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I just thought I would take the opportunity to introduce the folks here to two of my favorite newspaper columnists, Caitlin Moran and Jane Shilling of The Times of London. They both have substantial references to trains in their most recent articles, so that's my justification. If you read through Caitlin's "How proof of our marital fidelity collapsed overnight", http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/caitlin_moran/article1499052.ece Caitlin talks about her husbands regular business trips home to London aboard the sleeper train from Edinborough or Glasgow, Scotland. He usually flies up and then takes the train overnight back. If you haven't read Caitlin before, be forewarned. She has a very cutting sense of wit in the English sense, which I really love, but it may be a little hard to swallow for the uninitiated and she is certainly not for schoolkids. You also have to remember she is always being somewhat tongue in cheek and somewhat not, that's the fun of it. Some people like her style of humor, some don't. Anyway, I think she is an awesome talent as far as writing goes.
And Jane Shilling's most recent " Better to be outside sweeping than inside weeping" http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/jane_shilling/article1488850.ece In this story she talks about her interesting train trip that went wrong, with a bus bridge, a slow train and a d-o-g! (Curiously, the trainweb forum would not allow the previous word without the hyphens, If I say *** it gets blocked out,but with spaces I can say d-o-g, but not without, doggonit anyway!!
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She's a great wit. I plan to read more of her stuff. And she's right, every successful marriage has its own little quirks that make it work. (No, I'm not going to tell you ours, but it has held us together 24 years.)
Speaking of quirks, the D-O-G that becomes a *** is one of those intangible things that binds the members of this forum together in such a civilized fashion as to make other rail discussion forums seem like downtown Baghdad by comparison.
Geoff M Member # 153
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As it happens, I've just got back from doing the sleeper from Edinburgh to London Euston (Caitlin might want to check the schedules here - King's Cross hasn't seen a sleeper for years).
My purpose was to visit a new signalling centre in Edinburgh. The original plan was to fly (I live an hour west of London). But that involves: - 2 hours to drive to Heathrow and park - 2 hours to check-in and negotiate security - 1.5 hour flying time - 0.5 hour to get baggage and find a taxi - 0.5 hour to get into Edinburgh city centre Find a hotel, then do the reverse the following morning.
Or: 6.5 hours on two trains, where I can sit back and relax, have a huge steak in the dining car, pretend to do some work on my laptop, and arrive in comfort. Do my visit, jump on the sleeper, arrive home by 9am.
And the price? The train was cheaper, once you took the hotel, taxis, and parking into account.
For those that may be curious, the standard sleeper compartments are twin bunk beds, stretched laterally across most of the width of the car (like Superliner Deluxe accomodation), have sinks and amenity kits in the room, and the train has a lounge car serving drinks and light refreshments. Breakfast consists of tea, coffee, or juice served with a small snack pack (croissant, muffin, and some yoghurt), delivered to your room before arrival.
As our country is somewhat small, the trains have to be slowed to 80mph with a couple of long stops in order to arrive at a more respectable 7am. It's also the longest scheduled passenger train at 14 passenger cars between London and Carstairs - though they are joined/divided there to form portions to different areas of Scotland.
The D0G episode is rather depressing but completely believable unfortunately. Luckily we're not all like that.
Geoff M.
Mr. Toy Member # 311
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I wish Amtrak's overnight trains had to be slowed to 80 MPH to make decent schedules!
Amtrak207 Member # 1307
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Regarding the "magical transformation from puppy to ***," I have been tempted (For the past five years!) to do a test post and figure out exactly which words are posted on here and which ones don't make the cut.
I was thinking of something I'd call the "(George) Carlin Method." Maybe it would turn out like this: http://carlinradio.ytmnd.com/
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