'Brief Encounter'at Achnasheen

摘要

Travelling by train today, if one wants refreshments, grabbing a coffee and a muffin from a kiosk before boarding is common practice. Provision of refreshments on the train is however, becoming increasingly rare, unless one travels on a longdistance service. With metro-type trains on Thameslink services these days, it might seem extraordinary that one could travel throughout the day to places like Cambridge, Brighton and the South Coast and obtain a good variety of refreshments on board. There were a number of buffet car trains (and occasionally restaurant cars) to and from Cambridge, whilst an almost hourly service of Pullman car trains linked London with many of the south coast towns. In both cases, a substantial meal was often available, but not just main line trains provided a meal service, secondary lines often boasted at least a buffet service. Of course, in steam days the journey times tended to be longer than they are today, but some rural journeys are still long enough, and where a meal en route would be welcome.