Dom and Sandro Ch. 01

The Rail-UK test track was a stretch of disused railway line, about 20 km long in northern Nottinghamshire near the M1 motorway. Via the motorway, it was less than an hour's drive from Getheringthwaite. A team of three, headed by myself, was set up to install my signalling application and test it with a diesel locomotive and some disused rolling stock. Obviously we needed a driver as well, because none of us were trained to drive trains. Fortunately, Rail-UK had at its disposal a couple of retired drivers who were happy to be called on at 24-hours notice for a day's pay. The test track had an office block on site with a room in which we could work. It had been made clear to me that if the tests were successful, even if the company decided not to go ahead with full development, there would be a permanent job for me with Rail-UK. They also were generously allowing me six months leave on full pay to write and submit my Ph.D. thesis.

I was quite glad to leave Oxtedborough, which was a distinctly unexciting small town, but sorry to say goodbye to my landlady who had been very sweet and sympathetic to a man separated from his lover, albeit only Monday to Friday. The start of the tests was delayed, but by the end of October we were ready to begin, and I found temporary lodgings in the nearest town, Jollow. When Dom discovered that the site was relatively near to Getheringthwaite by car, he said, "As soon as my Masters thesis is finished and submitted, why don't we ask my grandfather if we can stay at Getheringthwaite for a few months, at least until I get a job? You can easily commute daily from there to work. The flat is very cramped for four of us, and while Jon and David are looking for a bigger house in Camford, it may take quite some time to find one, because it needs to be within easy walking distance of college, and such properties don't come on the market very often. Besides, they would expect me to go home while I was looking for a job. But I think grandfather and Robert might be quite glad to have us there."

Further enquiry proved him right. The two men at Getheringthwaite felt a bit isolated, as it was difficult for them to go out together locally except in the car, and they welcomed the prospect of extra company for a few months . An individual rent was agreed for both of us,mainly to cover extra cleaning, gas and electricity costs, and Mrs Harrison welcomed the chance to cook for the four of us. So at the end of November, I had finished and submitted my Masters dissertation, and two cars packed with our possessions left Camford, called in at Ixton to collect more items, and drove north to Getheringthwaite, where Jon, Dom, David and myself were welcomed by Lord Wakefield and Robert. It was wonderful to see how the two, undeniably old, men seemed to have got younger since they came out to the Ovenden family. David and Jon were to stay overnight and return to Camford the next day. Tommy was staying overnight with the Lewises.

Lord Wakefield and Mrs Harrison showed us our apartment. We had a whole wing of the Hall to ourselves, with a huge, fairly well heated bedroom, a sitting room with our own TV set, and our own bathroom and study. We considered it amazing value for the rent we were paying! We could look forward to country weekends quite different from those we had spent at Rockwell's Barn. Our first job would be to organize a new telephone line and ADSL fibre-optic connection, and a boosted wireless router for our internet access. We had an excellent dinner that night, and David and Jon left the next day, planning to visit a couple of Jon's woodlands on the way back to Camford, leaving us with a single car.

TO BE CONTINUED...