VIRGIN Cross Country passengers were yesterday grappling with an "ad-hoc" service as a national strike by guards went ahead.
The train operator, which operates between the North-East, Yorkshire and the West Country, was running a reduced number of trains because of the strike involving members of the RMT union.
Two southbound trains from Newcastle, the 7.51am to Bristol and the 10.27am to Sheffield, were able to leave during the morning.
A handful of northbound services were also operating between Leeds, Birmingham and Newcastle.
Virgin said it was running a shuttle train between Bristol and Sheffield every two hours, enabling passengers to use connecting Arriva services.
A spokesman said: "It's an ad-hoc service. A number of train managers have reported for duty despite the strike, and where that's happened, we've been able to run additional trains."
The strike, which affects a number of train companies, was expected to last until midnight.
Arriva and GNER services were unaffected.
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