He’s raised a petition and written to Prince Charles and his piece de resistance is the release of a record that he hopes could get some national airplay.

Neil, managing director of his own advertising and PR company Forsyth Communications, and who still does a bit of sponsorship chasing for Northern, has teamed up with one of his company’s commercial writers and good friend Gary Davidson and between them the pair have come up with a CD that Tower Records are now looking to distribute nationwide. Neil has called his campaign ‘The Chathill Thunderbolts’ in what he sees as a direct similarity to the old Ealing comedy, ‘The Titfield Thunderbolt’ where locals take on a coach company to keep their branch line open.

The 50 year-old believes successive governments have failed the public for more than 25 years through public transport policies and, in particular, the railways while the train companies are looking for profit only and neglecting ‘social cost’. Arriva say that the cessation of service was down to the lack of drivers who take a year to train up and that they hope to have the service fully restored by the end of this month.