New! Exciting! Improved! (not necessarily exciting or improved)

Last month, I asked for opinions from YOU, the reader.  The problem was the name of the blog still reflected my quest to acquire Northern Rail, and since I was now loitering in the West Midlands, it was out of date.  I canvassed you for your opinions on what to call it, and all your submissions, via the comments or Twitter, were gratefully received.  (All except the submission from my mum, who said she thought "Off The Rails" would be appropriate, and which cut a little too close to the bone). 

After umming and aaahing and generally putting the decision off, I finally came to a conclusion.  And so, ladies and gentlemen (though let's be honest, it's mostly gentlemen reading this nonsense), I present.... Round the Rails We Go.

Removing the geographic specificity means I can wander anywhere I like and it's covered.  It is not, I hasten to add, a mission statement; I will not be visiting Corrour station any time soon.  It is an acknowledgement that the remit of this blog is a lot bigger than when I started, with hundreds of railway stations now under my belt.

The new title also means that I don't have to keep harassing the lovely Jamie for redesigns.  He dropped me a header he'd designed, entirely off his own initiative, way back in the Merseyrail days of the blog.  (Prior to that it was a kind of orange colour.  We don't talk about that).  I gratefully received this moment of actual art on the blog, and Jamie has since updated it every time.  This way I don't need to keep going back to him and saying "can you change it to Round the Cornish Riviera Stations this week?".  He agreed to this redesign - in purple, because I like purple - and also provided the new background image, which I love.  Thank you Jamie, and I owe you a pint.

I've also added one other thing to the blog.  This is a bit embarrassing, and this is probably the only time I'll ever mention it.  However, for twelve years now I've been wandering all over the country, writing about it, and sticking it on the internet.  That's a lot of train travel and a lot of time spent writing and the expense has gone entirely one way.  I'm not complaining, because this blog and the travel has brought me a great deal of joy, but the further I travel from my house, the more the train tickets cost.  I don't like obligation on either side, so there was no way I was going to set up a Patreon (£6 a month will get you a t-shirt with my face on it!) but I have added a button, over there on the right.  It's for KoFi, and if you click it, you go through to a page where you can give me three quid.  That's it.  If you do feel like a tiny contribution, that's lovely, and I very much appreciate it.  If you don't, or can't, that's absolutely fine as well.  It's there if you want it.  Thanks.

Right, let's move on and I'll try not to think about it ever again.  To the trains!