I'd been to a conference in London. Walking back to Euston for the Crewe train. I was bemused by the arm of a tower crane spinning! At the station it was chaos, with no main line trains running because the wires were down. After hanging about for a couple of hours, the tannoy unexpectedly announced a special for West Coast line passengers was going run from St Pancras. A phalanx of desperate would-be travellers surged along the Euston Road for the Midland line terminus. The well-overloaded special left at 8.53pm, reaching Bedford at 10.14, reversing to Bletchley to join the WCML at Bletchley by 11.08 and disgorging me at Crewe one minute before 2.00pm. As the class 87 (87207) braved the night towards Carlisle, British Rail laid on a special for Chester, from which we disembarked at 2.54am. Full marks to BR that night for their efforts. That was an adventure. Not so yesterday (27.11.19) 30 years on - and 30 years older - when the wires were down north of Preston, causing me to have to abandon a much-anticipated meeting and event in Edinburgh. Rod.
