Crewe

Crewe station is heaving - it is doing what Crewe station is there to do, namely welcoming folk debarking from trains, accommodating them for a short time and packing them off towards their eventual destination. The platform markings implore you to “Stay safe, Stay apart” but there is little chance of that today. Station staff are actually bellowing at travellers to stand behind the yellow line. An announcement claims that a Manchester-bound train is 30 minutes late “because of over-crowding” and suggests that, if their ticket allows them to do so, they should consider an alternative train. I walk across the bridge to the most westerly platform 12 where Clun Castle is being pathed. It is an oasis of calm, compared to 5 and 6, which are both being used bidirectionally, as required. I have a bit of a wander around to reacquaint myself with the lie of the land. I’m struck with the amount of land the railways used at Crewe in the past that is not being used today, but which could be brought back into service with HS2 in mind. I eat my sandwich and crisps on one of the now very infrequently provided seating areas, keeping my bag close to my feet so that it does not end up being swept up as unaccounted for and then “destroyed or damaged by the security services”. Clun Castle puts in her brief appearance and she is bang on time.  She glides effortlessly through the station and rounds the curve towards Chester. She is resplendent, but the event is short-lived, very quiet and curiously low key, with only a smattering of fans at the platform end to pay tribute to her. At least I made the effort, I thought, as I turned for home.