A locomotive compliment

Train travel can be expensive, unpredictable, stressful, and depressing. We often find ourselves delayed waiting on a cold station platform, or crammed into carriages forced to stare at our fellow commuters with faces only inches apart. At time of writing, there are storms and gales buffeting the country and some trains are even being cancelled entirely. I’ll never know how trains in Russia manage to still function, perhaps the UK is just soft?!

Well, I had a good experience at a train station recently and I wanted to write a Compliment Corner letter about it. I’m breaking a rule here that I should always know the name of the person I’m complimenting, but on this occasion I didn’t catch his name – let’s call him Station Manager.

Warwick Station is a quaint stopping point for tourists interested in visiting the castle or town. It’s an unassuming station that most commuters never have reason to visit, and many trains simply pass through without stopping on their way to London. Warwick Parkway station just up the road is the main commuter station with space for hundreds of cars. I rarely visit Warwick station but I recently had cause to walk over there to catch a train to Birmingham.

The station manager at Warwick Town station is a polite and efficient gentleman who obviously takes his job seriously. He is polite without being effusive and efficient in that he wants you to have all the necessary information for your journey. He maintains a welcoming atmosphere in the waiting room and when I visited we were being treated to some light classical music. The manager simply served me in a friendly manner, helped me to find the best ticket for my journey and processed my payment. This is perhaps nothing more than he, or any other station employee should do, and yet it evoked something of the nostalgia of old train travel. He treated the elderly couple who came after me with the same respect and decency. He was obviously happy with his job and it showed in about he went about it. My letter is below.