24 JUNE 1966, Page 28

Beeching or no Beeching, the railways haven't changed all that

much. Travelling back from the north recently on one of those trains that link with a dining car en route, I wandered down the corridor in search of sustenance and met a young man in a white coat shouting, 'Last coil for lunch.' I hastened on to the dining- cu,, where I observed to an attendant that I had heard neither the first nor the second call for lunch. 'No, you wouldn't have,' he 'said, 'there weren't any. We've only just hooked on.'