Yes, trains certainly give you that.
And there’s little more enticing than a railway track meeting the horizon.
Railways, like rivers, are difficult subjects for writers because they go on and on.
- Eric Newby, The Big Red Train Ride.
trains
Trains Lend A Sense Of Perspective
Travel: What Makes Bad Places *Bad*?
One of the nastiest experiences of my life was having coffee at the Paragon Train Station in Hull. (more…)
How I Conquered My Love Of Flying
Dear Tim,
I feel incredibly foolish in saying this but…
I won’t be meeting you at the airport. That’s because I won’t be arriving on a plane.
Because I suddenly can’t climb onto one. (more…)
Thanks for Failing, Doctor Beeching
The bend widens out, and before me lies a toy train platform, built lifesized.
I crunch up, moving from a path of gravel ballast onto sloping wooden planking. Before and behind me, the rails curve lazily away through the narrow valley, high escarpments on either side pressing inwards and making a sweaty day even closer. Barring the steel lines set ablaze by the sunshine it’s a natural-looking landscape – into which Newton Dale Halt has been dropped like a shoddy special effect.
On either end of the wooden stop there are inward-facing signs, both unreadable as I approached along the trackside path. Upon making the top of the platform, I discover they say “Danger: Do Not Walk Along The Trackside Path”. Great. Cursing my knack for finding turnings where none exist, I unshoulder my rucksack and sit down on the moss-greased planking.
Silence falls, roaring in my ears as I strain to hear the approach of a train returned from the dead.
