It struck me that rail jouneys are becoming increasingly boring., especially in the summer.
The problem with summer is the trees. Too many of them, with leaves. On some journeys you can see nothing of the countryside. Boring.
Then there is too much tidying up and simplification of the network. No odd branches leading away from the main line. No unused sidings, buildings, unnecessary platforms, odd pointwork, languishing rolling stock, distant crumbling bridges and viaducts, built over goods yards: hardly anything to stimulate my imagination. 'Where did that line go to?'
The detective work needed to spot where a branch curved away or that old route passed over/under or that station stood is just becoming impossible, especially in the summer.
Please take me back 30, 40 maybe 50 years to that bliss of working out how the railway used to be.
The problem with summer is the trees. Too many of them, with leaves. On some journeys you can see nothing of the countryside. Boring.
Then there is too much tidying up and simplification of the network. No odd branches leading away from the main line. No unused sidings, buildings, unnecessary platforms, odd pointwork, languishing rolling stock, distant crumbling bridges and viaducts, built over goods yards: hardly anything to stimulate my imagination. 'Where did that line go to?'
The detective work needed to spot where a branch curved away or that old route passed over/under or that station stood is just becoming impossible, especially in the summer.
Please take me back 30, 40 maybe 50 years to that bliss of working out how the railway used to be.