The last time I travelled onboard the Caledonian Sleeper was in October 2020 in that weird period between lockdowns when the Government were encouraging people to do things but restrictions were still in place and it all felt a bit… well, weird… This journey I was travelling on the same route as my maiden sleeper voyage, from London Euston to the capital of the Highlands, Inverness.

With a winter chill in the air, but a glorious sunrise just beginning, I arrived at Peterborough station bright and early ready for another adventure. My ultimate destination was the NRM’s Locomotion in Shildon (although that failed miserably), however the first leg, as far as Darlington, was with LNER in first-class. It also turns out that this is the 150th blog of Flights and Times and so I feel that a first-class journey was appropriate.

Last time I ventured into Anglia for a proper railday the branch lines and rural routes were served by a fleet of Sprinters and Turbos. Since then, when I’ve travelled through, I’ve gradually seen these replaced by Greater Anglia’s new class 755 FLIRT trains, however until now haven’t had a chance to try one out.

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.