Clapped out

Accusations of letting a service run down deliberately will always be made if, to quote one local case, a mostly empty mid-day train continues to run, while in the same service an early morning train is discontinued, causing: (a) six men to lose their jobs; (b) four men to go on to permanent night shift by the grace of their employer; and (c) four others to buy a clapped-out van between them to get to work.

For now, the intensive Valleys services remain in the hands of increasingly clapped-out Class 150/2s.