Oops he’s done it again.

Deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam has produced another convoluted train journey metaphor to describe the progress in tackling Covid.

If you’re not familiar with his various railway analogies, then I suggest you start by reading my post ‘Heading for the buffers’ from last December.

OK, now you’ve caught up, I present you with his latest tortuous train route.

Professor Van-Tam told the Guardian that his biggest concern was that people relaxed and thought the pandemic was over.

He added: “It’s as if there was this big express train that came down the East Coast Main Line, but actually, the final destination is the last stop in Scotland somewhere.

“And of course, as you go down that rail journey, the line speeds decrease, they get a bit more twisty and turny, there are more stops, and false endings. And it’s a bit like that really – we’ve done quite a lot of the mainline travel, but we haven’t finished the job.”

There are a few obvious points to mention here.

The East Coast Main Line is not the best choice of Train Operating Company to select given it was taken back into public hands in June 2018 after the failure of the franchise run by operators Stagecoach and Virgin Trains. And now a new “open access” operator has announced it is challenging the state-owned LNER.

And then just where are those tracks going?

Like this:

Or like this:

I can imagine Professor Van-Tam’s train ending up lost somewhere on the Scottish moors.

He’s a great communicator and I’m pleased he has been chosen to present this year’s Royal Institution Christmas lectures (one of my favourite festive programmes) but sometimes it’s hard to know whether his analogies will reach their destination safely or end up being derailed.

A much easier – and more heartwarming – rail story has been the discovery of a Victorian ledger at March station in Cambridgeshire.

It really was manna from heaven as the luggage ledger dating from April 1885 fell through the ceiling as contractors were carrying out repairs.

It provides a fascinating glimpse into Victorian travel and the coming of the railways in the area.

And the great news is that the documents found by the contractors will go on display at the revamped March station.

Now that’s a journey’s end which even Professor Van-Tam can explain in simple terms.