Once upon a time, Britain had real trains. Shiny locomotives hauled elegant rakes of coaches. But then our railways discovered so-called multiple-units: powered coaches. Efficient but soulless. 

So I was delighted to find a real train at Marylebone tonight: a train of British Rail blue and grey coaches from the 1970s. Sadly, the sight reflected the demise of Chiltern's sister company, Wrexham & Shropshire, whose train this was. (See my wistful post about Wrexham & Shropshire's last day.) But it was good to see a reminder of the days when a train was a train. 

PS: the 'pushing engine' carried the livery of another departed rail company, English Welsh & Scottish Railway.