The Age of the Train

[Peter Marsh recounts how his advertising agency was tendering for the British Rail advertising contract. He invited Peter Parker of British Rail to his office where he was greeted by a bored receptionist and made to wait in a waiting room where the tables were festooned with used coffee cups and cigarette butts]

Peter Marsh - Advertising Agency Director:
And Peter's sitting there fuming. And I timed it perfectly: "Hello, Peter. Sorry to keep you waiting. What I've been trying to demonstrate to you in these surroundings and the indifference of our receptionist there, is the experience your customers have of you, British Rail, every day. And it's my job and intention to show you how we will overcome that problem. Shall we go and have lunch..."

Peter Snow - Broadcaster:
We owe it to the 125 for rescuing British Rail from near destruction and near collapse in the early 70s and mid 70s. And I think if it hadn't been for the 125 we'd be in terrible trouble.

Roger Ford - Railway Writer:
I think it's a train whose time is still coming. It was originally a stop-gap with perhaps a thirty-year life, but it's been re-engineered with new engines and the coaches have been modernised.

Peter Snow - Broadcaster:
The scale of the improvement in rail passengers over the past ten or fifteen years has been extraordinary, and I think a lot of that is due to the 125 catching the public imagination.

Narrator:
More than eighty of the trains are still in service. Rail engineers now say the Intercity 125 is capable of running until 2035.

Kenneth Grange - Designer:
If I'd been asked to guess how long it would last, I would *never* have guessed as long as it has. And so I'm thrilled to bits that it's still out there holding its own, and it will see a few more liveries and a few more owners, I expect. I only regret not having one! I've got one of most of everything else I designed, but I don't have a train!