This morning I was meant to start by getting a train out of the yard at HAI, I got the “road number” from the DMT on the desk and jumped on a train. When I walked into the yard I found my train had a “target” on it which basically tells us that someone is working on this train and not to touch it under any circumstances. I checked with the DDM who happily told me that he’d phoned the DMT shortly after I’d left to say that the train was unavailable so I trudged back out of the yard in the snow and rode the cushions back to LES. They’re going to reform a train due to go out of service in about an hour and I’ll make that into my train.

On the subject of broken down trains there’s one currently stuck in the siding at DEB which we are informed is in such a bad way that it will be staying there for a few days. I went past it yesterday; completely dead except for a single red light on either end, effectively 150 tons of scrap metal. Considering that recently we’ve had ne’er-do-wells sneaking onto the track at night and stealing signal cabling I wouldn’t be surprised if the local tea-leaves eyeball it and start taking it away in stages.