People, it is said, can get used to more or less anything.

This insight was first sparked by the domination of Germany by the Nazis in the early Thirties, and – more recently – by the Israeli atrocities in Gaza and Lebanon.

This is substantial stuff, but it occurs to me that the same insight can be equally applied to the running of our railways.

How come, last Friday night, I could get off a London train at Exeter Central, belt over the bridge to Platform Three to catch the waiting train for Exmouth, and be literally within touching distance of the door, only to watch the train disappear?

And how come the next Exmouth train is at first delayed and then cancelled without a word of apology or explanation?

And how come, way more than an hour after I arrived at Central, is the third Exmouth train delayed by sixteen minutes?

By now, Platform Three is black with people wondering when – or if – they’ll ever make it to Exmouth.

The 158-mile journey from Waterloo to Exeter takes just over three hours.

The final six miles, a further two hours.

I and a packed train were mulling this remarkable statistic when we pulled into Topsham.

After a lengthy wait, the guard announced that the train was no more.

It had been cancelled, disinvented, and consigned to the big siding in the sky.

Even the driver was baffled.

His orders?

To go back to Central, pronto.

Why?

Neither he, nor we, had any idea.

People can get used to more or less anything.

Even GWR.

Name and address supplied.