but the journey was not uneventful.
Why bother offering seats in the "Quiet" carriage if nobody polices it? A woman was loudly gabbing away for 15 minutes over the aisle then friends came through from another carriage and were gabbing away.
As we approached Stafford a rainstorm came down and our train slowed significantly. An announcement was made over the PA system - "The train is having to go slowly due to the failure of the windscreen wipers".
On the approach to Crewe another announcement was made - " This is a VERY important announcement. If the person sitting in the next seat to you is wearing headphones please give him or her a nudge to listen up. This train is being TERMINATED at Crewe due to the failure of the windcsreen wipers on the north end. It will return south. All passengers must leave the train at Crewe. Another train is on its way from Manchester and will go north.

So at Crewe the Manchester to London Euston train arrived. All passengers on that train had to disembark and swap onto my train and vice versa. It all went well with little delay. I was impressed with the operational planning that turned a crisis into a slight delay.