REAL TIME People's stories in their own words

I hoped he'd ask me out, but he didn't and I was too afraid to ask - nonetheless, I came to enjoy my commute

Everyone complains about our appalling trains, and rightly so. However, while stranded on a train platform I met this great man and we started talking.

We found that we caught the same train home each evening and began travelling back together. Thanks to our terrible trains, I have found the man of my dreams.

I turned up at Chelmsford to get my usual train home to Colchester in April 2002 and there was a mass of people already waiting - delays again. While waiting for an announcement, someone tapped me on the shoulder. It was the handsome gentleman I'd often seen on the way home.

He too had noticed me and wondered if I wanted to share a taxi with him and his colleague. Once I got over my initial surprise, I agreed - although I did feel a little disappointed that his colleague was female. We didn't need to get a taxi as the train finally turned up, so we spent the journey chatting, as we often did from then on.

Brief Encounter tells of a couple who meet in a station waiting room

Most days we would meet on the platform at Chelmsford and chat all the way back to Colchester, a journey of about half an hour - if there are no delays.

Over the next few months I learned a lot about my new-found train buddy and he became something of a talking point at work. We even nicknamed him Mr Delicious.

I found out to my delight that he was unattached, and hoped he'd ask me out. But he didn't and I was too afraid to ask myself. Nonetheless, I came to enjoy my journeys home.

Brief encounter

I still remember the awful lurch of my stomach when he said he was going to work in London - I wouldn't see him on the train any more. I realised I had to do it, I had to ask him out.

I conjured up the courage to suggest lunch and we exchanged telephone numbers before he went to work in the City. We never quite managed to have that lunch but did keep in touch by phone. That was until a bank holiday weekend last August, when I suggested that we meet at the Colchester Free Festival, where my son was performing.

Rail delays are familiar to many

We spent the whole afternoon together with our families and I can't remember when I'd had such a perfect day. He then phoned me to ask me to go out with him the following weekend.

I was just so nervous but that date was just the first of many. I felt like a teenager all over again. It was so nice to be wined and dined, and he was the perfect gentleman.

Now we're planning our wedding; we'd like to get married next summer. Had it not been for rail delays, we may never have met each other. That said, I don't think we'll be going on honeymoon by train.

Real Time gives people a chance to tell their own stories. If you've got something to say, let us know using the form below.

My husband and I didn't meet on a train, but we spent a lot of time travelling to see each other using trains and in the end we got married on one! We used the Gwili Steam Railway in Carmarthenshire to get to our wedding held in a wood further up the line.
Liz Edgington, UK

It makes a lovely change to hear such a heart-warming story amidst all the doom and gloom. I wish the lucky couple all the happiness in the world, life is far too short and you should spend it happy.
Neil, England

Romance can blossom on the trains. On 7 February 1980 I was running for a train from Marylebone to High Wycombe that I did not usually catch. I fell into the carriage with a handsome stranger. He was a widower of 50 and I was a single girl of 23. We started to travel together every day and soon became a couple - despite all sorts of dire warnings from friends and colleagues (we also thought it was madness). After he stopped commuting he still came onto the platform to wave goodbye to me every morning and was well known to other commuters, some of the drivers and the station staff. Very sadly he died this February - but we had spent 23 very happy years together.
Anne Hannan, England

I met one of my oldest friends on platform 11 at Clapham Junction. As per the norm, it was winter and there were no trains. We chatted to pass the time - and have now been friends for 20 years.
Louise, England

The "wrong kind of snow" over the winter of 1991-92 was right for us. We'd been commuting from Brighton to London, and were barely nodding acquaintances. A four-hour delay at Haywards Heath station changed that. We've now been married for 11 years.
Jeremy, England

Two friends of mine have fallen in love thanks to the trains. One met her future husband whilst waiting for a delayed train, the other during a hold-up on a long journey (they now have 2 children).
Katie, England

In June 2001 I fell for a man on a train who I only knew by sight but who took the same daily train as me to the City. One day my courage got the better of me and I shot after him out of the station at Moorgate and introduced myself. I asked him if he'd like a drink; he said 'how about tonight?' Later his courage got the better of him and we got married the following spring!
Hannah, England

I can't forget the Hiawatha since my wife has the name engraved on the inside of her wedding ring. It is the name of the train service between Chicago and Milwaukee. We met on a warm Sunday evening in July 1991. I was the last one to board and was faced with a carriage without an empty double seat. After strolling up and down the cabin, I made my choice of seat (and companion) - 12 years later and I'm still telling the story, so I guess I got it right.
Tim Adams, USA

If my trains get any worse, I sense there may be a divorce on the way!
Chris, England

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