A late-running 158862 arrives at a surprisingly busy Stoke-on-Trent station.

At this point, the 15.08 Crewe ro Newark Castle service was running some twenty minutes late but we had no other choice than to take this train as it was the only one heading east on routes permitted by our East Midlands Day ranger ticket. On arrival at Derby, it had reduced the deficit to some ten minutes but this was not enough for staff to hold the outgoing service to Birmingham that Andy and I were hoping to take to Tamworth, plan B into operation then!