Trains return to the valley…
The winter can feel long here in the valley. Just as the snow drops remind us of the forthcoming spring the return of the railway feels like a marker for the end of the darkest days…
The weather was awful yesterday, dark and overcast but more, cold and with a fine mizzle which soaked in stealing any warmth you had smuggled inside your gloves. Tempered only by the soothing clickety clack of an approaching train, the almost haunting horn sounding a warning at lonely farm crossings echoing off the leafless tree shrouded hills. The somewhat incongruous site of a 1970s refurb in drag, the 108 appeared at the station limits whilst the signalman operated the level crossing gates - witnessing the return of life to the rails, to the simple but important connection of activity that mark the passing of time. Railway time. Idling in the station then a gentle buzz buzz of the intercom and the engines rev up, gently applicatiom of power to the rusty slippery rails expertly displayed by the driver. The gate locks clash and my attention is turned to the cars and people returning to their busy lives and reflect gently on the thoughts of quiet between trains and how lucky I am to live here.
All that in film too…
Until next time, more soon…
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Fascinating, manually operated tower and crossing gates...orders hooped up to the crew. Forgive me if I sound ignorant is this still common in the UK? BTW here in Dieppe NB today it is -13 with a windchill in the -25 range. I know I know everything is relative.
ReplyDeleteThe Llangollen Railway is a preserved railway, operated largely by volunteers. However, I feel pretty certain there are one or two freight only locations that are left on the network similar to this… but certainly far from the norm. We’ve had full signalling on mainlines for well over 150 years and even the Welsh and Scottish branches were modernised with a radio token system in the 80s.
DeleteThanks James, its truly wonderful there is so much commitment there to preserve a railway to such high standards.
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