France experienced its hottest spring on record, the national weather service said Tuesday, after an exceptional early heatwave that also broke highs for the season in England and Wales. u.afp.com/SDed

Traffic on eurostar's London-Amsterdam route grew by 18.3% in 2025. mediacentre.eurostar.com/mc_view?lang...

Today's question in Who wants to be a eurostar Train Manager: When do you have to put a flare 20 metres from the front of the train? In Belgium, after an incident and the hazard lights of your train are not working. This training scenario involved a train hitting a vehicle on a level crossing.

Monday morning Medway view from the 07:04 to Lille and Brussels. #TrainWindowView

I've spent quite a bit of time thinking about why I love the kilt. It reminds me of the quirkiness of the e* advertising from the mid-'90s. More importantly, I'm proud to work for a company that embraces diversity and encourages people to be themselves. That feels more vital than ever right now.

Morning all! It's an 06:53 standby shift today. Why 06:53 and not 07:00? Because we always start 1 hour and 8 minutes before the departure of a train that we are working or covering. That allows time to walk from the office, go through security, up to the platform, and check the train. #TrainLife

French railway term of the day: Train balai. Literally means "broom train" or sweeper train in English. First one of the day over the high-speed line runs at reduced speed to check the infrastructure. Today that's us so we're running at 230 km/h instead of 300 from Paris to Lille. #BehindTheScenes

First shift wearing a uniform kilt. An interesting experience. The extra ventilation was very much appreciated on a day when it's 35⁰C in Paris.

The British Rail national network & regional boundaries map of 31 July 1966; an early outing for the BR symbol & a more diagrammatic version of the map. The "Beeching" closures are well underway here; much has already gone & more was to follow. #railways #maps Zoomable ↘️ flic.kr/s/aHBqjCVgC2

8 minutes late (on way to work: Late-running freight train at Shepreth Branch Junction. It's all a bit Reggie Perrin. youtu.be/VJVAHpBUUbI?...

A reminder that a bit of the London Underground was once part of the national rail network ⬇️🚇

Packing up the punts: Tuesday evening on the river in Cambridge. Cycling home, the difference in temperature on streets without any trees or greenery was really noticeable compared to being in the park by the river. We really need less tarmac to cope with the effects of climate change.

My hot and sticky week on the iron road has finished. Celebrating with a Belgian beer on the train home. It's definitely more tiring working in this heat. I envied my colleague's kilt today.

I can’t believe it’s not even June yet and we’re already looking at the very real possibility of France reaching +40°C later this week. Literally hundreds of May records have already been set. Truly unprecedented to witness this level of heat so early in the year.

Seven o'clock in Saint-Gilles: Dinner in this lovely Brussels square before working the last train of the day back to London.

Today has been the hottest day in May on record with Kew Gardens provisionally reaching 34.8°C - exceeding the previous highest May temperature in the UK by a full 2 degrees Celsius🌡️ This heat would be exceptional in the UK even in mid summer, let alone in May📈

Hats off to the 871 people with us this afternoon on the 15:04 to Amsterdam. Reducing emissions feels more urgent than ever during this heatwave. #TrainsNotPlanes

Bank Holiday breakfast bap by bike before Brussels.

There's a topless bloke in my carriage on the train home. Heat + booze + football is quite a cocktail. ☀️🍺⚽️

Sunday standby shift and it's melting on the platforms at St Pancras. Very glad there's air-conditioning in the crewroom to cool down in between prepping trains.

Grabbed a bit of the weekend back with a pre-breakfast bike ride before things warmed up. #cycling #EastAnglia

A sweltering Saturday on the iron road. Still 30⁰C in Brussels at 20:00. Heading back to the island with the last train of the day from Belgium.

Freedom of movement is a very precious thing. Easy to take for granted until it's no longer there. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Still trapped by those red lines...

It's been a very warm day across parts of England and Wales 🌡️ Here are the highest temperatures recorded today 👇

Your reminder that the Cambridge Beer Festival is on until tomorrow. Perfect weather for it. Really enjoyed my visit on Wednesday.

The beginning of a long and warm Bank Holiday weekend. And I've got 4 late shifts. Oh well, goes with the territory. It's a standby shift to start with.

Rail enthusiasts have always given different types of locos nicknames. Just seen a Tractor (class 37 on the left) and a Shed (class 66 on the right) at Cambridge. #TrainGeek

Mission accomplished: Successfully moved our daughter out of her first year student accommodation in Falmouth. Even had time for a Verdant beer or two including a collaboration with Manchester's Track Brewing. Very appropriate as our son is studying there. A Manchester mission follows in June.

Dear Great British Railways, Please bring back proper buffet cars/shops/cafés on long distance trains. It's nice to have somewhere to walk to, buy something to eat or drink, and break up the journey.

in 2010 ministers said phase 1 of High-Speed 2 (from Old Oak Common to Birmingham) would be finished by 2026 now the completion date has been pushed back to between 2036 and 2039 with the final leg to Euston not set to be finished until as late as 2043 price tag up from £80bn to £103bn

When I retire, hopefully in 2031, HS1 between London and the Channel Tunnel will still be the UK's only high-speed rail line. Services on part of HS2 will be 5 years away if we're lucky. Not a good look for the country that invented railways. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cz...

Love this addition to the street name sign on Park Drive in the West End of Glasgow. It's by A Sign Of Humour, and should be read while doing your best Phil Daniels impression! #glasgow #streetart #blur #parklife #sign

In the words of Jim Bowen: "Look at what you could have won!" 🎯🚅 #RegionalEurostar

In a Michael Portillo voice (but without the colourful outfit): "Today my journey takes me from Cambridge to London. I'll then catch the 15:31 to Paris, the 21:09 back to London, and hopefully make the 23:50 Night Riviera from Paddington to Cornwall."

I need a 373 top! If you know, you know... #eurovision

The UK entry is screaming LET US REJOIN THE EU 😆 #Eurovision

Slightly disturbed by the Bulgarian performance. #Eurovision

Well... www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cd...

A truly iconic train at speed.

Attention spotters! Spare eurostar power car 3999 is on the 13:01 to Brussels and 17:56 return today*. Just in case you need to underline it in your book... *These allocations sometimes change.

Eurostar: Together we go further. 💙💛

Day 3/5 done: On time both ways, no incidents, a waffle, and lovely evening light. #winning

Colleague to crew member: "Do you know how to contact the TM if your radio's not working?" "Yes, press the button that looks like Justin." 👮‍♂️ #TrainLife

The Pittenweem Painter #Fife 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

An empty locker: Frank has left the building. Over the next few years it really will be a case of changing of the Guard (or TM) and a few drivers. More and more of those who were here at the start of eurostar in 1994 will be retiring. I hope one day the story of how it all started will be told.

Changeable weather in Paris this evening. 2 images less than an hour apart. 🌞🌧

It feels as though every time I look at the news today there's been another development at Westminster.

Arrivals and departures: As we prepared the 14:31 to Paris, our colleague Frank arrived from Brussels working his last train after 32 years with eurostar. The cheers and whistles carried across to our platform and were a joy to hear. Happy Retirement Frank! #RailwayFamily

In other news, I've reserved the sleeper from Paddington on Sunday after my late shift so it'll be Paris to Penzance. Slightly excited.