Virgin Trains have recently celebrated their 20th anniversary, and as part of the celebrations, they played host to story telling, but with a twist.

40 guests were told to turn up at Birmingham New Street, and were told nothing more.

They were whisked down to Birmingham International in first class, enjoying a selection of food and drinks from the Menu in the First Class lounge before being enternated by Stuart Maconie.

Stuart is a regular train traveller with Virgin and used his journey Scotland as inspiration for his 1k short story.

The popular travel author was also joined by winners of the Flash Fiction competition held in partnership with Birmingham Mail.

Stuart said “Finding the time and quiet space to write is so hard when there are constant demands of work, family, not to mention distractions at the end of my fingers on my phone. Spending a few hours on a Virgin Train between Edinburgh and Birmingham New Street allowed me to enjoy the view – tweeting a few photos from the beautiful Lake District and Scottish Borders on the way – whilst also writing about what I was seeing. We’ve got such a fantastic variety of landscapes in the UK – train travel, at speed, but in comfort and without having to concentrate on anything but yourself, allows you to really appreciate it in all its glory.”

Natasha Grice, General Manager for Virgin Trains in the West Midlands, said “Birmingham is our home and we wanted to do something different to help celebrate twenty years of serving the city and its people. People choose to relax in different ways when they’re onboard our trains; some like to unwind watching films or reading magazines using our onboard entertainment system Beam; for others it’s a great opportunity to read a good book, and for some people it can even provide the inspiration to write one.”

• Visit the Virgin Trains Website
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