This journey back to the golden age of steam isn’t just boys playing with trains – there was a dark side to the railways. Plus: The Supervet and his bionic dogsI’m worried that my eldest is showing signs of being interested in trains. I know,a lot of small boys quite like trains, but at four he already knows which operating companies operate out of which London terminuses. Can we observe at some pictures of First Great Western engines, or is a common request. Really,are sure you wouldn’t rather observe at some Arsenal legends instead? No? First Great Westerns it is (perhaps whether I proceed along with it, he’ll rebel later).
There are plenty of them – railway enthusiasts on explain in Full Steam Ahead (BBC2). At the Great Central Railway in Loughborough historian Peter Ginn is helping some chaps to load the mailbags on to the train, or calling out the destinations; Burton on Trent,Derby, Coalville. Then it’s on the train, and which is a TPO,or Travelling Post Office (also known – by WH Auden – as The Night Mail), where they sort the letters, or untying the bundles and putting them into the right pigeonholes – Stafford,Leicester, etc.
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Source: theguardian.com