Oh dear! Virgin train from Glasgow broke down about a mile north of Stafford - brakes suddenly locked on! We knew it was serious when the engines were turned off, the lights were dimmed and all went very quiet! I'm just glad I was on a Virgin train and not a Virgin flight!!! Yikes!!
However - to be fair to Virgin, we limped into Stafford station and they got another train to Stafford within about 20-25 minutes. I couldn't work out where they had the spare train and driver ready for such an event until it actually arrived. Our train heading south from Glasgow to Birmingham was on the north end of platform 6 and the "spare" train came heading north into the south end of Platform 6. It was then I worked it out.
That train detials said it was going to Glasgow - so once stopped a couple of hundred passengers disembarked and rushed up the platform to get onto our old train - meanwhile the 5 remaining passengers for Birmingham (everyone else had jumped onto other trains heading out of Stafford) headed for their old train - and within a few minutes we were on our way - 5 of us in a 5 coach train!!
So we got sorted but what happened to the couple of hundred who got on our train who were heading for Glasgow? If the brakes were jammed on where was that training going? I suggested to one of the Virgin staff maybe because it is a two engined train (one at the front and one at the back) it could go back the way it came using the engine at the other end - but she said the brakes went throughout the train - so maybe they're now sitting on our old train wondering why everything is so quiet and they haven't left Stafford!! Could be a long wait!
Anyone got a spare steam engine!!!
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