GBR Chiltern

I was heading home through Marylebone yesterday when I saw a train in new GBR branding. That's odd, I thought, I didn't think Chiltern had been nationalised yet. And they haven't quite, they transfer on Sunday and this was the DfT PR launch hullaballoo. You could tell it was an event because platform 1 had been fenced off, ironically with Chiltern-branded barriers. You could tell it was an official event because attendees were wearing suits, sensible shirts and lanyards. You could tell it was a PR event because dozens of bottles of water were sitting on a wall in case anyone wanted one. You could tell it was carefully choreographed because an old Chiltern class 165 had been parked alongside a new red, white and blue class 68. You could tell it was something to be proud of because everyone was lining up for group photos, right down to the last group of underlings. The smell of aftershave was very strong. A quick check where we are in the nationalisation timetable... Pre-nationalised:…