After an enjoyable but frustrating day exploring Lincoln and the surrounding area, I arrived back at Lincoln station not by train, but by bus due to EMR and Northern cancelling subsequent services back from Gainsborough Lea Road. Despite my concerns about missing my train home, the bus actually got me back earlier than either of the train services and so I was on the platform waiting when my LNER train arrived from Lincoln’s Terrace sidings.

The start of July saw me at Peterborough station early on a Saturday morning ready for the 0855 LNER service to Lincoln. An extension of the former Newark Northgate services, LNER has served Lincoln since late 2019 as part of an extension of its network supported by the new Azuma trains. Lincoln is now served every 2 hours during the off-peak with services usually calling at Stevenage, Peterborough, Grantham, Newark Northgate and Lincoln.

imbledon in the west with the central section following the Thames. So, what on earth is a District Line train doing running around between Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire on the Marston Vale Line.

When East Midlands Railway (EMR) was announced as the winner of the East Midlands Franchise, it announced it was going to operate its services under three sub-brands. EMR Intercity, for services on the London to Nottingham/Sheffield routes; EMR Regional, for local services and the Liverpool-Nottingham-Norwich route; and finally, EMR Connect for the future half-hourly service from London to Corby.

After an enjoyable 36 hours in Newcastle (read about that next week), we were up relatively early to take the train on the first leg of our journey home, travelling from Newcastle to York with CrossCountry. With both Newcastle and York being major stops on the East Coast Mainline (ECML) there are numerous services that connect the two, with TransPennine Express, LNER and CrossCountry all proving regular services.

In the middle of May we were fortunate enough to get a couple of nights away from home and in true Flights and Times style I ensured this wasn’t just an ordinary trip away. Firstly, Beth didn’t know where we were going, other than it was three trains to get there and two to get back and, that our first change was at York. Having arrived there on an LNER service, we had a short wait before our next train arrived, a Grand Central service to Sunderland.