Along the Mineral Line

Neville

Along the Mineral Line

 

Listen,

can you hear her coming

All the way

from over yonder

All the way

To Bishops Lydeard

Can you

feel the pressure rising …

Pistons shoving, pushing,

pulsing ..

Hark now listen,

can you feel her coming

Surely,

then it must be,

all of ten plus forty-two

precisely ..

Ah, aaahh ah .. she sighed

Bang

on time then my lovely …

Oh’ yes,

my word, how she did

shake then gasp

and hiss and spit and

puff, puff, puff …

Sounding like some

frantic, jealous lover

While

steam clouds tracked

above

and slowly trailed away

somewhere

far behind her ..

Oh’ yes, indeed, it did

much like

some off white braided

ribbon might …

Surely he would not

forget

such moments with her

On the way

from Minehead,

along the

good old mineral line ..

Stopping

only briefly, at each of

Watchet, then

Washford and Williton

On her way

to Bishops Lydeard ..

And yes,

then heading back

the self-same way she

always came

and once more home again ….

 

 

 

  • Author: Neville (Offline Offline)
  • Published: June 27th, 2021 07:26
  • Comment from author about the poem: ................... She runs not that far from my little patch of Somerset and when the wind is in the right direction, I can hear her from my top garden .......... enjoy the ride, and though only passenger class, the trip is on me :)
  • Category: Unclassified
  • Views: 86
  • Users favorite of this poem: Accidental Poet, L. B. Mek
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Comments10

  • Saxon Crow

    Steam trains always remind me of simpler times. And i love the smell of the coal. Lovely poem

    • Neville



      You and me both SC ......... long live steam & ta for stepping aboard my friend .... 🙂

    • Doggerel Dave

      Got to smell the steam the coal dust smoke and midnight once more, Neville - many thanks.

    • Fay Slimm.

      Steamily right on the dot is your tale of fun-line journeys through much loved countryside - the thrill of arriving comes over distinctly in this exciting read - top marks again Nev for this well writ mineral trip from one luverly gifted and train-spottin' fella .....................x

      • Neville



        ... Thanks for hopping on board ma'am ... I sincerely hope you had a first class ride .. like I said, this one's on me .................. 🙂 x

      • orchidee

        Good write N.

        • Neville



          Cheers Mr. O ..... I am well n truly chuffed ..........................
          .................................................................................................................................... toot toot 🙂

        • SureshG

          Thanks for the poetic ride, even though not on this journey, have taken a few in India, seems like many centuries ago on the old steam trains. There is a completely different experience when one is at a train station, the hustle and bustle has its own charm mixed with the multitude of vendors and coolies, yes even now.

          • Neville



            Thanks my dear friend and truly ... and for what its worth, I know precisely what you mean having travelled more than once myself by train in India ..................... 🙂

          • Accidental Poet

            Great write N. I have a train not far from my house and always hear the air horn when it crosses the Cape Cod Canal. ; )

            • Neville



              ............... sounds amazing sir and in more ways than just the one .. and thanks for taking the time to check in today ........................ 🙂

            • dusk arising

              I am a devotee of the romance of steam locomotion and the whole aura around the latter days of branch line operation. Nearby we have the severn valley railway which is splendid but we never see an 0-4-2T loco or a small prairie loco with an autocoach. Thank goodness for the reminders of youtube.
              Your piece took me straigh into GWR past days of romance and I enjoyed the trip.

              • Neville



                Delighted I am that you alighted at the write platform DA ... and if you found the journey enjoyable, then we got ourselves a bloomin steamy win win .......... toot toot 🙂

              • Jerry Reynolds

                Enjoyable ride, Neville.
                Drove one once, my uncle was a fireman on the Southern out of Charlottesville and one night took me to the yard and the engineer let me drive over to fetch water. 70 years later still as vivid as that day.

                • Neville



                  Why am I not surprised eh' ... an awesome experience at any age I should well imagine .. ta for being a train-spotter again for a few moments my friend ................................................................... 🙂

                • Goldfinch60

                  Wonderful journey Neville, steam trains are so wonderful.

                  https://youtu.be/U6OHD2uCpfU

                  Andy

                  • Neville



                    Ta for the tip/link my golden friend .. and for the visit, ... I'm a bit of a twitcher and always keep my eye open for you sir 🙂

                  • L. B. Mek

                    what a mesmeric read of subtly detailed
                    sensory nuanced: inflections, dear poet
                    jolted - me, back
                    to my days of traversing
                    this beautiful Island of ours, daily
                    on that return trip, from
                    King Cross to Waverley - 6am till 9pm
                    and those, rare
                    but lifetime imprinted, images
                    of sublime sunrise and sunset, picturesque scenes
                    I was being being paid: to experience;
                    sadly, I was but a self-centred teen
                    foolishly assuming, I would witness
                    much more grandeur sights - during, my life;
                    how, cruel
                    the time it takes for some of us, to realise
                    the true simplicity
                    in Nature's unsurpassable beauty...

                    • Neville



                      ... I am sincerely gobsmacked my friend .. thank you so very bloomin much and then a load more, just for good measure .. 🙂



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