Refocusing…

This year marks sixty years since the end of steam on the Western Region. The winter of ‘65/66 saw the last regular timetabled steam on the ex-GWR. This year may mark the end of 150s in South Wales and 158s on Birmingham/Holyhead services…

 

Time marches on and because trains tend to last a long time the particular styles and designs become imprinted in memory, our experiences with them create a deeper relationship, one fit for nostalgia. 

The 57xx Pannier at the Llangollen railway was retired from service years before I was born. My love of them comes from playing with Matchbox toy Pannier tanks and the Rev. Awdry’s ‘Duck’ (funnily enough, later my own OO Pannier waddled). A nostalgia then yes, fuelled by play yet fired by imagination.

In contrast the 158s were introduced in the years I began to roam the rails alone. I’ve decades of memories made aboard these venerable units. For the ‘modern’ train spotter the sense of loss, seeing these units replaced is just as meloncholic as it was for the steam enthusiasts in the 60s, no matter what they might say. These second generation DMU have a sound and smell of their own, the engine and exhaust note as they leave a station, the acceleration up to line speed, the old buzzers and door closing beepers, their interiors and seating unique and none of this replicated in today’s third generation units. These old Sprinters are just as special.

That’s why last Sunday I braved the cold to capture both scenes here - they mean something to me. More, in the moments of quiet anticipation waiting for the train to arrive I can sense a calming of my racing mind as it focuses not on worry or anxiety but instead, the adrenaline is turned to fuel an excitement about what I am about to witness. This is magic stuff. 

I am lucky to live a stones throw from the Llangollen railway and a short drive to the Chester to Shrewsbury mainline. I am lucky, in my mid-life to have recognised the power of train spotting to mediate my mental health, both as a purpose to get up and out - and that physical refocus of adrenaline - a real relief from the depressive cycle.

The sun is shining, these dogs won’t walk themselves, have a good day out there and until next time, more soon… 

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