We may still have the talk on 'Southampton and the Slave Trade' on 13 June but await confirmation of that from the speaker, and may substitute 'Old Railways of Hampshire' delivered by a man who knew them.
As a youngster I too knew some of them and well recall when a trip to London was a real big deal: Bus from Waltham Chase to Wickham, then the train chugging slowly along - next stop along the line was Farringdon Halt, and so to Alton, and change for the London train. Then the haul across London from Waterloo - the London terminus where one could tell what day of the week it was from the type servicemen and women either arriving at, or departing from whatever platform.
Just to get to one's destination in London took a large part of the day..
Now of course one can nip up to London on the motorway, do whatever one has to do and be home in time for tea, and if we are honest it is a lot more convenient, but of course the days of steam still hold their appeal for many - me included - who can happily forget the cold and dreary waiting rooms on the stations, the dirt and grime deposited on buildings by the smoke, standing in the corridor on a long journey, and even the WW2 single blue light in a compartment at night, and the cold hours spent waiting after being shunted off into a siding to awit an express troop train, or military supplies passing on the main line, not to mention the everlasting stops for no apparent reason..........which in retropspect was good training for those who get stuck for hours in modern trains because there are leaves on the line, or it is the wrong sort of snow.......come to think of it, perhaps the old steam train service was not so bad after all.
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