[bigmacca1]

In the mid 60's my family and I went to Jersey via rail and air, from Accrington Lancs. The outward journey was steam-powered (Kohlapur as I recall) from Accrington to London Euston but via the Bury line, Manchester Victoria, and, I assume, Ashton Moss North/South Junctions to Stockport. At Stockport an 08 shunter detached the 8 coaches of our train from the Jubilee, dragged them backwards and then attached them to the rear of a London-bound train waiting in the station, hauled, I believe, by one of the then AL1 bo-bos. Yeah, a very convoluted journey. From Euston we went across to Waterloo and thence to Southampton. On our return, because of the British United Airways strike, we were late back into Southampton, caught the first available train back to Waterloo and my dad then set about working out how to get back to Accrington. Now this is where my query comes in. Given that it's about 1965, I've convinced myself that rather from getting a train from Euston we got a very late train from either St Pancras or Marylebone, (I've even had this fantasy that it might actually have been Paddington!) arriving at Preston at about 01:00 the following morning. We slept in the waiting room at Preston and caught the first DMU to Accrington. Is this feasible in this era? I've not got access to working (or any) timetables from the '60s and wondered if any of you 'pathing experts' might know which station - other than Euston - could have sent us off merrily to Preston without having to change anywhere. Sorry about the long-windedness but the expedition was quite intriguing and not being (at 14) so train-savvy as now, I'm baffled as to which crafty way my dad managed to get us back! Thanks for any ideas