Steamtrains, Servicemen And Central Station.

A Memory of Newcastle upon Tyne.

The journey up to and across London to King's Cross Station in 1944 for a 4-year old boy was exciting enough, but our adventure had only just begun. Holding my mother's hand tightly, we searched carriage after carriage for our seats on the packed but magnificent steam engine that was to take us at breakneck speed to Newcastle and the safety of my nana's house in Stanhope Street.
Settled in our seats (thanks to a kindly soldier and a sailor) with our case in the above- netted luggage rack and our sandwiches and flask of tea on our laps we waited ready to go.
The train was full of servicemen and women either returning from or going off to war, even the corridors were crammed full with both men and women sitting on kitbags, including our two heroes who had given us their seats, I always hoped they made it.
The 300 mile or so journey was a fantastic collection of sights,sounds and smells as we sped on our way, the greenery of the fields with cows and sheep flashed by the window so quickly.....broken only by the occasional darkness of a tunnel that smelt of burnt sulphur and steam, and the sudden build-up of houses that indicated the approach of a station. One such station, if I remember correctly was Doncaster that had a very old train on the platform I was always told it was Stevenson's Rocket... who was I to argue?.
Towards the end of our journey, the rat-a-tat-tat sound of wheels on track was slowly sending me off to sleep, it had been a long day for a little one, but my mother would never let me miss the wonderful sight of the great, arched metal structure that is "The Tyne Bridge".....when you pulled into one of the many platforms of the Central Station you knew you had arrived in Newcastle and the fun had only just started.