant that we could easily access our cases on the luggage rack if we needed to get something out or put something away, and actually the compartment was so well designed that we really did not get in each other's way very much. 

The bed - I had the lower bunk - was surprisingly comfortable and I had a decent night's sleep (better than our last night at the Venice hotel, in fact), until we stopped somewhere and our compartment was immediately next to the cooling fans of a locomotive on the next track. Neither it nor our train was going anywhere for some time, and noise came and went frequently as the locomotive's thermostat required it. This felt like it had been going on for a long time, but this can be deceiving, before at last the sound began to fade and I realised from the slight sounds from below that we were on the move again. By now it was two hours to our accustomed morning alarm, and I had the best part of that asleep.

It was still dark when we awoke and dressed, taking the opportunity to repack our suitcases as we went along, so that by the time we went for breakfast our compartment was reasonably tidy. It was daylight when we arrived at the restaurant car Étoile du Nord for breakfast. There was a small basket of pastries on the table which we ignored until after we had eaten a fruit salad and, in my case, the best-tasting poached eggs on toast that I have ever eaten. We stayed at our table for some time enjoying the views of countryside not unlike that at home, and drinking coffee and water, then we returned to our compartment which in our absence had been converted back into a sitting space. The train was by then through Dijon and making its way eastward on time towards Paris. The sun was shining, it was a lovely morning to be travelling.

When we arrived at Paris Gare d'Austerlitz it was still sunny and although the air temperature was quite cool, it did not feel particularly cold in the sunshine. The train crew had taken our luggage onto the platform and we collected it and wished them farewell, but our exciting and special journey was not yet over. Since the withdrawal of the through service to and from London Victoria using Belmond's British Pullman train, the Venice to London service now uses the Eurostar in Business Premier Class to complete the London stage of the journey, so we were now to experience Business Premier Class on Eurostar for the first - and quite possibly only - time. But plenty of time had been allowed before the Eurostar train departure from Paris Gare du Nord, so we decided to go for a little stroll along the Seine rather than just take the Metro straight there. As we walked we felt warmer and warmer in the sun. We went as far as the west front of Notre Dame cathedral and then took the Metro from Cité station direct to Gare du Nord, where the signage all seems to have changed since our last visit, with the Eurostar terminal now being designated "Hall 2", with the Union Flag appearing next to it. 

Even after our stroll we still had lots of time before the train to London, but that was fine, because a big part of the Eurostar Business Premier Class for Venice Simplon-Orient-Express passengers is the availability of the Business Premier Lounge while waiting. Another advantage would have been the fast-track queue at the ticket gates, but there were only two or three people in front of us anyway, so that didn't make any real difference! We did get nice smiles from the Eurostar staff, though, amusingly. The lack of crowds made the whole security process so much more relaxed, and I was pleased to note that the scanning of luggage etc at Gare du Nord seems to have improved since my last visit, and the electronic passport gates on the UK passport control had worked this time and let me straight through. There was no queue at all at the French passport control desk, either. Once through passport and security checks we took the lift up to the Business Premier Lounge, showed our tickets, sat down and relaxed. I could not get the phone-charging sockets to work, but that was not important this time, fortunately. We helped ourselves to coffee and snacks, then later a cold drink, while we awaited the boarding of our train, which was scheduled to leave three minutes earlier than when it had been booked, such is the way with Eurostar trains.

As soon as our train left Paris we were served drinks. We chose Champagne; after all, this was a part of our Orient-Express experience! The meal was soon served, but I missed a trick in not asking for wine to go with the meal when the drinks were brought, but we did have plenty of water. In Business Premier Class there is an option of a hot dish, and on our train it was trout and very good indeed. This was a light three-course meal with starter, main and dessert and although not quite Orient-Express standard was pretty good. The meal finished before we reached the Channel Tunnel and before long we were at St Pancras International station, with plenty of time to go before our booked train to Peterborough and connection home to Stamford - I dare not arrange it any tighter because of the multiple opportunities for schedule to slip before we got to London, but in fact nothing held us up at all and we had as long in the First Class Lounge at Kings Cross as we did in the Business Premier Lounge at Gare du Nord.

Our train left Kings Cross on time and we were served the usual refreshments, although we did not need a lot after the week, and the day, we had been enjoying. The train did encounter a few shorts delays which made the connection to Stamford rather tight, but we made it with a couple of minutes to spare and arrived at Stamford exactly on schedule - and without having to hang around on Peterborough station. Our kind next-door neighbour picked us up by car and drove us the last half-mile home: it's a lovely walk in the summer but we were glad of a lift this time.

When we left home six days before I said it was hard to believe that we were going on this adventure (and as I write this I have not yet published that part of the story!), and now we are back I find it hard to believe that we have done it! The legendary Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, ticked off the The List. 

Video presentation of the whole holiday in Venice and 

the journey on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express