For the love of steam trains. Settle- Carlisle Railway

[Ca ne fait rien]

Sleepy Settle wakes on a market Tuesday,
Farmers’ wives from Clitheroe, 
Hellifield, Long Preston,
Gisburn and Horrocksford,
Not to mention Nappa ,
Have your tickets ready please.
Travellers on the platform
Don’t forget to mind the gap,
Standback while the gypsum wagons rumble past;
Look up to Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen y Ghent
All aboard for Langcliff and the Carlisle metropolis
Don’t lean out the window when the guard’s whistle blows.

On through Taitland’s tunnel
And the Sheriff Brow viaduct
First of many striding ‘cross the rivers and vales;
Helwith Bridge, Crag Hill, Horton in Ribblesdale
Where they carry off the Yorkshire Dales in tip- up trucks.

Steam from the engine trails back from famous Batty Moss,
A pall on the graves of the navvies who died
From gunpowder accidents, hard work and smallpox
Burrowing Bleamoor tunnel like an army of moles.
Arten Gill is where the firemen take a breather
Before they stoke the boilers for the highest of climbs

They’re knitting in Dent, they’re knitting in Dent,
Their needles are flying , those manic knitters of Dent.

In Garsdale the waterfalls tumble down the hillside,
form speleologists’ cathedrals far underground;
Dandry Mires marshes were hard to negotiate,
The engineers spanned it with granite cut from Pen y Ghent.


Over  Lunds and Grisedale, Moorcock, Birkett , Shotlock,
Tunnels and bridges built by force of will;
Time for a thermos to drink to nature’s ruggedness,
Watch  sparrowhawks swoop over Mallerstang Moor.

Mallerstang Moor, Mallerstang Moor,
Mallerstang, Mallerstang, Mallerstang Moor

Stop at Kirkby Stephen
Pick up  passengers for Appleby,
Decked out in their finery for the annual fair;
Horses and gypsies, gypsies and horses;
‘Retain your loyalty
preserve your rights’
Appleby ,Appleby, pride of the dales.

Ribbons twist round Langwathby's maypole,
Time for a cuppa at the Brief Encounter café,
Count the stone dancers in Long Meg’s circle,
Past Little Salkeld to Lazonby Halt.
See the pele tower that guards the River Eden;
Stained glass windows in the church
By Edward Burne-Jones.
Last stop
Tired little Armathwaite
then chug into Carlisle
with a triumphant toot.



The Settle to Carlisle Steam Railway.
North Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cumbria, England. The railway was constructed in the 1870s/80s over the wild mountains, moors and Dales of Northern England with considerable loss of life of the 'navvies'.It has been preserved by enthusiasts and runs diesel and steam trains regularly today. Many of the names here refer to viaducts and tunnels-some of the most impressive sights and engineering wonders of the industrial age. I have left out 'viaduct' and 'tunnel' to avoid endless repetition. All the places mentioned are more or less in order.
Whernside, Pen y Ghent and Ingleborough are 'The Three Peaks'- mountains.
http://www.railwayphotos.net/sc_start.html
click the ticket for photos of the journey.

[abu nuwas]

I am a sucker for steam-- the first 'chug' was the sound of the beginning of a childhood holiday journey, which would end with cries of 'I can see the sea!' I have a vague idea that there is a line at Rawtenstall? The recitation of names alone, entwined with the snippet if information --the maypole, the fair, the church- evokes that place which the Motorway signs in London designate as 'The North'. I'll leave proper crit. for your next one! Here, the repetition, on a railway, and one with steam locos, is very effective.

[Leanne]

I feel like I've just been on the journey. You handle the pace of the poem beautifully, to match the train. The repetition is great ('they're knitting in Dent' sounds exactly like the train going over tracks, very clever).

Thanks for the ride, Stef

[Ca ne fait rien]

Thanks Abu and Leanne- it might not be art, but it was fun to do and in researching it I found out loads of obscure things.

There are little bits of line all over the place , enthusiasts restore the line and the engines, but it is expensive and fraught with red tape these days. Just been to Pickering War Weekend where the North Yorks Moors Ralway runs on a stunningly gorgeous trip from Pickering to Whitby now (the line has recently been extended to Whitby)- along this line is Goathland where tey film Heartbeat etc and also is the staton used in the Harry Potter films. This weekend it was all turned over to recreate the 1940s.

I don't remember steam the first time around, but it has a unique magic that goes beyond nostalgia. Something about journeys and all they mean I suppose.

[billy]

i was going to say that about knitting in dent

i used to go to gisburn market to buy antique farm tools at the car boot
and i have been on the settle to carl train as kid (on my own (yippee) )
and this bugger brings back happy memories. looking at this never knew any of the stops.
a two thumbs up here. and, it really was fun reading it

[Ca ne fait rien]

Wow..
TBH I have never done the full trip by train. It's on the list. Next year hope to do dinner on one of the steams. We gawped at them all on Pickering station- I swear there was Poirrot (or a David Suchet lookalike) delicately sucking his soup amongst the fur and mess dress. Not sure how dinner works on the move though.

[addy]

You have a real flair for storytelling; I was hooked. Like you captured the feel of a trip by train through those places with such fondness and joy.