Ishvarlal Chauham (left) and Paul Temple (right) with their special guest.
It took more than a train cancellation to stop Britain's oldest surviving First World War veteran Henry Allingham getting to his destination.
The man who survived one of the worst conflicts in human history was given the VIP treatment by rail staff to make sure he was able to travel between Brighton and Tamworth, Staffs.
Silverlink County conductor manager Paul Temple, a keen student of the First World War, and colleagues from Virgin West Coast pulled out all the stops to help the 111-year-old man who is now blind.
Weeks of planning had taken place to make sure Henry would be able to make the trip.
Southern, Silverlink and Central Trains had each provided him and his party of carers with free tickets for the journey.
But on the day of the trip fate took a hand when Southern was faced with delays due to an incident on the line between Brighton and London.
As his chances of catching the 12.49 Silverlink train from London Euston slipped away, a taxi was swiftly arranged to bring Henry up from the South Coast to London.
But it was too late for the Silverlink service.
Paul, who had planned to travel with Henry, then had to find an alternative way of getting the party to Tamworth. He said: "Virgin West Coast were tremendously helpful. I spoke to their manager in charge at the station and he arranged for Henry and his party to travel to Tamworth first class.
"They allowed me to travel with him on the 15.46 train and during the trip I was able to have a chat with him. It was an indescribable honour to meet him. He is a marvellous man and still has a razor sharp memory.
"During the First World War he was a mechanic in the Royal Navy Air Service and that meant that he sometimes had to fly with the pilot after work had been done on the plane.
"He would be looking out for Zeppelins, spotting enemy planes and sometimes have to shoot at the enemy with a rifle.
"Nowadays he prefers to talk about other things. He knew Vera Lynn's father, who was a plumber, and still recalls many early parts of his life, including how he loved to play golf."
Paul, who regularly attends parades in France to remember those who fell in the great battles of the WW1, added: "He signed one of my books on the war."
The war veteran and his helpers arrived at their destination on time and the following day travelled back to London on a Silverlink service with deputy station manager Ishvarlal Chauham.