QUAINT TRAIN

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 714, 13 July 1929, Page 10

QUAINT TRAIN

Stopped While People Picked Flowers NO DANGER FROM COWS! When the London, Midland and Scottish Railway Company closed 15 miles of branch line near Preston recently there passed one of the quaintest railways in England. Popularly known as the Pilling I line, because it passes through the ! village of that name, the railway has I always been much patronised by local holiday-makers, for the reason that, if ! they felt like doing so, they could jump out of the carriage, pluck a few flowers from the fields and woods, and j then rejoin the train with little | trouble. ; Many amusing stories are told of | the early days of the railroad, when j open carriages were in vogue, and a queer-looking. short-winded engine, something like Stephenson’s original , model, was used to draw the train along at quite five miles an hour. Tt is related that on one occasion the train came to a full stop, and a Manchester business man inquired the • reason. I “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, I wonder,” remarked another traveller. “Oh,” was the Mancunian’s weary reply, “I expect we’ve caught up to that cow again.” A cow figures in another story. A passenger suggested that so many farm animals wandering about the unfenced line was not exactly conducive to safety. j “There’s not. much danger of the j engine hitting one,” the guard informed him, adding needlessly, “the | driver’s a very careful man.” “That may be,” retorted the pas- | senger, "but where should we be if a cow strolled along and bit the enginedriver?” Both 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 halts 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 had not been gathered llie train would wait until the dairymaid finished her task or the farmer’s boy had a final scout round the henroosts. Motor-omnibus competition is said to be responsible for the closing of the line to passengers.