What a prescient title my publisher Graham Coster came up with for the Telegraph anthology of great railway journeys we published in 2009. Tonight it really will be “Last call for the dining car” when Britain’s only remaining full-scale restaurant car service comes to an end on the King’s Cross-to-Leeds run.

It’s a shame but predictable. More and more domestic journeys by train are going the way of no-frills flights. Too many people these days are more interested in sockets and Wi-Fi than bacon and eggs. They’d rather tweet than eat. There’ll be much lamenting about the loss of dining cars from people who never use them, but no rescue.

Unless, of course, some champion steps forward. It’s happened before, and ensured a stay of execution, if not survival. The old Brighton Belle, which seemed to run between the seaside and the London stage, was famous for its food, especially kippers. Some catering committee decided to take kippers off the menu. Laurence Olivier and his fellow thespians kicked up a stink and they were put back on. A reader wrote to us at the time — this was March 1970 — to say, “Not even when nightly strangling Desdemona at the National Theatre did Sir Laurence act to more noble purpose.”

Michael Palin, Michael Portillo: there’s a job for you here.