Rural Station

Copyright Oggbashan July 2019

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

This is a work of fiction. The events described here are imaginary; the settings and characters are fictitious and are not intended to represent specific places or living persons.

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I was sitting at my dining room table counting the week's takings at Kilndown Road, the rural railway station, before bagging them up with the weekly summary to send it to Head Office on the next scheduled train at seven ten pm, the last of Saturday. A candle was burning in front of me to soften the sealing wax on the bag when I had finished.

It didn't take long. There were eighteen pennies from the toilets, twelve from the Ladies and six from the Gents, most of whom just used the free urinals. No. One wasn't a penny but a French Napoleon III ten cent piece that is the same size and shape of an English penny. Never mind, the company's bank would probably accept it. There were many in circulation still.

Six pennies had come from the platform ticket machine. That was more than usual. Most people didn't bother if they were just going to the toilets. Three shillings and six pence were from ticket sales, for singles to the junction at the end of the line at the big town. Most were from Youth Hostellers going home at the end of a weekend away. There was another three shillings and four pence for packages carried in the Guard's compartment on the two coach trains.

Eight shillings and ten pence did not cover my wages for the week in 1948 as the Station Clerk, nominally the Station Master. In 1939 I had retired as Station Master at the line's biggest and busiest city centre station and my pension was much more than my wages at this rarely used station. I had asked for the vacant Station Clerk post because I knew there was a good house and the company was having difficulty appointing someone. It was ideal for semi-retirement but not a post for a junior who wanted to be promoted to better things.

When the line was built it was going to be a route from London to the Kent Coast, double tracked with substantial station buildings. My station is now on a single track line, has a barely used passing loop and a siding for goods traffic that never really happened. Another company had built a line to the Kent Coast before this line was less than a third built. This line had been continued to the small market town that was now the terminus and provided almost all the traffic of passengers and goods. If my station had been built now it would have been an unstaffed halt, not the imposing buildings that exist. The double track had been reduced to a single line in the 1920s.

This railway had been independent until 1923 when it became part of Southern, one of the big four railway companies. On the first of January this year, 1948, it had become part of the nationalised British Railways. We hadn't really seen any change yet except on the stationery, and our new uniforms might arrive this year or next. But I was seriously worried that this line, or at least this station, would be closed as part of the cost cutting measures suggested by the government for the new British Railways. Eight shillings and sixpence as a week's takings wouldn't impress anyone.

I live in the four bedroomed Station Master's house at the end of the only platform and next to the level crossing. I have to close the crossing gates manually just before a train was due. It isn't that onerous. Apart from the morning and evening so-called rush hours there is only one train every three hours a day, returning from the market town half an hour later. On Sundays there are only two trains, one in each direction in the early morning and the evening with very few passengers in either service. Although the train stops at my station in both directions, few people get on and off because there was nothing around the station except a couple of houses and the Youth Hostel three miles away.

I had intended to move with my wife to the seaside bungalow I had bought many years ago. But she died four years before I retired and there didn't seem to be much point in moving to a place I didn't know. Now my son, his wife and their two pre-school aged children live in that bungalow. Sometimes they come to visit me in my large house but they come by car because that is easier with small children. My son also works for the railway but as a manager in London. They could travel by train for free but their car is much quicker and more convenient than a cross-country rail route with several changes of train.

During the war the station had seen more traffic than since the line was built. An Army camp for basic training of new recruits had been established in the woods close to the station. The recruits and their supplies had arrived by train. In 1943 it became a post-Atlantic crossing camp for American GIs from an Engineer Regiment. After the war the siding still had substantial coal stocks left by the army. I had won on the football pools in 1946 and after helping my son buy his car I had bought the coal and the site of the army camp. I was managing the forest for timber and hoped to make the area into a forest park. The coal had been a godsend during the winter of 1947/8 when the trains couldn't run because of heavy snowfall. It had kept me and my neighbours warm and Mr Rogers, the local market gardener with his own lorry, had been able to sell several tons of my stock to the coal merchant in the market town when the merchant's normal supplies couldn't get through by train.

I employed several local people part-time, not as railway employees, but working directly for me. Mr John Rogers and his two sons helped me to maintain the station and its flower beds, and to manage the woodland. Several times a week I sent bags of logs and kindling to the coal merchant. The Rogers also sent some of their vegetables to the town's shops as well. Between us we had accounted for this week's three shillings and four pence. The Rogers also supplied village shops with no rail access.

My other employee was Brenda Griffiths who lived beside the station. She was a widow whose husband had been killed in London during an air raid in 1940. Even before he died she was cleaning my house and cooking a meal for me every evening. Now, she was my assistant for everything, issuing tickets, cleaning the station buildings, particularly the toilets, and sometimes even opening and closing the level crossing gates. It was strictly against the company's rules for anyone not a direct employee to be involved in the operation of the railway, but as I had been a senior manager I had more discretion than most. They even listened to my suggestions, expressed directly or through my son.

The railway company's accounting system only counted monies actually taken at Kilndown Road. Most passengers arrived and departed on return tickets sold from another station so didn't count for this station. I thought it was wrong and short-sighted but even changing the system wouldn't really help. In summer the station might have fifty passengers a week arriving and departing. In spring and autumn that was reduced to about a dozen. In winter there were some weeks with no passengers at all but every train stopped here. The station was losing money and the financial future of the whole line was problematic.

I enclosed a letter with the accounts and monies, asking whether there had been any progress on my previous suggestion to site two camping coaches on the disused siding. The Rogers and I had been keeping the siding maintained and weed-free. We had assembled some timber from the demolished Army huts and my woodlands to build an access platform if my proposal was agreed. I could also supply water and sewage connections to the coaches. That would be unusual. Most visitors to current camping coaches had to use a station's toilets because there was no water supply or sewage. I knew that our carriage works could convert elderly passenger coaches to include kitchen and bathrooms as long as there was a suitable site with connections.

Apart from what I intended to be a forest park there was an extensive network of public footpaths leading from the station that were often used by walking groups in the summer. Anyone staying in the camping coaches could use the footpaths though some pleasant scenery of the Weald.

The only difficulty might be the lack of a shop or public house. Both existed but five hilly miles away. However I had spoken to a grocer in the market town. He could supply anyone staying in the camping coaches. I could send a list of requirements and the ration stamps with the guard, and the grocer would send the items on the next train, or at worst, the train afterwards. The visitors would pay me directly and I would settle the grocer's account at the end of every week -- if the proposal was agreed. The carriage of the grocer's items would be at the railway's standard rates which would add a small percentage to each purchase.

My suggestion was an attempt to increase the takings at the station. The current income was insufficient to justify keeping the station operational even with the increased usage in summer. Apart from my wages as the only employee at the station there were running costs and maintenance. The line itself might survive because of regular commuters from the market town, but this intermediate, rarely used, station could be closed without affecting the line's viability. Apart from the income from renting out the camping coaches, transport of the grocer's stores would add a little to freight revenue.

"Andrew?"

Brenda had come through from the stationmaster's office where she had been cleaning.

I raised my head.

"Yes, Brenda?"

"Malcolm, the Youth Hostel Warden, is on the station telephone."

"OK, Brenda, I'm coming."

It was a nuisance that there was no extension from the office to my house. I had asked for one but the official response had been maybe in two or three years -- perhaps, or never.

I put everything in the official railway pouch and sealed it with wax I had already softened in the candle flame. I blew the candle out. I took the sealed bag with me.

"Malcolm?"

"Hello Andrew. Is your refreshment room and its kitchen operational?"

"Yes, Malcolm. It was used last bank holiday for that railway walking excursion but we have no food left for it -- because of rationing. Why?"

"We have a crisis here. We had a fire last night in the kitchen. It wasn't serious but will take at least three weeks before we can use it again. Normally that wouldn't matter but I've got a large group booked in from next Friday evening until Monday morning. They're arriving and leaving by your station, They've booked and paid in advance for an evening meal Friday, Saturday and Sunday, breakfasts Saturday, Sunday and Monday and packed lunches for those days too. If we could use your refreshment room and kitchen...?"

"You could. There's a minor and major problem. The minor? We can only serve meals there to the railway's customers. On the Friday evening and the Monday morning they would be. On the Saturday and Sunday they would have to buy platform tickets to make them 'customers'. They would need to buy one for breakfast and another for the evening meal -- a penny per head each time."

"That's not a difficulty. There are eighteen of them. Eighteen pennies, four times, is six shillings. I'll bring that number of pennies. The major problem?"

"As I said before, Malcolm, we haven't got any food. We can do bread, milk, and I'm sure the Rogers can provide vegetables and salad, but everything else is rationed and we can't get it."

Malcolm's laugh down the phone line was almost hysterical.

"Food! That's no problem at all. The group is all American World War One veterans, some of whom were at the training camp in forty three and four as instructors. They know about rationing but they like their food in quantity. I don't know how they arranged it but several lorries arrived from the local USAAF base with quantities of food in tins and packets. They have enough if fifty of them were going to be here for months. They said I could keep any left-overs. That will be a couple of tons. I've got tinned meat, powdered egg, tinned butter, fruit and one-pack meals by the hundreds."

"Then our refreshment room could do the meals. Could Brenda cope on her own? I don't know."

"I'll send my assistant James. He was a cook in the Royal Navy working at an Officers' Mess in Chatham. He is really good. Oh, and the drink. All hostels are alcohol free but there are crates of American whiskey and beer. The refreshment room has a bar so I'll send it all your way. Could Mr Rogers collect the drink and some of the food? "

"I'll ask him, and Brenda. I'm sure we will manage, especially as we have a week's notice. Provisionally I agree. I'll get back to you tomorrow. The last train is due in a couple of minutes."

"Thanks, Andrew. Till tomorrow."

I went out on to the platform to see the 7 10 pm train approaching. The starting signal was at red and the crossing gates still against the train. I would open the gates and change the signal when the train was ready to leave.

I handed the sealed bag to the guard who also gave me a couple of letters from the railway head office. He should have handed then to me when going the other way but as we had been loading logs and kindling he had overlooked them.

Never mind. If they needed replies I would have not had enough time between the train going to and from the market town to use the ancient typewriter in my office. Any response could go on the first train to the junction tomorrow, Sunday morning.

I opened the crossing gates, set the starting signal to green, and waved the train off. I went back into my office where Brenda had prepared a pot of tea for both of us. As she poured the tea I asked her about doing meals in the refreshment room next weekend including the food from the hostel and James' help.

"Of course," Brenda replied. "I wonder if I'll know any of them, or any of them might remember me?"

"If one of them is Elmer, I'm sure he will remember you."

Elmer had been one of the instructors. Every Saturday evening there had been a dance at the camp with the women coming and going by special trains from the market town and the junction. Most of the young women had danced with the GIs but Elmer's chosen partner had been Brenda. I had been afraid I might lose her because Elmer had proposed several times. Brenda hadn't wanted to leave Kent, the station, and me. I think Elmer's proposals had been too soon after she had been widowed and was still grieving.

I looked at Brenda and sighed. I appreciated her and her care for me, but I was far too old to be a suitable partner. So had Elmer been, several years older than me, but...

"What is it, Andrew? Why the sigh?" Brenda asked.

"You do so much for me, and I appreciate all of it. I would be lost without you but I'm an old man..."

"So was and is Elmer. You were jealous, weren't you? Why didn't you...?"

"Propose? It was too soon, then. And now, I'm still decades older than you."

"Decades? That's overstating it, Andrew. There's less than fifteen years between us, and I don't notice the age difference."

"You don't?"

"You can be obtuse sometimes, Andrew." Brenda said.

She stood up, moved around my desk and hugged me.

"I love you," she said, "I loved it when you gave me time to grieve, even though I knew you loved me then. You still do, don't you?"

"Yes, Brenda, I love you," I replied.

I might have said more but my speech was stopped by a passionate kiss that went on and on. We ended up with Brenda sitting on my lap with her head against my shoulder.

"So, what are you going to do about us, Andrew?" Brenda asked.

"Ask you to marry me, Brenda."

"You are slow, Andrew. You could have asked me a couple of years ago and my answer would have been the same."

"And that answer is?"

"Yes, you old fool! Yes, yes, yes!"

Brenda kissed me again and again for so long that our tea got cold and she had to make another pot. I opened the secret drawer in my desk to find the engagement ring I had bought four years ago just in case I ever had the courage to ask Brenda. After she had poured the tea I opened the box and showed her the ring.

"Would you accept it, please?" I asked.

Brenda took the box from me and looked at the ring.

"How long has that been in your desk, Andrew?" she asked.

"Since 1944," I replied.

"Then since Elmer's first proposal?"

"A week later when I could go the large town jewellers."

"If you had asked me then, I might have said, no, not yet, but I would have said yes anytime since VE Day. Now? Thank you. I will wear it with pride and if Elmer is with the group I will wave it under his nose."

"He doesn't deserve that," I protested. "After all he did love you and proposed marriage."

"He did. Even the possibility of his return has been enough to get you to propose -- eventually. I suppose I owe him something for that."

"I wouldn't object if my fiancée kissed Elmer on the cheek..."

"As long as these are for you..."

Brenda started kissing me on the lips again. Eventually she went into the kitchen to make our evening meal.

I opened the two railway letters. The first was about the arrival of the group next Friday. The normal two coach train, the last of the day from the junction, would have three coaches and be pulled by a tender locomotive instead of the normal tank engine. That locomotive would need to use the turntable at the market town which might delay its return journey. If there were no passengers at Kilndown Road could I close the barrier gates and pull off the station starter so the train could pass without stopping, thus meeting the connection at the junction on time. That should be no problem. I hadn't had any passengers join or leave that service for years, and it was unlikely to be any different.

The second request was to have both the station gates open so that a USAAF coach could collect the passengers. Normally I only opened one gate to allow a car or John Rogers' small lorry access. There would be ample room for the coach to turn in the station yard. I typed a quick reply agreeing to both requests.

I opened the second letter. It was an official approval to my proposal to site two camping coaches on the siding. I was authorised to spend up to one hundred pounds on the access platform and the service connections. If I had completed the work, the modified coaches would be available and delivered early in September even if marketing couldn't start until next Spring. The delay in approving my request was a nuisance. We couldn't expect much income from the camping coaches until next year. As John Rogers and I had already assembled the materials I couldn't see any problem in completing the work by early September at a cost far lower than one hundred pounds. I typed a thank you reply stating that I expected to complete the work on time and within the budgeted amount.

I had a sudden thought. It was still reasonably early on Saturday evening. I could ring the Vicar and ask for the banns to be read for the first time at tomorrow's morning service. Otherwise I would have to wait until Tuesday, because Vicars have Monday off duty, and then fit completing the paperwork around weekly train times. The banns would be delayed by a week. I reached for the telephone but my hand stopped in mid-air.

I should ask my new fiancée first. I went through into the kitchen.

"Brenda? I thought I could telephone the Vicar tonight..."

"Tonight? Why?"

"So he could read the first banns tomorrow or else we'd have to wait at least a week."

"We have been engaged for less than an hour and you want the banns read as soon as possible?"