For the first time for many years I have used a train to make a social weekend trip to the West Country. In this case it was the 'further' West, the area that normally would have involved both the M4 and the M5. I exchanged the driving seat, with its relative space but limited freedom of immediate physical action, with the (now) strangely high-backed armchair of what is once again called the Great Western Railway. It is strange to see how the prices of transport have artificially skewed the demographic: the majority of travellers are under 30; nearly all are alone (on any journey of 100 miles +, a group of three or more would almost certainly save money by using a car rather than the train, even to include maybe hiring a car.) The recent booms in rail travel - perhaps related to the growth of the student population - have fed through to rolling stock design. Most of the young singletons are coralled into rows of airline style seats. There is little visibility to the front, back or sideways, as the 'four across' table configuration is all but obsolete. So few tables are there, that when two passengers request a table seat facing forward, they can, rather ludicrously, be placed side by side in an otherwise near-empty carriage.
There is, though, an unarguable advantage to travelling by rail, the one that prevails despite the inflated ticket prices and strange interior layout. This is the difference: you retain the use of your eyes, hands and to a large degree your mind, so you can read, write and think whilst someone else takes charge of the menial but important business of checking the way ahead is clear.
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