Words: EAST COAST TRAINS
Make sure you tune in to the new Sky1 HD series, All Aboard, which features the East Coast mainline as you’ve never seen it before!
All Aboard: East Coast Trains is a brand new Sky 1HD documentary series looking at life along one of Britain’s busiest railway routes. The series will reveal the trials, the tribulations and the triumphs enjoyed by some of the unsung heroes of the railway and the people who travel with them every day.
Calling at Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leeds and London along the way, All Aboard: East Coast Trains takes a light hearted look at life on the East Coast line as staff deal with everything the general train travelling public can throw at them.
The ten part series takes viewers on a fascinating journey with the UK’s only publicly owned train operator. As well as telling some of the day-to-day stories of the remarkable people who work behind the scenes, it also follows some of the passengers among the 50,000 who travel on the East Coast line every day.
The East Coast team manages nearly a thousand rail journeys every week, covering more than 900 miles of track running from Inverness and Aberdeen in Scotland all the way to London in the South. Train drivers, ticket inspectors, caterers and station staff have to deal with everything from snow storms and security alerts to stag parties and excitable football fans and the Sky 1HD film crew followed them every step of the way for six months to make the series.
All Aboard: East Coast Trains looks beyond the ticket barriers and timetables to provide a real insight into the people who have helped make East Coast so popular with passengers. From rustling up a full English breakfast at 125 miles an hour on the ‘Porridge Express’ to working through the night to keep every East Coast train in tip top condition and ready for the new day, each member of the extended East Coast family faces different challenges and the series sets out to tell their stories.
Viewers will see how onboard chef Mark juggles early starts at work with caring for his wife at home who has suffered a stroke. They will hear how customer service assistant Michelle puts her cancer survival down to the support she gets from her East Coast co-workers. They will share the excitement as station support assistant Liam and trainee guard Dan wait to hear if they’ve made the grade and will be taking their next steps on the East Coast career ladder. These and other stories are sure to keep viewers hooked on the series right from episode one.
And viewers should keep a look out for the odd celebrity appearance too. With a first class service that is the envy of the rail industry, it’s no wonder the great and the good choose to travel with East Coast trains and you never know who might turn up!
‘All Aboard: East Coast Trains’ begins its ten-week run on Sky 1 HD at 8pm on Tuesday, 12 November 2013
Autobritannia 
As someone who only gets PeasantView I will not get to see this series first hand. But it does sound good, my only gripe is why does everyone have to have a backstory and tell it to 4 million people?
I think its kind of great to hear the stories behind the scenes as it paints a picture of the real reasons why a fragmented railway somehow manages to operate.
The railway, despite the messy privatisation, works quite simply because of the people behind the scenes who see it as a job for life, they have passion and a “to the core desire” to make a difference.
There are still an enormous amount of people within the rail industry who care about what they do despite the Government meddling and asset stripping of the TOC`s — even in the private sector, its still very much a public railway.