Railway poetry

[StevieG]

On a lighter note, I quite like:

Once, an engine attached to a train,
was afraid of a few drops of rain,
it went into a tunnel,
and squeaked through its funnel,
and never came out again.

Now then, that sounds like what happened to one of the Rev. Awdry's character engines. Can't remember which one but it had just been repainted and didn't want to get wet.

Either that or you may just have stumbled on the origin of the strategic reserve myth.

Henry, the green...?

[Flamingo]

On a lighter note, I quite like:

Once, an engine attached to a train,
was afraid of a few drops of rain,
it went into a tunnel,
and squeaked through its funnel,
and never came out again.

Now then, that sounds like what happened to one of the Rev. Awdry's character engines. Can't remember which one but it had just been repainted and didn't want to get wet.

Either that or you may just have stumbled on the origin of the strategic reserve myth.

Henry, the green...?

You could be right.

I'm surprised no-one has posted anything by Betjeman yet so I will. This is from his 'Middlesex' (my home county for almost 30 years):

Gaily into Ruislip Gardens
Runs the red electric train,
With a thousand Ta's and Pardon's
Daintily alights Elaine;
Hurries down the concrete station
With a frown of concentration,
Out into the outskirt's edges
Where a few surviving hedges
Keep alive our lost Elysium - rural Middlesex again.

[limitofshunt]

Definitely Henry, the Green Engine....! (A misspent childhood)

[Autocar Publicity]

Definitely Henry, the Green Engine....! (A misspent childhood)

I think you've plenty of company. Yes, it's from 'The Three Railway Engines', Rev. Awdry's first book.

[Ferrybridge Flyer]

Why dont we all have a go at it?How hard can it be?!!!

[Autocar Publicity]

Don't say that....!

[giner]

Somewhere in the depths of "storage" here in the house, I've got around five or six poems that I wrote a number of years ago. If I remember correctly, they're all Stevenage- and ECML-centric and, if I can find them, I'll gladly post them here for your reading pleasure(?). Bear with us, lads, it could take a while.

[Ferrybridge Flyer]

How about this:Riding on the 144,is such a bore,i need an A4,like they had before,with all that speed in store. How do you type so a poem actually looks like a poem,not a long sentence!?

[52D]

I think you are trying to compose in the Japanese style Ferrybridge i cant for the life of me remember the name of the style i think its something like haku, no doubt Malcolm with his experience in Japan or some other better educated chap than me will be able to come up with the name.

[Bullhead]

I think you are trying to compose in the Japanese style Ferrybridge i cant for the life of me remember the name of the style i think its something like haku, no doubt Malcolm with his experience in Japan or some other better educated chap than me will be able to come up with the name.

It's Haiku - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku

[Flamingo]

Does this one count?:

Old Meg she was a gipsy
And lived upon the moors
Her bed it was the brown heath turf
And her house was out of doors.

From "Meg Merrilies" by John Keats. Meg was also a character in one of Scott's novels and the origin of A1 60115's name.

And of course there is always the famous "Are ye right there, Michael?" by Percy French, though I believe he wrote it as more of a comic song than a poem. This one is defnitely about a railway (the West Clare, in Ireland):

Ye'll have heard of Columbus's sailin'
Across the Atlantical Sea
Sure, but he never tried to go railin'
From Ennis as far as Kilkee..........

[52D]

60159 by 60143 first verse

To the Lords of Convention 'twas Claver'se who spoke,
Ere the Kings crown shall fall there are crowns to be broke;
So let each Cavalier who loves honour and me,
Come follow the bonnet of 60159

[owd sweedy]

AFAIK, I think I hold the dubious distinction of having penned the only railway poem to be published in Model Railway Journal (I could be wrong). Unfortunately it was not about the GER or LNER, but the Old Knotty, The North Staffordshire Railway, and was composed after waiting for a train at Stoke-on-Trent station.

It was night time on Stoke station,
I was waiting for a train.
The sky was filled with darkness,
The air was soft with rain.
In the smokey black cathedral,
with the buzzing of the wires,
from a DMU, that was bound for Crewe,
came the sound of a heavenly choir.


Just a group of wayward Welshmen
Heading home to Colwyn Bay,
Full of beer and hymns and arias,
I really couldn't say.
But the sound of distant voices
Harmonizing back to Wales,
And the signal lights reflection
On the wet and greasy rails.

And I dreamed of Knotty engines
On excursions long ago.
Pulling trains of jolly potters
off to sunny llandudno.
And bathed in warm nostalgia,
On a trip down memory lane,
I fell asleep, on a wooden seat,
And missed my bloody train!

Cheers
Owd Sweedy.

[Autocar Publicity]

I like that, it seems so simple yet captures an atmosphere perfectly.

[Ferrybridge Flyer]

To drive a steam engin',i,d love to have a stab!Oh,what a feelin',to be on that cab!.Force nine wind,pissing down rain,i'd be out of my mind,Do it,again and again!! How,s that for atmosphere AP?!