From the train company that brought you
Good morning and welcome to the treble oh sixWe present:
(Shut up. I'm trying to go to sleep)
The next train at platform 4 will definitely be the 00:08 to Tonbridge
This announcement brought about because they'd just called the platform (Platform 4. As it was, is now and ever shall be) only to realise that there was currently an engineering train in the station (first time I've ever seen class 73s in Charing Cross) and the punters in their various states of drunkenness might not be able to tell apart a train of 1 coach and 1 tank wagon with a loco at each end from a regular 8 coach passenger train. (and just in case they told us "Don't join the train currently on platform 4...")
(the classic 00:06 service has been re-timed to 00:08)
Still, at least the midnight oh six^Weight is mainline stock - big seats and real toilets. Since the demise of the ultimate decadence* it's the last weekday service with decent stock.
* the 09:43 from Grove Park to Charing Cross. Oh how I miss the decadence. 12 coaches - longest train of the day. Mainline stock, so real seats and real toilets. Fast from Grove Park to Waterloo East - no stopping to pick up the hoi poloi any further in, nor to drop the City types off at London Bridge - hammer it at line speed straight for the West End. And oh so late into town that you had to have some special deal with your boss about start times. The only train worth getting out of bed early to catch.
