We went to Birmingham on Tuesday by train, via Shrewsbury, although not for our own amusement. We have been to Shrewsbury by train before and on that occasion we also bought our tickets on the train. At that time the tickets were issued from a small portable machine which the ticket man carried with him and were about credit card size.

They have obviously changed their ticket machines because on this journey this is what we were given:

Just below the ticket is a transparent foot rule for comparison.

The left-hand half is for the outward journey and the right-hand half for the return journey. But doesn't it strike you as a little excessive? Perhaps the train operating company has shares in a paper mill.