STATION WITH NO TRAINS

Southland Times, Issue 21094, 28 May 1930, Page 8

STATION WITH NO TRAINS

OFFICIAL’S LONG WAIT. There is an English stationmaster who has not seen a train stop at his station for 14 years. The trains thunder through, and he watches them wistfully, hoping against hope that one day one of them will stop and restore his office to its ancient bustle and dignity. Mr William Leary still presides over the tiny station of Maxstoke, near Coleshill, Warwickshire, though so few people ever used it that it was officially closed by the old Midland Railway in 1916. Every morning Mr Leary puts on his old uniform and peaked cap of office, sweeps the platform, and makes ready for the train that will not stop. Scarcely anything has been allowed, to change. Even the firepails hang in a row on the fence as they did when the last passenger bought his ticket. The only concession the lonely stationmaster has made to the long absence of passengers is the conversion of the waiting room into a living room to supplement his house. Mr Leary is an elderly man now, but the officials at Euston are not sure when his record wait for a train will be ended. “With the growth of road transport for short journeys,” said one of them lately, “it seems less likely than ever that Maxstoke will be reopened to passengers.