I’m at the end of a very busy week, and feel exhausted. Our excitement about the TPE launch in Morpeth this coming Sunday is now somewhat abated following their announcement that they can’t launch the full service initially. We’ll get about half the TPE trains, but the full service must wait until the new year. Nevertheless, an excellent public meeting at Morpeth Town Hall with TPE last Wednesday; and whilst the delayed launch is disappointing, it will be good when we finally get it, doubling train services at Morpeth station. So why so busy this week? Well, we’ve received the SENRUG Newsletters, new “Join-Us” leaflets, Timetable leaflets, complimentary pens and SENRUG over-printed envelopes which I’m now combining in to 200 information packs ready for our committee volunteers to give out on Monday morning. And my study is awash with mince pies. Also slotted in a quick interview on the new TPE service with Radio Newcastle, to be broadcast Sunday and Monday. Confusion re which TPE trains are running and which are not has brought the long-running fault with the Morpeth CIS into sharp focus, and emails are being exchanged on that. Finally, Northern are leaning on us heavily to cancel our planned presence at Morpeth station on Monday 16th December. As a result, I’ve been obliged to contact our committee and taking soundings. A range of opinions were expressed, but at the end of the day, the front-page article of last week’s Morpeth Herald said that we’d be present at the station on Monday, so we are sticking to that. Train companies have an unfortunate habit of their staff disappearing and failing to face the music when things go wrong, and SENRUG has no desire to be tarred with the same brush.
