please empty your brain below
Oh yes,we got soaked again going back but having a 'waiter' coming to the compartment to offer a hot drink was very welcome. This especially,because we learned at Kidderminster that there was flooding on the mainline and we had to bus it back to Worcester. 🚂🚂
Hampton Loade on a nice sunday is an excellent spot for a picnic and we do this once a year, otherwise there are many excellent places (and a Spoons) in Bridgnorth. Arley is also a nice little station and the walk from Arley to Bewdley can be very pleasant.
Amazed to see the family ticket is valid for 2 adults and up to 4 children! That hardly ever happens - we have 5, sadly all adult fare now, so will have to wait for some grandkids instead now. Brilliant value though!
The country is littered with far too many nostalgia parks, disneyland style houses, museums and railways. Far too many for the good of most of us. They are a sympton of an inward looking country, lost in the sea of large trading blocks and communities, seeking solace in the myths of past greatness and afraid of the challenges of the future.
It's just that the past wasn't better at all! Do the crowds proudly wallowing in their pride that 'the sun never set on the British Empire' ever spare a thought for steam locomotive drivers and fireman who died tragically early because of the soot and pollution in their lungs, through avoidable accidents on a less regulated railway, or of the 12-14 year old children taken on by all the railway companies as messenger boys and for other 'menial' tasks such as cleaners of locomotives, exactly on idylic looking stations like these and who were paid a pitance for doing so. Or of the exploited colonies of the Empire, whose fruit, meat, rubber and wood were transported by the railways? I doubt it. They prefer to dream of Ms Marple type passengers and railway children films, all far removed from reality.
Nostalgia has become consumerised and the visitors of these railways have learnt how to use and interact with them, just like how they learnt to order their BigMacs, as well as having enormous expectations of the kitsch and nostalgia to be supplied in order to make them feel better about themselves and the country.
In Victorian times the railways were up to date, had modern buildings, they were ever faster and exciting. Victorians weren't interested in harking back to or reliving the past and the country thrived on it. Now it is divided as never before, because everyone has become far too interested in the past, rather than the future.
Don't get me wrong, I love a preserved locomotive, tram bus or building as much as anyone and it's sad that the dedication, hard work and achievements of mostly volunteers has be usurped by this Nostalgia culture. I dislike it very much.
dg writes: Elementary, thanks!
Anyway, I used to visit the Severn Valley Railway a few ties a year and always took time out to use the Hampton Loade ferry. It's a shame it's no longer running. I suspect it's down to lack of publicity and marketing. From what I recall, there was a brief mention on the railway timetable. At the pub (which latterly seemed to be overpriced for the area, but such is the way of country pubs). Perhaps if they had got together and offered some sort of deal (eg half price ferry if buy a meal or train ticket or something) it may have had more custom. Or just some good old fashioned signs.
Somewhere like Ironbridge was modern once, but got stuck there and there's nothing modern to take its place
dg writes: Not being put off by the fact Kidderminster is 2½ hours from Euston.
TridentScan | Privacy Policy