Before I start this post, and particularly for the benefit of any new readers, I’d like to point out that I’m not a train spotter. Nor do I wear an anorak or NHS specs held together with sellotape. But I do travel on the trains every day, so it is natural to notice things about them. Ok?
Having made that clear, I’ll proceed…
Wessex Trains seem to be forever short of rolling stock. Usually, the train I get home is a reasonably modern two-carriage jobbie. Occasionally, we get a much older two-carriage jobbie that is incredibly noisy and uncomfortable, and it is on those nights that I am glad that I’m only on the train for eight minutes. But tonight, we were treated to something that I’ve never seen before in seven years of commuting – five old-style inter-city carriages between two diesel locomotives, and, as far as I’m concerned, they can run that all the time. That many carriages means no overcrowding (it’s normally packed) and the seats are HUGE – you could have a friend to share your seat and still not be uncomfortable! (ok, maybe that’s exaggerating, but you get my point).
One of the things I noticed about this train was that the locomotives are named. The front one was called Warminster – pretty unremarkable as names go. But the rear one was named Cerberus, complete with illustration of the devil’s three-headed canine companion. I reckon that’s a pretty cool name for a train.
Ok, I’ll stop now.