A trip down memory lane
I was browsing through the paper on Saturday when I came across an advertisement.
The Railway Preservation Society of Ireland are running one of their excursions.
I would love to go on that excursion, but circumstances conspire against me, and it is unlikely I could make it.
Most of you will never have experienced the joys of a steam locomotive, and will therefore find it hard to understand why anyone should pay good money just to travel on a train. Steam travel is an entirely different experience however.
Steam locomotives are more than just the sum of their parts. They are more than just lumps of metal. To stand beside a steam locomotive in a station is to experience a unique phenomenon – a living machine. Modern diesel and electric locomotives are soulless mass produced items that can only be told apart by their numbers. When to you ever see a young boy standing gazing in awe at a modern locomotive?
Whenever I was going on a train journey, the first item on the agenda when we arrived on the platform was to run and admire the locomotive. Here was a living, breathing thing of beauty that was not just built to pull a train, but was to be admired. Who can forget the sounds of steam? Who can forget the smell of the steam and smoke, the hot metal and the smell of oil? It was an odour of childhood and of excitement.
Steam locomotives were both loved and hated by the drivers and firemen. A locomotive had to be fired up hours before a journey, and there was a long list of items to be checked and oiled, before taking on coal and water. However, the locomotives were cherished, loved, painted and polished until they were gleaming. The drivers and firemen took great pride in their charges and it showed.
Travelling on a train pulled by steam was a different experience too. There was something reassuring about the sight of the smoke curling off across the fields. In those days, when one booked a seat, one had to specify if one wanted to travel ‘back to the engine’ as smuts came in the window, and forward facing seats tended to gather a bit of fallout.
Steam excursions are very popular these days. I think it is more than just a desire to see these magnificent beasts back in action.
It is a hankering for the days before mass production, when people took a pride in their lives and when beauty and functionality took equal places.
I’ve never even seen one in real life, but everything was built better then and to see those things still in use (Trains, Houses, Castles) shows how they were built for purpose and occassion.
Not profit.
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Poor old Grandad! You must have a schedule as busy as mine, not being able to squeeze in any of the excursions.
I must thank you, though, for bringing them to my attention. We are lucky here in Wexford to have short jaunts available to us, next Sunday and again on July 5th – leaving town at 14:15, quick stop in Rosslare and turn around to make it home in time for tea at 16:30. Ok, I know I should really say “quarter past two” and “half past four”, the twenty-four hour clock having no place in the age of steam!
Unfortunately next Sunday’s trip clashes with the Wexford v Dublin hurling, but maybe I’d get more enjoyment out of a journey back in time…
BTW, I was recently in the Ulster Transport Museum – spent many hours amongst their fine examples of steam locomotives, as well as their car, bike, bicycle and aerospace exhibits. Well worth a visit!
Francis
Maxi – Never even seen one? You don’t know what you are missing! Take a look!
Francis – It’s more a case of health than schedule. Maybe I’ll make it? The more I think about it, the more I am tempted.
Grandad,
You could not have said it better, “….beauty and functionality.” I truly think that is what is meant by “wake up and smell the roses” Thanks for a little trip down memory lane.
Thank you, John O. I do my best. There are so many things of great value that are being lost to future generations.
Wonderful! We have a steam trust railway in the next village and they have time travelling days – I love them!
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For anyone down in the Kingdom, I completely recommend the Lartigue.
http://www.monorails.org/tMspages/Listowel.html
Now there’s a dead-cool piece of railway engineering.
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Wonderful wonderful post, and photo. We ride steam trains whenever we can; there’s a wonderful trip to take near Elkins West Virginia, where we’ll be in a few weeks’ time.
My Daddy was a locomotive engineer; I love my trains!
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Oh Grandad. I remember sitting on railway bridges as a child taking down train registration numbers for no particular reason and getting bathed in soot as the locomotives went under the bridge . .that’s when ‘trainspotting’ had a completely different connotation. There’s still a few that are brought out for special trips here and well worth the struggle to take a ride. I hope you can muster the strength, they’re great things. They smell great, they sound great! Love ’em.
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Hi Grandad,
first time poster, long time lurker.
I know exactly what you mean about the steam train. I was introduced to them by my hubby at the tender age of 27, him being a bit of a trainspotter. So enamoured was I with steam train travel we decided to use one as the mode of transport from our wedding to our wedding reception a few weeks ago. Mind you, we do live in the south of england where we have a number of heritage railways. I think they’re the dogs myself. The ones here run special evening and weekend events like real ale and fish and chip specials.
I love your blog but this post really touched my sentimental side.
Lovely Stuff
Welcome Becky! Lurkers are always welcome here, and congratulations on the wedding!
As a child, I did a lot of rail travel for various reasons, and that was in the age of steam. I have wonderful memories of the Holyhead to Euston line [the old Mail Train] and well remember watching the locomotives shunting in Rugby in the small hours of the morning as the mail was loaded.
There is a much stronger tradition of preservation in the UK, and sadly most of our rail lines are long closed. We too had our Beeching! I envy you your many excursions.
Sorry for being sentimental. It happens every now and then in an unguarded moment.
I love train travel, and this post has confirmed my suspicion that I am missing out big time by never having travelled by steam train. They should resurrect a few for the Western Rail Corridor when it’s finished, in 2095. In the meantime I’ll just keep re-watching The General.
It wasn’t just that the smuts came in the window – it was there was also the pain of having to lean out the window to open the door, and getting soot all over your sleeves!
Somerset has two steam railways West and East – don’t think there are many other counties that can make such a claim.
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