Tickets – what tickets? ...

Travellers at Thirsk station on Monday who wanted to buy tickets using the electronic machine on the platform were in for a disappointment - the machine was out of order.

It even said so on its screen. I don’t know how often that happens, but it is exposed to the elements and will suffer from use and abuse by travellers who may find it easy or difficult to use.

The message on the screen directed the would-be voyager to “use another machine” – at Northallerton perhaps or Timbuktu.

Another more sensible notice on the machine encouraged us to buy our tickets from the ticket office. Not surprisingly the broken machine only takes card payments.

Bad luck for those who use cash for any reason.

It also cannot help work out the most suitable route for travellers.

An example came this week when I was asked about travel from Thirsk to Reading in Berkshire.

The obvious route is to Kings Cross, then by underground to Paddington and on to Reading, but if you cannot face the underground there is an alternative route via Birmingham, but you have to work that out, and a map of the railway network helps...

(To read the rest of this article go along to your nearest stockist and buy a copy of the paper)