The Eighties were a decade of great progress.

We had proper leaders in the west, the Russians were on the run, it even produced good music.

So I was pleasantly surprised to see the new colours unveiled by LNER for their class 91 locomotives. Those intercity colours were smart and businesslike, far better than many of the newer liveries.

The only thing that’s missing is to reduce the wages of those driving them back to the 1980s as well.

When Reagan faced a similar situation in 1981 from air traffic controllers he had over 11,000 of them fired and banned from ever working in the sector again, and the unions fined then abolished.

As the press has reported many times in the past, every time a train operator advertises for new staff they receive several hundred applications for each post. So it is time to call the strikers’ bluff, hire those who want to work and get rid of those holding the general public to ransom.

Dr Scott Marmion, Woodthorpe, York