From Northern trains to Dolly Parton, the institutions that can’t quit the fax

Jason Fitzpatrick, who runs the Gadget Museum in Suffolk, with a few examples from his collection of 40 fax machines. Photograph: Fabio De Paola/The Guardian

There’s not much Dolly Parton and Northern rail bosses can claim to have in common. Frustrated commuters from Manchester to Middlesbrough might complain the train service barely works 9 to 5. What does unite the two is that neither can let go of the fax machine.

Banned by the NHS in England and dropped by the Premier League after one too many player transfers crumbled amid faulty transmissions, the persistence of the screeching and buzzing fax was this week blamed for commuter misery by the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham.