Railway poetry

[dwrenched]

For me, poetry doesn't have quite the same appeal as music, but the amount and quality of railway poetry is surprising.  Not all are in favour, hence the following by William Wordsworth.

ON THE PROJECTED KENDAL AND WINDERMERE RAILWAY

          IS then no nook of English ground secure
          From rash assault? Schemes of retirement sown
          In youth, and 'mid the busy world kept pure
          As when their earliest flowers of hope were blown,
          Must perish;--how can they this blight endure?
          And must he too the ruthless change bemoan
          Who scorns a false utilitarian lure
          'Mid his paternal fields at random thrown?
          Baffle the threat, bright Scene, from Orresthead
          Given to the pausing traveller's rapturous glance:          10
          Plead for thy peace, thou beautiful romance
          Of nature; and, if human hearts be dead,
          Speak, passing winds; ye torrents, with your strong
          And constant voice, protest against the wrong.

                                                  October 12 1844

From a Railway Carriage, by Robert Louis Stevenson, in 1885, was more positive, but he'd had longer to get used to the idea.

Faster than fairies, faster than witches,
Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;
And charging along like troops in a battle,
All through the meadows the horses and cattle:
All of the sights of the hill and the plain
Fly as thick as driving rain;
And ever again, in the wink of an eye,
Painted stations whistle by.
 
Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,
All by himself and gathering brambles;
Here is a tramp who stands and gazes;
And there is the green for stringing the daisies!
Here is a cart run away in the road
Lumping along with man and load;
And here is a mill and there is a river:
Each a glimpse and gone for ever!

[cycletrak9]

The classic of course is "Adlestrop " by Edward Thomas

[Agrippa]

The boy stood on the railway line
The engine gave a squeal
The driver took an oily rag
And wiped him off the wheel

[silly moo]

A nursery rhyme

Piggy on the Railway
Picking up stones;
Down came an engine,
And broke Piggy's bones. 'Ah !' said Piggy,
"That's not fair,"
"Oh !" said the engine driver,
"I don't care !"

[silly moo]

And another I've always liked :

If all the trains at Clapham Jctn
Were suddenly to cease to fctn
The people waiting in the stn
Would never reach their destintn.

Anon

[Pengi]

Just one Pendolino
Give it to me
A beautiful train
From Italy

[Komata]

This might be of interest:

The author was William ('Bill') Lawson, who was a  fireman with the 3ft 6 in. gauge privately-owned Wellington and Manawatu Railway Co. Ltd. (WMR) which ran from Wellington to Longburn , near Palmerston North in the lower end of New Zealand's North Island. The WMR was later 'acquired' by the NZ Government and the former company's tracks are the major railway exit route northwards from the capital.

In the poem, Lawson is describing a journey he made as a fireman on a large Baldwin-built 2-8-4T, WMR No.3 (later NZR Wj 466). (Sorry, I can't post an  image of the locomotive; the software won't allow it).

WMR No.3 was used as a bank engine over a very severely-graded section of track between Thorndon (Wellington) and Johnsonville - about 5 miles out.  This section of the line had two very narrow tunnels (No.'s 1 and 2). which must have made firing very difficult.  Later in her life with the WMR, No.3 had her run extended to run back from Paekakariki (Pie-car-car-ree-key) (aka 'Paekok' 'Pie-kok')), to Wellington.  This was also a very severely graded section, with numerous, narrow tunnels.

With this in mind, imagine a fireman working very hard on the left hand side of the cab, while his loco is being driven up up a very steep and winding gradient and into a narrow tunnel.  IMHO it describes the experience well . . .

'Stoking on the Paekok'

'Stoking on the “Paekok”
With thirty wagons on,
Choking in the “Paekok”
When air and daylight's gone,
And hear her roaring funnel
A-thrashing in the tunnel,
A-firing on the “Paekok”
With just your trousers on'.

Lawson wrote several other railway related poems, which I will put here if anyone is interested.

[grumbeast]

I can't believe no one has mentioned the classic "night mail" by W.H.Auden



http://youtu.be/zmciuKsBOi0

Graham

[OwL]

There once was an engine attached to a train,
He was scared about a few drops of rain,

He went into a tunnel,
Squeaked out his funnel,
And never came out again......


The engines name was Henry.

(Words by Rev W Awdry)

[Agrippa]

Down the train came puffin,

Scotland 5 England nuthin

not very realistic score !