The vintage train run on the Windermere branch line for around ten days in no way replaced the normal train service.

It did not cater for school children, 27 per cent of the business on the line, nor connected with key main line trains like the 08.30 from London that brings significant numbers of visitors to us.

The trains were replaced by a comprehensive, well-managed bus service offering more departures and in some cases better connections including from the North, which the train doesn’t do.

They were clearly displayed on the National Rail website so people could see they could book and travel to Windermere/ Journey times were little different so I doubt many folk were put off travelling to us.

The buses had excellent printed publicity and multilingual signs directing customers to them. As more than 90 per cent of visitors arrive by car, the train is a small part of a small part in any case.

I rode on the free train four times. Of course it wasn’t free, costing £6,000 a day, which somebody has to pay, likely us taxpayers.

The vintage trains were very popular and professionally run by West Coast Railway. Word spread rapidly that you could have a free train ride in the glorious weather. If it is free, they will come and they did.

But they were almost outnumbered by train enthusiasts who came from all over the land. I know of some from Essex and Bournemouth, to ride the vintage train. I suspect the numbers using it who would have used the branch line trains was very low.

But we have learned something. Maybe if the branch was a heritage railway using vintage trains still with through bookings from the main line and with a timetable devised locally for local needs, rather than by some bureaucrat at the Department for Transport in London, it may bring in more visitors. And it would be in keeping with our World Heritage Site status.

But our trains face a serious threat. If HS2 goes ahead it will wreck our main line trains.

Cumbrian politicians and business leaders should be pouring over the proposals and ensuring Cumbria does not suffer so people can whizz through the county non stop on their way from London to Glasgow.

Roger Davies

Kendal