TO THE NORTH!

by ray pool

Friday 19th May 2017 11:00 pm

Driver Williams (Kings Cross MPD)

has cleared the twin tunnels

Gasworks and Copenhagen then

struggling free the Peppercorn is panting

Fireman Higgins already tickling

the throat of the firebox with coal -

some to the left

some to the right

with a twist of his shovel

a pause then withdrawal

the eyelid closing.

Taut as a longbow is Higgins

for the climb to Ferme Park Hornsey,

this is where he earns his crust

as other young rookies must learn the craft

with sandwiches half eaten

spilling out from stunted huts.

One lad checks his watch

with half an eye on the future.

He was at a dance last night

with his sweetheart.

Today he is back in harness

watches the Peppercorn,

an average of thirty nine on this

one in two hundred gradient

he knows it by rote.

The long rake disappears on a whistle

the cutoff will soon be nipped right down

muscles relaxing at Potters Bar,

on the Hatfield stretch she'll show her legs

and Edinburgh will come

as sure as rails;

the future will come

with dead men's tales.

Comments

raypool

Sun 21st May 2017 20:00

THanks for the comment Suki. If I'm right those trials took place on a circular track - not sure. Without boring you, the conveyance of goods and minerals were the prime object in those times, and passengers were sparsely cared for!

Ray

suki spangles

Sun 21st May 2017 01:29

Hi Ray,

Funnily enough, I grew up in Rainhill, Liverpool, where they held the Rainhill Trials - Stephenson' Rocket, all that.
Your poem reminds me a little of all that.

Nice one!

Suki

raypool

Sat 20th May 2017 22:49

Hi David , I'm so glad to get your interpretation on this , as it highlights one of the aspects of what the poem might represent, an important one. The dignity of hard labour, you might say in this case, and perhaps also pride. Of course in retrospect the whole experience has gained the patina of nostalgia; obviously for me my memory was tinged with the commonality of steam railways . I don't think rail travel today gives much change to those who beg for the past glories.
Thanks mate. Ray

raypool

Sat 20th May 2017 11:50

Thanks so much Col. I enjoy the idea of footplate rides, and there is a very masculine drive involved. I love the idea of departure and arrivals and what that brings to us. I do have a book called "Mile by Mile on Britain's Railways (1947) showing every detail of the main lines starting from London - so I cribbed some of that. I'm glad you got the flavour! Now the confession: the last two lines were conceived before the voice over idea in a film context. They were to imply that all that way of life had now disappeared. Of course the contemporary note of the reading rather contradicted that. There are the horns of the dilemma. Well spotted. Not sure how to resolve it without a rehash!

Always grateful for your eagle eye. Aythangyow.

Ray

<Deleted User> (13762)

Sat 20th May 2017 07:43

a chuffing good read this Ray - Fireman Higgins' feeding the firebox is almost orgasmic and the lad checking 'his watch with half an eye on the future' and his sweetheart is a great image - as too 'taut as a longbow' and 'show her legs'. There's tension of all kinds building throughout the narrative. Is there a back story with this? The last two lines threw me a little. Cheers, Col.

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TO THE NORTH!

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