Far From Home

I have a dreadful confession.  Actually it’s probably not a confession, as it may well have become clear to those who follow anything I do artistically, and also I blame my son. But… I am a train geek.

I think the polite term for this now if ‘Rail enthusiast’ or something because I am NOT a train-spotter. But since (in order than my son does not realise that I don’t know everything) I have learned to recognise different classes of locomotive on the UK network I have become more interested in seeing new and different trains.

So I was somewhat intrigued at the sight of a lone Class 67 Diesel shooting through Mirfield station on a late Friday afternoon. And when I got home, no doubt fuelled by the 8.5% stout I discovered in the Head of Steam in Huddersfield I shot off a brief email to Arriva Trains Wales (that being the livery I beleived it to be, though I am not now so sure) to see what was going on.

A few weeks later, I received this rather charming email in reply:

Thank you for your enquiry regarding the 67003.

Firstly, please accept my apologies for the delay in sending this response. We aim to reply to all customers within 10 days but are currently experiencing a backlog of cases and as a result this letter is not as prompt as we would have liked.

I was delighted to receive you’re enquiry about the 67003 and please don’t ever feel it would be indulging you to let you know about our trains. Enquiries from an eagle eyed individual with a keen interest in the rail network are infinitely preferable to letters of complaint!

I have looked into this matter with our train planning department and can tell you that 67003 was part of our Premium Service “Gerald” that runs daily from North to South Wales and back again. Sadly it was taken off the route around 18 months ago due to reliability issues. It then spent a period of time in store at Toton before being resurrected for the Railhead Treatment Trains (RHTT) season clearing leaves from the tracks.

She has since made a couple of appearances on the East Coast routes, which is where you may have spotted her, where Class 91 electrics are hauled over non-electrified diversionary routes. These would be in the Sunderland area and between York and Leeds. Though we don’t use her any more on the Gerald route, she still retains the blue-green livery of Arriva Trains Wales. For note we use 67022 on the Gerald route and occasionally some other Class 67s, so if you haven’t already travelled on the route it may be a great excuse to do so. Please visit our website for details of times and menus.

http://www.arrivatrainswales.co.uk/BusinessClass/

I hope this information will prove interesting and serves to answer your enquiry. If you do have any other questions about our services please do let me know.

There is no real point to this post, not deep philosophical or political rant I wish to put forward. Just that as I moan about it so much I thought I would post an example of some lovely customer service!