Sacré-Coeur to Saxmundham: Today's Great European Rail Journey. Slightly excited about a weekend by the Suffolk coast...

A pink hue to the sky over St Pancras station earlier today.

It's been a massive part of my life for 3 decades now. It's colleagues from so many places, speaking different languages who have become friends and work together in order to bring others closer across borders. It's a force for good. #Europe

Today in things traincrew shouldn't have to do: Tell passengers not to throw bread rolls at each other across the aisle. One group took up a disproportionate amount of my time this evening. I wonder how they would feel if I turned up at their workplace and made things difficult for them.

An autumn evening in Brussels. Same again today: 15:04 from London and back on the 20:56. #trainlife

Underground, Overground My hunt to find locations where you can see Underground trains traveling over Overground trains (or vice versa) continues. This vantage point near East Putney station has views of tube trains traveling over the railway. I waited 30 mins to get this shot.

Today's River Medway view from the 15:04 to Amsterdam. #TrainWindowView

New in the collection. Proper 90’s vintage Eurostar poster

One of today's training scenarios involved a train having hit a vehicle on a level crossing in Belgium. It was a realistic one as this happened last year. As TMs we have to know how to deal with this if the driver is incapacitated. This means contacting the signaller and getting traffic stopped.

Monday = Training day. It's a Belgian rules refresher for a group of us today. Heading in to the office thinking about everyone involved in Saturday's incident and now this morning's derailment in Cumbria.

4 months after I bought it in an antiques shop in south-west France, the "cacahuète" is up on the wall in our hall.

Platform 10 for Paris. #highspeedrail

Train window view: Slow crawl through Hertfordshire on 1T09 edition. Late again. There will be trouble if I haven't got time for a couple of coffees before my shift.

It's not even Halloween yet and the Christmas decorations are up in one of the shops in the station in Brussels. Too early!

The modern railway started 200 years ago this year. When you travel on one of our trains, be it red or blue, they are descended from a technology developed from Locomotion Number 1. #Railway200 #highspeedrail

It begins! Starting the journey from Lancaster (UK) to Umeå (Sweden) for the European Space Weather Week conference. Taking the train all the way #flyingless #ESWW2025

Autumn Sunday: A country walk and a roast at one of our family's favourite pubs in a village outside Cambridge. Followed by collapsing on the sofa, lighting the fire and watching a film. Perfect! #autumn #hygge #comfortfood

Last ride of summertime. Breezy and chilly. #cycling #EastAnglia

Thought-provoking final paragraph here on the social cost of carbon. "From that perspective, the question is less, “Why are flights so cheap?” and more, “Who actually pays for them?” " www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The end of my working week and dashing home to spend time with our daughter who is back from uni in Cornwall for a few days. Can't wait to catch up.

Day 6: It's cold and damp at the "country" end of the platform here at St Pancras. A standby shift to end my working week. Can't wait to collapse on the sofa tonight.

When your colleague manages to get a bit of 1980s Salt-N-Pepa into the arrival announcement... #PushIt

In other news, it's waffle o'clock in Brussels...

A largely uneventful and punctual shift. Hurrah! Shift 4 of 6 completed. Brussels again tomorrow after Paris today. 🇬🇧🚆🇪🇺

One of those days. The last train from Amsterdam ended up diverted twice on its way to Brussels due to problems on the line. End result was a 98 minute late arrival into London. Sorry if you were affected. I've now got the dubious pleasure of the 00:32 home instead of the 22:39...

When you stumble across a band playing on the bank of the Seine on a Saturday evening... #Paris

Meanwhile, on board an eggspress train in Germany...

The greener way to travel: One of my colleagues shows off his DMs, which are an optional part of our new eurostar uniform.

Leaves on the lane: An autumnal ride before work. 🍂 🚲 #cycling #EastAnglia

The end of another shift. #TrainsNotPlanes

Tuesday on the iron road: Paris with just about enough time for a boulangerie visit before prepping the 20:08 back to London.

Got distracted while getting ready for work. The combination of a fox and autumn colours in our garden was irresistible. Started with my phone but then had to grab my proper camera. #autumn

How it started today and how it's going... #TrainLife

A flying visit to visit our kid in Manchester and take him out for a belated 21st birthday dinner. Lovely sunny Saturday afternoon mooch around the Northern Quarter. And now a foggy journey back south.

I spy a Badger at Crewe. #TrainGeek

Despite everything else going on, France last night honoured Robert Badinter, the former justice minister who ended the death penalty in 🇫🇷 in 1981. He entered the Panthéon in a moving moment of national tribute that the French do so well

Inside the beast: The sound of one of our class 373 power cars while at rest at St Pancras. #TMST

A good explainer on the EES border system being phased in from Sunday... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Tonight's tipple: Guava, Apricot & Mango Smoothie Sour by Vault City. Thick and fruity! How many of your 5-a-day?

Bike ride before Brussels: A glorious autumn morning in the Cambridgeshire countryside. Now time for my last shift of the week...

One of my colleagues started singing the Postman Pat theme to me on the platform. No idea why. Have a lovely Sunday wherever you are. #TrainsNotPlanes

Goedemorgen! Bonjour! Morning! It's an Amsterdam train (as far as Brussels) today and the first time wearing our new uniform. Thought I'd give the hat a try. Funny how things go full circle. We had them at the start in 1994. This is my fourth and final eurostar uniform.

It's not every day you see one of these at King's Cross. #retro

Phew! Passed my traincrew medical. The hearing test in a both doesn't get any less stressful with age. Better get my new uniform ready for tomorrow's shift...

Day trip to Coventry...

Love this! www.nexus.org.uk/news/item/dr...

Locomotion No.1 has arrived in #Darlington. What a fantastic event for #Railway200.

For many years there was a legend that a horse and cart fell down inside a concrete pier during construction of Glenfinnan viaduct. It was only until 2001 that modern scanning technology proved that the accident had in fact occurred here at the nearby Loch nan Uamh Viaduct. #industrialarchaeology

"Here you go, mate, we brought this train to Paris for you. Have it for the way back to London." Lovely to bump into Abdel on the platform tonight.

For your Friday evening entertainment, a song about ballast...