QUAINT TRAIN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 16 July 1929, Page 2

QUAINT TRAIN

STOPPED WHILE PEOPLE PICKED FLOWERS NO DANGER FROM COWS When the London, Midland and Scottish Railway* Company closed IS miles of branch line near Preston recently there passed one of the quaintest railways in England. Popularly known as the Rilling line, because it passes through tlu; village' of that name, the railway lias always been much patronised by local holiday-makers lor the reason thai, if they fell like doing so, they could jump out of the carriage, pluck a Jew /lowers from the fields and woods, and then rejoin the. train with little trouble. .Many amusing stories are told of the early days of the railroad, when open carriages were in vogue, and a queer-looking, short-winded engine, something like Stephenson's original model, was used to draw the train iilong at quite live miles an hour. It, is related that on one occasion the. train came tro a full stop, and a Manchester business man inquired the reason. "Cow on the line, sir," replied the guard. The animal was driven off and the journey resumed. Twenty minutes later there was another dead' stop. "What's the matter now, 1 wonder," remarked another traveller. "Oh," was the Mancunian's weary reply, "J expect we've caught up to that cow again." A cow figures in another story. A passenger suggested that s'm many farm animals wandering about the uiifcuced line was not exactly conducive to safety. "There's not much danger of the engine bitting one," the guard informed him, adding needlessly, "the driver's a very careful man." "That may be," retorted the passenger, "but where should we be, if a cow strolled along and bit the enginedriver '!" Roth driver and fireman lived at a house close to the line, and it was quite a. common thing for the train to be brought to a standstill while the men went off for their mid-day meal. It was also customary to make halls at odd farms to pick up dairy produce, the. conveyance of which formed the bulk of the goods traffic. If the butter was not quite ready or all the eggs bad not been gathered the train would wait until the" dairymaid finished her task or the farmer's boy bad a final scout round the hen-roosts. Motor-omnibus competition is said to be responsible for the closing of the line to passengers.