How Virgin Trains inspired my child (open letter to Richard Branson)

Dear Mr. Branson,

I would like to thank you, and the teams that work with you, for the world of Virgin trains and the train names that have made such an impact on my son’s life.

That might seem like an odd way to open a letter but I can assure you that not only do Virgin trains have a special place in his heart but their names have a real importance and significance.

Thanks to those names, over the last couple of years we have had discussions about explorers, about wars, about cancer, about diversity and equality, about cities and geography and history. In fact, all the cool things that a 6 year old should be learning about.

He’s probably-definitely not your average 6 year old. Last Sunday he chose to brave 2C degrees temperatures in the winter dusk at Lockerbie station to see his beloved Pendolinos whoosh past. And the day before he planned and costed his own Virgin trip to Lancaster to do the same.

For the greater part of his 6 years on this planet, he has been utterly consumed by trains - particularly Virgin trains, I might add! He self-identifies as a fully-fledged trainspotter (relying, of course, on the taxi- and bank-of-mum-and-dad) and it is almost impossible to convey in writing just how deeply and powerfully this influences his life and learning.

At every possible opportunity he will find a way to see trains, ride on trains, talk about trains, watch trains on TV and youtube, draw trains & routes. And if he’s not doing that, then he’s studying his train network map, making train & station announcements, and listing all the stops of both real and imaginary trains. Not just in the UK, but in Europe too. His bed is always a train, his room usually some far-flung destination.

For his last 3 birthdays he did not want a party - instead he took us to the National Railway Museum in York.

His self-motivated obsession and passion for this subject is part of what makes him special. On many occasions, I have chased him down the platform of Carlisle station where he just bubbles over with excitement to see the Pendolinos and Voyagers. This year and last he was enthralled when East Coast mainline services came through the West during engineering works and he got to see the Class 82 DVT’s and Class 43 HST’s.

He’s ridden on so many of your trains and he knows them - to him they are personal, they are friends, they are individual, they are special.

At times, I’ve stood on the platform with him while he gets lost in his train World, and held back the tears. Because I sense the track ahead for him is not necessarily going to be conventional or easy.

And so, this is what I really want you to know: I want to tell you how inspirational your trains have been for my son, for his growth and development; and I wanted to tell you because I imagine every observer would think the opposite.

It has supercharged his reading and numeracy: all that information, timetables, departures, arrivals, delays, layouts, instructions, signs at a station - at an early age he had already mastered all this, and now calculates anything to do with trains like a mini computer.

Then there’s the ridiculous knowledge of UK geography and cities, European countries and cities, times, dates, speed calculations, Units and measurement, safety principles, energy and mechanics.

His head is FULL of it.

But on top of that, there are the magical train names.

He loves those names, and studies them all. He even has some kind of seemingly-mystical power to read them off a coach as it whizzes past at 100mph. (see video).

Your gurus may not know that when they name a train, that causes my son to grow.

We have conversations about those names, the people or events behind them, their significance and history. We’ve talked about World wars, cancer, history, equality, mental health, explorers & pioneers to name but a few. All this has expanded his World-View in so many ways.

He was recently thrilled to see Virgin Pride, because it’s beautiful, and colourful, and, of course, it doesn’t occur to him that anyone should be singled out or treated differently.

We talked about how anyone can fall in love with anyone, the way he fell in love with trains!

I hope you really can get a sense how your trains frame the conversations and attitudes he is going to have as he grows towards adulthood.

It’s hard to convey how impactful and joyous this is in a letter. It’s just something I’ve come to understand month after month, year after year of chasing him during an afternoon (for Kilometres at a time) round the station while he just runs from platform to platform following what he loves!

He was utterly devastated when Virgin lost the East Coast line, heartbroken he never got chance to be hauled by a Virgin East Coast DVT, and is equally devastated about what has happened on the West. Sadly, he was never able to get a much-sought place on the busy Virgin Rookie day. He’s sobbed his heart out over and over through all of this, and I’m sure he’s not alone.

VIRGIN DIFFERENCE

So, before it’s too late, I just wanted to thank you. To thank Virgin for making a real difference to the life of a little boy you’ve never met. For inspiring a child that loves your trains more than anything in the world, and through them is growing and experiencing the world (literally) through travel, and conversation, and research and passion.

Thank you for that difference, the Virgin Difference (Pendolino car set 390037!)

Yours sincerely and gratefully,

Nik Sargent

(15/11/2019)

ps. His favourite car set is Chad Varah :-) but he was also honoured that Clic Sargent should share his surname. :-) Below is a SMALL selection of Virgin Trains he has chased around the country!