Winter at home
In February 2010 the south east of England suffered its worst snowfall for years. The third-rail electric trains struggled for a few hours and then gave up completely. All passenger services were then suspended until further notice. They remained suspended for two days.
As we were unable to travel to the outside world we made a little journey around our own village instead.
We included a trip to the station on our walk and we were surprised to see a nuclear flask train sitting at Platform 2.
The train, hauled by two 50-year-old Class 37 Diesel locomotives, was heading from Sellafield in Cumbria to the Nuclear power station at Dungeness. We chatted to the footplate crew and we learned that their progress had been halted by a modern electric train failed just ahead. They were in the middle of preparations to push it out of the way.
We left them to it and headed to the pub.
I explained to my wife that even when you reach 50 years old you can still be useful.
Trains To Beyond 