Standing the test of time

I've recently been musing with a friend over this country's rail system. Should it be nationalised once again and the glory days resume? I have to say, I would prefer the consistency of one brand to cover all bases - all rail services and all tracks, lines and what not. There would be responsibility once again and maybe the government would see sense and give rail some money for a change!

But this is all a bit fantastical when we really think about it. Is there going to be a brand as iconic as British Rail? It signalled a new era in train travel and rode the waves of change and modernisation effortlessly, as a stark pioneer of worthy and most importantly, British, transportation. I love British Rail. It's a brand that sat comfortably in the British travellers' hearts and minds, with its stoic Britishness displayed through its spectacularly simple iconography.

What I love about it even more is that this brand is just not quite dead yet. We'll forever see a flurry of operators bounding for the tracks - just recently a loved great GNER was succeeded by National Express East Coast, to much criticism. GNER's much loved livery, it seems, was consigned to the history books. The same can't be said for British Rail. It still sums up rail travel in this country. Outside pretty much all train stations in the country is the British Rail mark. When looking at a flat description, particularly in London, it often includes distance to the tube and distance to the nearest BR. It's part of the fabric of life still, something that these private operating companies just don't have and will never have. Maybe it is just a ghost of something that once was and I shouldn't be putting so much weight onto it, but when you look at the facts, to me, it seems like there's still some real value left in it.