ray pool

A TRIP TO LOOE

by ray pool

Saturday 4th March 2017 11:22 pm

When Tobacco Road

Concrete and Clay

were tunes of the day

in nineteen hundred and sixty four

down to Looe we went by train

where it hugged the coast

with a snaking lasso.

The King class loco with its rake of red

arrived at Liskeard a little late

from its stable at Old Oak Common shed

the connecting tanker

freshly fed, obliged to wait

a duty of service willingly performed

by the driver and stoker

no digital demands to make the decision

valves kept shut

the engine at bay until

us three climbed aboard

then the measured drift began

through woods with views of the peeking coast

in August heat, in stuffy clothes

already a vision of a vintage ghost

when Tobacco Road

Concrete and Clay

were in my head on holiday.

🌷 (4)

◄ CHURCH RIDDLE

TV SOAPS ►

Comments

raypool

Mon 6th Mar 2017 14:07

Thanks for posting Mark. It got the nostalgia juices flowing yet again. The magic of steam.... In 1963 I took a trip from Waterloo via Bath and went down the Somerset and Dorset to Bournemouth, thence back to W'loo. You must know Bradford on Avon on the canal. Few tourists around in those days.
Steam at night was fantastic - the anticipation . I could go on.

Ray

M.C. Newberry

Mon 6th Mar 2017 13:57

An evocative reminder of my own youthful experiences
on GWR territory: trainspotting on the UP platform at Bath Spa, and living in a nearby village that had an
archtypal goods station with a cosy waiting room fire,
a frequent evening destination for this lad, eager for
the distant whistle that would announce the approach
of a "down" express soon emerging from the short
intervening tunnel between the station and the famous Box Tunnel just beyond the village.
With another shriek and with a flash of twin lamps and illuminated carriages, it would lean in towards me as
I stood on the otherwise deserted dark platform and thunder past in a heady blur of steam and light.
No obsessing about health and safety in those days.
The solitary porter on duty would have a few words
and leave me to my own devices until I was ready to
make my happy way home in my own time.
That station is long gone now but the memories - and
WHAT memories! - stay with me.

raypool

Sun 5th Mar 2017 21:29

Glad you took this trip down memory lane with me gentlemen. Thanks Dave for catching up, always nice to have a fresh mind on board - yes this was a lightweight poem, just a refresher as it were!

Graham, i'm jealous - no health or safety restrictions then. I never made that mpw - I think it might have been a roundhouse like the one at Camden. I managed Nine Elms in 67, a sad place then. Proper memories!

Greg, glad you picked up on this - a little beauty of a trip. Apparently it also at one time served a quarry I believe. There was a view of a viaduct too.

John, I'm sure your perambulations were equally satisfying being as it were in the industrial heartlands . God knows there was so much pulled down since then.
You must have seen the coronation scot and the jubilees on the move. Hankies please.

Thanks all, and also for the likes too!

John Coopey

Sun 5th Mar 2017 18:25

Because they were so far away Western and Southern Region spots were rarities in my part of the world (LMS). I was always envious.

Greg Freeman

Sun 5th Mar 2017 18:11

Lovely stuff, Ray. And the quirky, one-coach Looe Valley branch line escaped Beeching; I discovered it a couple of years ago. That separate station at Liskeard for the branch line is a beaut.

Graham Sherwood

Sun 5th Mar 2017 09:55

I remember skittling around Old Oak Common sheds before we got chucked out as a schoolboy!

This brings back many memories of bus trip train spotting jaunts. Well observed Ray.

Dave Morgan

Sun 5th Mar 2017 01:05

Beautiful evocation Ray. A little lighter than some of your other posts which I have just read through. They're disturbing in a good way. Proper poetry in my book.

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