Well, it's not everyday I get on a train and see the Chancellor of the Exchequer sitting at the end of the carriage.

After boarding the 8.42 to Cardiff from Bristol Parkway, I looked twice to make sure I wasn't mistaken.

Yes, it was definitely Alistair Darling sitting in the corner.

And bless me, who should sit down behind me but none other than Peter Mandelson.

I had boarded the train for a one-to-one interview with Transport Secretary Lord Adonis who was announcing the electrification of the Bristol to London railway line.

I caught the eye of a press wallah and asked him under my breath and with a shifty look in my eye: "Are there many Cabinet Ministers on this train today?"

He said there were - at least half a dozen.

They were all on their way to Cardiff for a regional cabinet meeting.

Regional cabinet meeting? Apparently, they uproot from 10, Downing Street every now and again and hold a meeting somewhere in the sticks.

Today, it was Cardiff's turn.

Well, if it was a pukka cabinet meeting, was the Prime Minister on the train, I asked.

Yes, came the reply, he was sitting further up in the next carriage.

Sure enough, after disembarking, the Prime Minister strode down the platform before Peter Hain had a chat with Lord Adonis as a high speed 125 swept past.

Post photographer John Kent who joined me on the assignment, couldn't get over sitting next to these high-profile politicians.

"What's the one question you would like to ask a top politician like Peter Mandelson if you knew you were going to get a straight answer from them?" he asked.

I thought about it for a few moments. "A straight answer?" I asked.

"Yeah, a straight answer."

"Why do you do it?" I suggested as we walked back to the car park at Bristol Parkway.