Over the hills [and then round them]

Over the hill? Well, we were on Saturday 25^th March. Our Winter Cumbrian Coast Express took Shap in fine style behind Royal Scot Class No 46115 Scots Guardsman, reaching the summit hauling eleven coaches at just under 30 m.p.h. Circumnavigation of the English Lake District offered splendid sights throughout, with snow-clad mountains never far from view and a magnificent sun-lit coastal vista as far as the Isle of Man after the lunch stop, all enjoyed with no more than a turn of the head.

We started our day together at Crewe and as I hung around on platform 6 waiting for my friends to arrive, my mind went back to an evening over fifty years ago when I had lost consciousness on the bench immediately outside the buffet, when sleep deprivation from the previous night finally took hold after a mammoth South Wales train spotting bash. My friends carried me home to Wallasey and I woke up in bed half way through the next day, initially very mystified as to how I had got there.

But wait. Who is that sitting on my bench this morning? Its Jeremy Corbyn, no less, looking wide awake and planning his day ahead with frequent mobile phone calls, interspersed with exchanges involving his three companions. Wherever he was heading, it was unlikely to be on the 09.38 Railway Touring Company’s charter to Carlisle, along with the lads - though we might have all got along OK. He was also a grammar school boy and he is the same age as us. Tim Pickard of The Financial Times even described him as being “a train obsessive” and tweeted that he was a “borderline train spotter.” [https://www.ft.com/content/7d242bcc-3126-11e5-8873-775ba7c2ea3d#axzz3gLc6R4I1]

Blue electric No. E3137 whisked us off up the West Coast Main Line for our rendezvous with the Scot at Carnforth, followed by that spirited climb of Shap. We located the best fish and chip shop in Carlisle and ate al fresco at the pavement tables.

It seems that instead of joining us, Jeremy ended up at the inaugural Momentum conference in Birmingham. At least he is not out on his feet, as I was when I was lifted from that same bench at Crewe station many decades before.

 

Photo with thanks to Dave Beck.