Way back in 1993, John Major decided to privatise the railways. It was the last of the great industries nationalised by Labour after WWII that was still in state ownership. The rest had been sold off along with water companies, telephones and the rest by Margaret Thatcher's privatisation obsessed government in the 1980s. "Selling off the family silver," said the Earl of Stockton [Harold Macmillan]. Now, John Major wondering what to do next, anxious to distract the Tory Party from their obsession with Europe and wanting to look busy, decided that selling off the railways would be a grand scheme to mark the peak of his Premiership. This obsession with wanting to do something, to write themselves into the history books is a sickness that gets to many politicians at some time or other in their careers. They plough ahead when Sir Humphrey Appleby's recommendation of studied inactivity would be a preferred approach. The whole railway privatisation scheme was completely mad, of course, and anyone who had more than a passing acquaintance with Thomas the Tank Engine would have realised the end result would be a disaster. So it has proved. The railway system doesn't work very well; services have got worse; fair structure is incomprehensible; and most oddly, the system requires much bigger subsidies than it ever did when it was state owned. Of course, bit by bit it is being re-nationalised - even if we are not supposed to say so.
Like so many [all?] big businesses these days, the customer exists only to finance the operation so that they can pay the staff - some of them with massive salaries and bonuses. Many years ago, a friend of mine condemned a hotel in Bedfordshire on the grounds that it was expensive and he was left with the impression that the only reason he was allowed through the doors was because he had come to pay. The railways are a bit like that. They are also, apparently, the most expensive in Europe to run. Today, Friday 20th May 2011 marks a critical step in the running down of the railways. For it is today that the 19.33 train from London's King's Cross to Leeds will be the last train on the whole of the rail network to be equipped with a Restaurant Car. It seems unbelievable but, incredibly, it is true. From now on, food will be served only to First Class passengers and this will be in the form of an airline type meal on a tray. It was suggested by Michael Williams that the bureaucrats and accountants who run the railways see trains as no more than aeroplanes without wings. All the romance has gone out of travel. No longer do we have the flying boats connecting to the Empire and stopping off over-night in Kenya and Singapore with small numbers of passengers transported in luxury with room to move about. Are there any trains like the old Orient Express? The Pullman service is long gone in Britain - even if a group of enthusiasts is trying to resurrect and preserve the old Brighton Belle.
I rarely use the trains these days. They are fantastically expensive and the old-fashioned courtesy and service have gone. I use to travel regularly to Manchester [in the 1970s on the much derided British Railways] taking the 8.00 am train from Euston to Manchester Piccadilly. This train always had two Restaurant Cars and they served breakfast in two sittings - there was plenty of time in the 2½ hour journey to Manchester. The breakfast was available to all passengers 1st and 3rd Class, and cost, if my memory is correct, 15/- [75p]. It was a sumptuous meal that provided calories enough to get through the whole day. There were eggs [fried, scrambled or poached], bacon, sausages, black pudding, tomatoes, beans, mushrooms, fried bread [lovely on a cold February morning], lots of toast and jam, honey or marmalade. And as much tea or coffee as you could drink. There were options of haddock or kippers or boiled eggs or, for the anorexic wanna-bes, there was the cheaper "continental" breakfast. Those who arrived at Euston to board the train early[ish] would find a seat in the train, mark it with a coat or book and go immediately to the restaurant car. Passengers would be invited to the second sitting at about the time we reached Coventry. In the evening we could return - all business completed - on the 18.00 train from Manchester Piccadilly arriving in London at about 20.40. This splendid train had three Restaurant Cars. The dinner on this train was a four course affair and having decided that you had the appetite you would find your seat in the Restaurant Car and stay there all the way to London. Again all passengers could eat here. The price was 25/- [£1.25]. Even then, it was extraordinarily good value and made travelling by train a pleasure. With your friends, companions, business colleagues or even strangers you could find the journey passed in no time. The food was excellent, the service of the best and they offered a good selection of wines and beers. Many times I enjoyed day trips to Manchester even though it was a 17 hour day.
Now they have the Pendolino. A wonderful train, but why can't they have an old fashioned, yet wonderful Restaurant Car service? But the price. If I want food now, I have to travel 1st Class and a 1st Class return from/to London/Manchester costs the incredible sum of £399.00. I can fly to California for that much money. They may think of trains as aeroplanes with no wings but removing the wings does seem to cost an awful lot of money.
Once I travelled back from Birmingham to London on an early evening train that was not well-filled and there were but a handful of passengers in the single Restaurant Car. One of these was Shaw Taylor, best-known at the time for the Police 5 programme - a forerunner of Crimewatch - that he presented on ITV. Again the food was wonderful but above all, I remember the delicious plaice - the best I have ever tasted - and offered in seconds and thirds because they had so few passengers that day. That happened 35 years ago but I can still savour that excellent fish. Why are the managers of today's railways so lacking in any sense of history, romance or real urge to serve the public. Brunel, Gresley, Stanier, Bulleid will all be turning in their graves if their spirits are able to view the atrocities that their noble railways have become.
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