That little holiday in North Yorkshire did us a lot of good................. I'm sorry I've taken so long to tell you all about it.............. I was uploading a few pictures and writing a little each day after we returned, but this has turned into a longer post than I usually do, and I never seemed to have the time to finish it off last week ................. So here goes!
What a jolly time we had! Our short break away, seemed more like a nice long, week's holiday.
The high-light of our trip was a day spent on various steam trains, forming part of the
North Yorkshire Moors Railway experience.
I don't think I've ever been on a steam train before, maybe in my childhood, but I don't recall it .............. Hugo and I tried to go on the steam train last year, end of January, but the trains weren't running, it was too early in the season. So we promised ourselves we'd return, board the train, and have the full steam train experience, when it was open to the public.
We were as excited as excitable children. A ride on a steam train! Hugo spent hours going over the timetable, to see how we could get off at all the stations on the line, in one day.
We managed to get a compartment to ourselves, and before the train set off, there was a lot of sticking our heads out of the windows. It was only later that we realised our faces were getting covered in soot.
The train's journey began at Grosmont station. Each station had its buildings painted in a particular colour combination, and I liked the turquoise, cream and red of Grosmont station best.
The signage! Beautifully preserved and looked after, a real joy. It's so unusual to see cast iron signs, everything is plastic these days, isn't it?
And the sound of the steam! Hissing and puffing, the whole train heaved and sighed. Then the whistle sounded, and we were off!
Our first stop was Goathland station, where the colour scheme of the platform buildings was this terracotta red and butter coloured cream. The village of Goathland is where the t.v. series
"Heartbeat" is filmed. It's a very pretty village, tiny............ but with a long row of gift shops and tea rooms. We ended up in the tea room at the farthest end, the one with the red gingham check curtains and table cloths...............
For a shared scone, a cup of tea, and a read of the Saturday newspaper.
It might have been sunny outside, but Goathland is on a windswept hill, and we were chilled from the cold wind. We also had two hours to fill before catching the train to the next station. A tea and scone, at eleven in the morning, with the weekend paper to read, in a warm tea room............... how English and wonderfully traditional is that?
I don't know if our trains here in the U.K have a world wide reputation for being late? I now suspect it's actually inbuilt into all our public transport, because our next train was late! It didn't bother us at all, we had nowhere to rush off to, I just thought it was amusing that even this railway line, with only two trains operating at one time, could be fifteen minutes late. No one was bothered, we were all out on a leisurely Saturday............
We did get on a train eventually, to the last station on the line, Pickering, (such a wonderful name don't you think?). But to keep up with the timetable of trains, we had to turn round and head right back on the same train. There was one little station we stopped at, thinking there was a tea room we could spend an hour in. The tea room turned out to be a hut serving hot drinks, but nowhere to keep warm............. Hugo produced a bar of chocolate which I almost demolished in my attempts to keep warm.............. And then ten minutes before the next train was due, the Station master invited us into his control room to look at all the levers, boxes, and log books. He had a little fire going in the grate, and a comfortable arm chair, and he was dressed in a Forties Station Master outfit, with a waistcoat............. He even had a thick moustache.............. looked just the part, and I felt I was stepping back in time, which I love the idea of, (I once wrote to
Jim'll fix it when I was a child, asking to be transported back in time............ I never got a reply). And it was WARM! We stayed in there until the next train arrived. In the next few photographs, I'm going to show you the train arriving..............
What else can I show you?
The pile of wonderful old luggage in one of the stations waiting rooms, which also had a fire blazing away in the fire place...................
This original sleeper with its carved lettering, moss growing in the lines of the letters, resembling..............
.........Tufts of hair.
Everyone on the platform was transfixed by this man............
..........Shoveling the coal.
I had to show you the wire racks you can see through the train guards door window, very covetable.................
I think my last photograph from that day has to be a shot of the steam from the train. Everything about that day was memorable, and it all centered around the steam train. The pace of life was slower, there was a feeling of values and happiness in the air. And what was truly amazing and memorable about that day, was that everyone got off the train smiling........... us included. It really was a fabulous day out.
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