Not magical, certainly a mystery: my five-hour train trip became an 11-hour viral ordeal. No wonder people fly

‘Everyone understands the plight of the stranded, bewildered, careworn traveller.’ Photograph: Mark Waugh/Alamy

For the first two or so hours of its scheduled run, the Monday 16:40 direct train from London Euston to Edinburgh Waverley had been delightfully normal. The train was neither too full, too cold nor too loud. It was boring – blissfully so. There was no sign of the odyssey to come.

An email arrived on our phones, its title evoking The Twilight Zone: “Your train has changed.” It got worse, and stranger: “Your train has been cancelled.” That’s one of the odder announcements you can receive while rolling along on the train in question.