Back, ten or a dozen years ago, I researched and wrote a series of articles for RAIL magazine, looking at journeys which could once have been made easily by rail but which now require a ridiculous commitment of time and money if one persists in using only rail transport. For instance, I live in a former station on what was the Northampton to Peterborough line. The journey from Barnwell to Northampton, 28 miles, took around one hour by train. My journey for the RAIL article, involved driving to Peterborough (the bus service that replaced the train no longer serves Barnwell) taking the train from Peterborough to King's Cross, walking up Euston Road to Euston station and taking the train from there to Northampton. It was, frankly, absurd, and the only reason anyone would make such a journey would be for the pleasure of riding on the trains. These days, given the rail strikes and all the other troubles that afflict the railway, that'sadubious pleasure.
It wasn't always so. One of the other journeys which I undertook for , was from Staines (my home town) to Aylesbury. I had an ulterior motive in that I wanted to see the line-up of withdrawn railcars at Aylesbury.
