THE TRAIN THAT CROSSED THE STREET

Church Street c1955
Enlarge photo |  More about this photo

From my childhood in Welshpool in the 1940s and 50s I have fond memories of the little steam train which crossed over Church Street, originally on a daily basis then later on Mondays only, carrying livestock from farms in the Llanfair Caereinion area to and from the Smithfield Market in Welshpool. My grandfather was one of the engine drivers who drove the train and often when I came out of Berriew Road School at lunchtime I would hear the train whistle and would run as fast as I could so that I would be in time to see it cross the road. The fireman would get down from the footplate and open the gate on the Vicarage side of the street, then he would stand in the road with a red flag while the driver shunted the train into the roadway. The fireman would then open the gate on the other side (next to Barclays Bakery), the train would shunt off the road along the line and the fireman would close both gates before getting back up onto the footplate. If I was lucky enough to be in time to see the train cross, my grandad would throw down a threepenny bit for me to catch and I would buy sweets from 'Passants' or 'The Broadway Cafe' on my way home from school. The railway line across the road and bakery are long gone now, as is my beloved grandad, but the little engines 'The Earl' and 'The Countess' are still operating on the Llanfair Light Railway, a narrow gauge  railway which runs steam trains from Raven Square, at the top end of Welshpool, to Llanfair Caereinion during the tourist season. The place where the train crossed the road can be seen in the photograph at almost the exact place where the line of shadow ends.