(UPDATED)

Britain’s railways are closing down. Snow is forecast overnight and the rail network is getting its retaliation in early.

Today, Virgin Trains announced a slimmed down timetable for tomorrow (Thursday) – before a flake of snow has fallen. Other rail operators told us to check later.

It could be brilliant planning, enabling the railways to operate effectively as winter finally arrives. Or just an admission of defeat. We’ll know in the morning.

At least things are unlikely to be as bad as 1947, when Britain suffered the worst winter for decades. The Great Western Railway borrowed an early jet engine from the RAF to try to free a train that had been trapped for two days between Merthyr and Brecon. The GWR’s successor, British Railways, wasn’t going to risk a repeat. It closed the line in 1962 – just before the ferocious winter of 1963…

UPDATE, Thursday evening

Virgin Trains did me proud today. There were no through trains from Chester to London, but my train from Crewe to London arrived early. Maybe getting their retaliation in early was a masterstroke after all!