It is hard to convey how much pleasure I take in train travel. I think it may be because I didn’t get much exposure to it as a child, although the Dublin – Belfast line passed close to Grangebellew (by Mrs Kelly’s excellent snipe bog, shooting by permission and always granted).
I doubt many people remember their first train journey, but I do. I was going by myself, aged about ten, to visit my prep school friend, Peel. He lived north of Dublin near Rush and Lusk. My mother put me on the train at Dunleer and told me to get out at Rush where Mrs Peel would meet me. What could possibly go wrong? The train stopped often and I was like a parachutist ready to jump when the next stop was Rush.
Well, I saw the station with a sign saying Rush as we sped through. I was completely at a loss as to what I should do. Had I known about pulling the cord I certainly would have done so, instead I went in search of the conductor. Before I found him the train came to a halt in the middle of the countryside and then reversed back to Rush. Mrs Peel was relieved to see the train and me. It had been weighing on her mind what to say to my mother when the train hadn’t stopped.
Two of my nieces may remember their first train journey. It was between Dunleer and Drogheda, a journey of about 15 minutes. My mother called Dunleer station to find out the train times, perplexing the station master by saying that she did not mind whether the train was Dunleer to Drogheda or Drogheda to Dunleer but she wanted to be home in time for tea. Mrs McShane obligingly waved a sheet to my nieces as the train passed her cottage.
At Christmas my grandfather gave the Dunleer station master a turkey. Writing this today it seems Dickensian but now I recall that Czarnikow used to give me a turkey at Christmas too.
Otherwise train trips were associated with holidays with my mother, uncle and aunt and cousins. We twice took sleepers, once to Nice and once to Venice, and after that I was in love with train trips. Who wouldn’t be, arriving at Venice.
This morning in Austria, Robert sought the dining car for rather an early beer, eliciting this from the conductor. “Don’t expect the Orient Express”.