While outside the church today, waiting to hear our 8-year-olds first Confessions, I was pleased to hear a chuffing in the distance from the railway line that runs past St Peter's. It's 34067 Tangmere, on the way to Bath.
19 comments:
Fr William R. Young
said...
70000 Britannia took a similar train through Barking today from Shoeburyness to Winchester and back, but I missed it, because I was hearing the confessions of my 8 year olds. Why do they schedule these events for times when I cannot watch?
Joe; no; it's a (much-lamented) guard's van, the sort of place you could put a bicycle, a large parcel, a suitcase, your grandmother… without them getting in the way.
How unusual - a controversy in the Catholic blogosphere. Honest, I didn't mean to start it.
[The last time Fr Young and I were in print together (and it was only a week or two ago) was in the letters page of the Barking and Dagenham Post. Not about steam trains, though.]
Glad you did, Joe. I wasn't the only person who made the mistake. I gather that Diesels are often used just in case. I suppose the engines are elderly now. I'd love to see the new engine, Tornado, in action.
Idle Rambler: Well, I'm a Granny and I love steam trains. I'm happy to report that, to date, I have not travelled in a guard's van, but who knows what's along the road?
In 1960, when diesels first came in and began to replace the steam engines it often happened that when they broke down, a steam engine came to rescue the day! I remember a glorious Giles cartoon rubbing this in.
A knowledgable parishioner told me this evening that the diesel was there primarily to provide heating for the carriages; in the old days, steam did this, but that won't work now. In addition, diesels help when reversing needs to be done; apparently it is now illegal to reverse a steam train when there are passengers aboard. Finally, the diesels help when a bit of a push is required up a very steep incline.
Guards vans had a variety of uses. One evening train from Cannon Street to Kent was long the home of a hard-drinking card school. The participants had a makeshift card table, consisting of their briefcases atop a short ladder placed laterally twixt cage wall and window.
My late great uncle was a guard (conductor) on the Australian routes the Indian-Pacific (Sydney to Perth) and the Southern Aurora (Sydney to Melbourne) from the 1940s to the 1980s. He always preferred the steam engines as they gave greater warning to remote level-crossings and had a higher average speed than the diesels. According to him, the relative silence and low visiblity of modern diesels contributed to many level-crossing collisions from the 1960s onwards, allied of course, with the habits of the local graziers. Such is progress.
We work our way to the Truth;well,why do most people(all people I know,especially males) empathise with 'steam locomotion?' The Locomotive is almost a spititual being in our eyes.They make a major contribution to many 'movies' eg Dr.Zhivago,Murder on The Orient Express,Brief Encounter.What strange symbolism was there to the Night Express storming through Carnforth Station ,whistle blowing to interrupt the story line of this meeting of minds.No Diesel or Electric Deltic Loco would produce any effect at all.Are are Theologians missing a trick here?
Brief Encounter :Well we ask ourselves the question:'Where are we going?'or Quo Vadis re St.Peter.The passing night steam express whistling past the waiting room had a purpose and a meaning for the night in hand unlike the two people in the waiting room searching for an ultimate meaning to their life.It was there all the time in Jesus Christ.DID THEY FIND HIM WHEN THEY WENT THEIR SEPARATE WAYS.More to the point will the roiters find him in there search for meaning.Primarily they too must go there separate ways prior to a permanent encounter with Jesus Christ
An unrebuilt Bulleid Pacific was the first engine I remember seeing. I was three, on my way to Ilfracombe (then still on the railway), and spotted the BLUE "spam can" at Exeter. I wasn't precocious enough to know it was a Bulleid design, but the unusual shape stuck in the memory of a toddler from LMS territory. I thought I was imagining the blue livery, but forty-odd years later I spotted a blue spam can on the front of a railway mag in WH Smug's.
And for a rather fine piece of work by a brother priest, Father, you may find this interesting: http://scoprilemarche.villaggimarche.com/localita-marche/cappella-stazione-ancona This little chapel, which I visited in 1987, is quite remarkable.
To protect people in vehicles this railroad crossing requires the specific train horn in car and gates to prevent motorist from crossing over railroad tracks when a train in nearby.
19 comments:
70000 Britannia took a similar train through Barking today from Shoeburyness to Winchester and back, but I missed it, because I was hearing the confessions of my 8 year olds.
Why do they schedule these events for times when I cannot watch?
Did I see a diesel locomotive at the end of this train? Just in case?
Joe; no; it's a (much-lamented) guard's van, the sort of place you could put a bicycle, a large parcel, a suitcase, your grandmother… without them getting in the way.
I wonder what it is about clergymen and steam trains . . . ? :-)
Joe, you are correct. It is a Class 40 Diesel, certainly not a guards van.
The Battle of Britain Class Bullied locomotive looks splendid, pity when the rebuilt them.
Well, well, well!
How unusual - a controversy in the Catholic blogosphere. Honest, I didn't mean to start it.
[The last time Fr Young and I were in print together (and it was only a week or two ago) was in the letters page of the Barking and Dagenham Post. Not about steam trains, though.]
Glad you did, Joe. I wasn't the only person who made the mistake. I gather that Diesels are often used just in case. I suppose the engines are elderly now.
I'd love to see the new engine, Tornado, in action.
And in my innocence I thought love of steam trains was part of the 'Anglican Patrimony'.
Idle Rambler: Well, I'm a Granny and I love steam trains. I'm happy to report that, to date, I have not travelled in a guard's van, but who knows what's along the road?
In 1960, when diesels first came in and began to replace the steam engines it often happened that when they broke down, a steam engine came to rescue the day! I remember a glorious Giles cartoon rubbing this in.
A knowledgable parishioner told me this evening that the diesel was there primarily to provide heating for the carriages; in the old days, steam did this, but that won't work now. In addition, diesels help when reversing needs to be done; apparently it is now illegal to reverse a steam train when there are passengers aboard. Finally, the diesels help when a bit of a push is required up a very steep incline.
Guards vans had a variety of uses. One evening train from Cannon Street to Kent was long the home of a hard-drinking card school. The participants had a makeshift card table, consisting of their briefcases atop a short ladder placed laterally twixt cage wall and window.
My late great uncle was a guard (conductor) on the Australian routes the Indian-Pacific (Sydney to Perth) and the Southern Aurora (Sydney to Melbourne) from the 1940s to the 1980s. He always preferred the steam engines as they gave greater warning to remote level-crossings and had a higher average speed than the diesels. According to him, the relative silence and low visiblity of modern diesels contributed to many level-crossing collisions from the 1960s onwards, allied of course, with the habits of the local graziers. Such is progress.
We work our way to the Truth;well,why do most people(all people I know,especially males) empathise with 'steam locomotion?'
The Locomotive is almost a spititual being in our eyes.They make a major contribution to many 'movies' eg Dr.Zhivago,Murder on The Orient Express,Brief Encounter.What strange symbolism was there to the Night Express storming through Carnforth Station ,whistle blowing to interrupt the story line of this meeting of minds.No Diesel or Electric Deltic Loco would produce any effect at all.Are are Theologians missing a trick here?
Scottish Clergy Railway Circle (long neglected blog, a sad loss for the BritCatBlogSphere
Brief Encounter :Well we ask ourselves the question:'Where are we going?'or Quo Vadis re St.Peter.The passing night steam express whistling past the waiting room had a purpose and a meaning for the night in hand unlike the two people in the waiting room searching for an ultimate meaning to their life.It was there all the time in Jesus Christ.DID THEY FIND HIM WHEN THEY WENT THEIR SEPARATE WAYS.More to the point will the roiters find him in there search for meaning.Primarily they too must go there separate ways prior to a permanent encounter with Jesus Christ
An unrebuilt Bulleid Pacific was the first engine I remember seeing. I was three, on my way to Ilfracombe (then still on the railway), and spotted the BLUE "spam can" at Exeter. I wasn't precocious enough to know it was a Bulleid design, but the unusual shape stuck in the memory of a toddler from LMS territory. I thought I was imagining the blue livery, but forty-odd years later I spotted a blue spam can on the front of a railway mag in WH Smug's.
And for a rather fine piece of work by a brother priest, Father, you may find this interesting:
http://scoprilemarche.villaggimarche.com/localita-marche/cappella-stazione-ancona This little chapel, which I visited in 1987, is quite remarkable.
To protect people in vehicles this railroad crossing requires the specific train horn in car and gates to prevent motorist from crossing over railroad tracks when a train in nearby.
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