I am pleased to welcome you to Great Nortend as a guest on the Great Nortan Railway Tour on behalf of the Board of Touring, the Board of Trade, His Majesty's Government and the people of Great Nortend. You will find enclosed herewith your ticket, a full itinerary for this tour, as well as a short booklet on important things to know whilst in Great Nortend. It is important that you read through this letter and the booklet before you arrive. You must not lose your ticket, and if you do, you must inform your tour steward immediately.
Upon arrival at Royal St. Christopher's Airport you will find yourself in the luggage hall where you must queue up in the correct queue for your flight. You will receive your luggage from the clerk and may wish to engage a porter to carry it for you upon clearance through His Majesty's Customs, if it is particularly great or heavy. You may be required to prove ownership of your luggage. Exiting the arrivals hall, follow the fingerboard sign to the tram shuttle stop, which runs every five minutes. Shew the ticket enclosed herewith to the driver and take the tram to the terminus, St. Christopher and Nevvings railway station.
By enquiry to the booking office clerk or inspection of the time-table you should ensure you take the express train to Lendert Saint-le-Cross railway station. The ticket enclosed permits your travel in a first-class compartment. Your luggage will be stowed in the dedicated luggage vans by the station porters, and a tip of one penny per item of luggage is expected. Upon arrival at Saint-le-Cross, you should collect your luggage from in front of the luggage van in which it was stowed, or engage a porter to do so, and make your way to the adjacent Saint-le-Cross Eastern Railway Hotel. You will meet Mr Andrew Wainwright in the main lobby, who will be your steward, otherwise known as a tourist guide, for this tour.
If at any time you are lost or unsure, please do not hesitate to ring the Touring Assistance Office on 0 8 820, free of charge on any GPO-connected telephone. I hope that you will enjoy the Great Nortan Railway Tour.
Yours sincerely,
Sir William Hight, KStE
Chairman of the Board of Touring
The morning had opened to a fine drizzle with overcast skies and a certain bracing coolness to the air. Autumn had truly arrived by this time this year and it was indeed one of the nicest times to visit Great Nortend. The fields were still a bright, golden colour from the corn-stubble still left in them, whilst the heather and gorse hills were all ablaze in developing shades of orange, purple and brown in the north.
Andrew Wainwright was a common-looking sort of man, 5' 10", well-built and in his late 20s with thinning brown hair, and was the steward, or tourist guide, engaged by the Board of Touring for the Great Nortan Railway Tour. He sat in the main lobby of Saint-le-Cross Eastern Railway Hotel, a marvellous foyer, large, airy and exquisitely panelled in exotic woods and furnished with fine brocades and mahogany. Dressed in the traditional uniform of a tour steward: green woollen jacket, green leather gloves, pale yellow trousers and polished black boots, his pale yellow hat was held in his lap as he waited not for a train but rather for the arrival of the young ladies and gentlemen whom he was charged with guiding.
The first of them should be arriving by now, he thought to himself as he read the morning paper. Hmmm... New sixpence design to be released. I don't think I've seen the previous new design yet.