On a recent rare fine day, I took a different sort of train ride into the country.
After an hour or so gliding sleekly along in the latest air-conditioned comfort, simply changing platforms at Alton in Hampshire takes you back fifty-odd years, to where the heritage steam enthusiasts of the Mid-Hants Railway run the Watercress Line http://www.watercressline.co.uk.
This is not just a plaything (although it caters to people on a day out rather than running a public transport service). It requires all the serious effort it took to run steam railways; there are several runs most days, stopping at two stations en route to Alresford, where once the local harvest of watercress would have been loaded up for supply to London.
The platform, buildings and signage are kept smartly painted in the style of the late 50s and 60s, with vintage advertising posters to match, but on this occasion, the atmosphere of a further twenty years back was evoked by the arrival of a crocodile of primary school children, all with luggage labels tied on to identify them, apparently re-enacting the wartime evacuation of children from the cities, with a cardboard box to stand in for the gas mask and bags for emergency supplies (including favourite soft toys), and a stern set of instructions from teacher about how to behave on a train.
The carriages themselves were a familiar sight for anyone who used trains in the 50s and 60s, with decades of ineradicable grime around the edges of the windows - windows that open; and there are doors that you open and shut for yourself!
Soon we were off, more of a trundle than a dash, through countryside looking its undramatic best - gently rolling hills and sloping fields, lush woods and the occasional red flash of fieldside poppies.
The children were let off at one of the immaculately keptintermediate stations to be met by serious-looking "Receiving Officers" in period clothes, but on rest of us went through banks of daisies and cuttings dripping with ferns to the railway's base at Alresford.
Alresford is a spruce town with some picturesque houses, a broad market street and a walk along a river whose clarity shows why the area's watercress was so successful.
On return to Alton, the next group of visitors was ready to board: indeed, the party for the special cream tea on the final run of the day seemed to be engrossed in tucking well in long before the train pulled out.
Totally brilliant Patrick! You've got me hooked for sure - this trip goes right into my "Things to Do in Britain" file! Thank you so much for this wonderful insight into local train travel fun!
This is wonderful on so many levels, from the gleaming, appropriately green train to the slightly alarming sight of the receiving officers -- as though time really did slip a cog.
God, I so wanted to do a Mary Poppins into that poppy sprinkled field in order to wend my way "through banks of daisies and cuttings dripping with ferns".
Killer photos all, but I totally adored the 2nd one, with the curve & the steam & the absolutely brilliant shot of the guy blowing his whistle.
I'll probably wear out that video, watching it over & over.
Truly a magnificent e pericoloso sporgersi moment! The schoolchildren and others dressed in period clothes almost give a shiver when thinking of various movies and TV programmes where the intrigue revolves around dimensions suddenly slipping a cog and our modern day protagonists finding themselves in a time warp (probably meeting their mother at age 12 because destiny depends on it).
But even without a lost in time fantasy, the scenery is really lovely and it looks like it was a really brilliant day.
I will always love trains because I come from locomotive families on both sides. My American grandfather was a locomotive engineer for the Illinois Central and my French grandfather was a stationmaster for the SNCF.
Kerouac, an early lesson in national stereotypes came from those signs under the windows on continental train doors. The German version just barked, like a military order, "Nicht hinauslehnen!"; the Italian version was more of a world-weary old roué simply offering you the advice that "E pericoloso sporgersi"; whereas the rhythm of the French words implied a degree of flirtatiousness from the archetypal chic French widow as she wagged her finger and said "Ne pas se pencher au dehors"............
I always wondered how they had settled on just four languages on the international trains -- no Spanish, no Dutch....
I hope I am not vandalizing your postcard, Patrick, but for anybody unfamiliar with the famous signs located at the base of every train window in the old days, here is one.
Oh, Patrick, very nice. Oh, to be in England on a rare fine day with a bunch of adorable schoolgirls in braids (though reminiscent of the ones who giggled at Bertie Wooster) rolling past flashes of poppies.
Thank you so much. Makes me want to be there, in short.
The Watercress Line was featured on Countryfile a couple of months ago, showing how the Tyer token system is used on the single track to prevent collisions.
You certainly see it in supermarkets, but the trade in people selling odd bunches round the streets died out decades ago, of course. I would guess production is more concentrated nowadays as with a lot of agriculture - I certainly noticed one or two broken or abandoned small beds on the outskirts of Alresford where a number of former mills and farm buildings had been converted into upmarket housing (for a small town, rather a lot of shops on the main street seemed to be swanky interior design businesses).
Outstanding Patrick! I love this old stuff and you've presented it just beautifully! Very meaningful to me too as I spent the first nine years of my life in England in the 50,s and 60's. Thank you!
![[Home]](http://static1.grsites.com/user/folders/nowdocking/r3920049/button23550481.png "[Home]")
![[New Topics]](http://images.proboards.com/menu/topics.png "[New Topics]")
![[Help]](http://static1.grsites.com/user/folders/nowdocking/r3920083/button28195714.png "[Help]")
![[Search]](http://static1.grsites.com/user/folders/nowdocking/r3920086/button25710789.png "[Search]")
![[Login]](http://static1.grsites.com/user/folders/nowdocking/r3920112/button20487816.png "[Login]")
![[Register]](http://static1.grsites.com/user/folders/nowdocking/r3920117/button97266159.png "[Register]")
![[image]](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5464/7413064716_84f85ee4a5_d.jpg "[image]")
![[image]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7270/7413069428_b8d6ee1121_d.jpg "[image]")
![[image]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8166/7413069722_8f3027829a_d.jpg "[image]")
![[image]](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5160/7413064252_50fb4e54d3_d.jpg "[image]")
![[image]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8160/7413071094_a81afb5463_d.jpg "[image]")
![[image]](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5032/7413064560_28228b6c52_d.jpg "[image]")
![[image]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8156/7413065012_d13520ec4c_d.jpg "[image]")
![[image]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7109/7413065376_ec1e5c5d2f_d.jpg "[image]")
![[image]](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5112/7413070302_0bbf5e4e84_d.jpg "[image]")
![[image]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7266/7413068270_a51688817c_d.jpg "[image]")
![[image]](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5449/7413068178_6c3ce42f22_d.jpg "[image]")
![[image]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7135/7413068910_6e07d17018_d.jpg "[image]")
![[image]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7251/7413067976_26f20c99c2_d.jpg "[image]")
![[image]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7123/7413069560_2c2b3c7980_d.jpg "[image]")
![[image]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8027/7413069812_ac09f0c279_d.jpg "[image]")
![[image]](http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/2503/nepassepencher.gif "[image]")
