In
Praise of Rails was sparked
off by a poetry competition organised by the National Railway Museum in 2011. I
submitted a poem called Sleek Beast That´s Sir Nigel Gresley, and although it
didn´t win I wasn´t in the least bit disappointed as the actual winners fully
deserved their prizes. In the process of researching material for that particular
poem, I found that memories about this iconic locomotive came flooding back as one
of my best friends in Yorkshire has an amazing print of it steaming at full
tilt and I am always mesmerised by its brutal beauty. This rekindled my
interest in trains and since then untold hours have been spent visiting
numerous heritage railways and museums taking photos, researching, learning
technical jargon, visiting some of the mentioned lines to hit my target of
fifty poems … what an enjoyable way to ponder, relax, write and regain a
passion for trains.
Where did this love for all things trains start? Somehow, lovely
memories of engines have always been there somewhere in the subconscious. I can
still vaguely recall standing lineside when I was in primary school watching
laden coal trucks trundle past being hauled by a filthy tank engine from Ifton
Heath coal mine before it closed.
This engine may, or may not, have been a
shunter called Hornet. More vividly, I remember being sent on obligatory cross-country
runs in all weathers from secondary school along the now disused and trackless
Ifton Pit to Weston Rhyn sidings line. We slid down the steep embankments, bare
legs getting bramble-ripped to pieces then ran through the muddy woods and icy
streams before the uphill trek back again to school. We also used to walk along
this same line in the opposite direction at a weekend and watch the annual Dragon
Rally Hell´s Angel hordes on BSAs, Triumphs and Nortons pass underneath the
long-gone iron bridge over the A5 as they revved en-masse to the north Wales
coast.
Of course, like most of my peers I had Hornby and Tri-ang sets as a
teen. We didn´t realise their future worth at the time, we just played with
them until they were wrecked and thrown out. Once I´d left school I got a job
as an apprentice draughtsman at Hathaway fire engine pump manufacturers in
Gobowen, Shropshire and many hours were spent doodling and daydreaming out of
the window as the trucks arrived from the ARC Stone quarry in Llynclys and were
shunted by a little diesel, then got hauled away by a rumbling Deltic-type
bigger loco on the main Chester to Wolverhampton line.
At seventeen, four of us school friends went camping alone for the first
time at Towyn and the thunderous rumble of engines, that also looked like
Deltics to my untrained eyes, shook the flimsy tent harder than our headmaster
had ever shaken us for being regularly naughty as they hauled boat trains up to
Holyhead. A couple of years later I travelled alone to catch a boat train to Weymouth
so I could visit a girlfriend in Guernsey.
When I watched the YouTube clips recently it brought back heavenly
memories of hanging out of the push-down windows as the train squeezed its way
along the quay. As an adult, I´ve been underground at Llechwedd slate mines,
got spooked on the Halloween train at Elsecar, been astounded by the sights in
the National Railway Museum at York, taken groups of Spanish teenagers for
their first-ever experience of steam at Bowness and Kinneil on the Scottish
coast, witnessed Thomas the Tank replicas turn kids and adults hysterical as it
arrived at Llangollen or Elsecar, even walked parts of the disused Woodhead line
in South Yorkshire with my dog.
However, not all train trips were good; I´ve been terrified as a
decrepit football special was bricked to pieces in a cutting at Leeds, and
often went from Wales on Saturdays to watch Man Utd, getting off at grubby
Oxford Road or Manchester Victoria. Once I took the lazy route up Snowdon and
got blasted by the icy winds and sudden hailstone early summer shower as the
carriage was pushed up to its peak.
Looking back now at the pleasure trains have brought throughout my
lifetime, I realise how lucky I am to have had so many sporadic opportunities
to experience different aspects of Britain´s unique railway heritage and hope
that I´ve produced poems that will inspire and encourage people to ride on the
mentioned trains and lines, explore the museums and all the great things there
are to be found around railways.
Each of the fifty poems can be analysed and dissected if readers
particularly want to, sometimes just a name hides so much detail and
interesting information, and to this end there are pages of explanatory notes
at the end of the book which will hopefully aid those seeking answers to some
of the more obscure references. Once I decided to limit the scope of this
collection to the UK only I spent innumerable, enjoyable hours venturing into
half-unknown waters to gather railway-specific vocabulary, read numerous books,
researched historical facts and design details, found anecdotes about people,
places, events, engines, checked out YouTube and Flickr for photos or videos of
railway activity and watched Great British Railway Journeys until my eyes went
square.
I would like to thank Margaret Rowland, Kathy Rollinson, Douglas Hill,
John Edwards and Iarla Mongey from Stanza Mar Menor in Spain, plus Lorraine
Mace from The Writer´s Bureau. I owe them all a huge debt for keeping me on
track because without their advice and constructive support (or helpful
nagging!) I doubt I would have ever crossed the finishing line with this
mammoth poetry writing project that took almost three years to complete. I
would also like to thank John Wardle for his excellent front and back cover
sketches. Matching poetic style and rhythm turning jumbled thoughts into
finished verse relating to particular trains was difficult at times and if I
have made any mistakes, then I wholeheartedly apologise to any nerdy people who
pick them up and can only offer this in my defence – If you can do better, do
it. If not, get a life!
David Leslie Urion
davidleslieurion.wordpress.com
Critique Service for Writers
Flash 500 Home Page: Flash Fiction, Humour Verse
and Novel Opening Chapter and Synopsis Competitions
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