Having arrived in Munich from Heathrow, I was able to make my way through the European border reasonably quickly and was soon back in departures ready for my flight to Prague. Last time I connected flight in Germany I had to head back through security before catching my second flight but this time I didn’t which seemed odd, but it might be that this was a Schengen flight and essentially classed as Domestic.

Until recently there was only one operator that connected Edinburgh and Newcastle with London Kings Cross and that was LNER. Of course, from Edinburgh you could also catch Avanti West Coast or the Caledonian Sleeper to London Euston, whilst from Newcastle you could, at a push, travel to Sunderland and catch Grand Central. If these weren’t an attractive option, you could fly from both Edinburgh or Newcastle to a ‘London’ airport, however most of these would leave you in Luton or Gatwick.

he inaugural Kings Cross to Middlesbrough service, the first direct service from the capital to the Teesside city since 1990. The first southbound service departed with much fanfare, so I was intrigued to see if there were any events planned at Kings Cross for the return.

Sunday 12th December 2021, as usual for the second Sunday in December, was timetable change day on Britain’s railways. Along with the second Sunday in May, this is the time that generally any major changes to services are introduced and if it was to fall around that time anyway, any new stations would open. As such, Soham, Britain’s newest station (at the time of writing) was scheduled to open on the 12th December.

After a couple of nights in Inverness and a short adventure to Perth, we were back at Inverness station with plenty of time until the final leg of our mini break, the Caledonian Sleeper back to London.

One of Britain’s most famous railway vehicles, the Class 43 HST power cars and accompanying InterCity 125 sped across the length and breadth of the country for years carrying passengers between the UK’s major cities and along the key routes of the East Coast Mainline, Great Western Mainline, Midland Mainline and others. In recent years the 45-year-old, full length HST sets have been retired from service, replaced by modern units. However, some power cars, and shortened sets, have found a new home on inter-city services north of the border.