Memories rekindled with the 'Ten Twenty-Eight'
Fifty years ago today, the old Ramsey Steam Railway Line passed into history.
The Isle of Man Heritage Railways has been whisking its social media readers down memory lane - including an evocative poem by Moddey Bane, the Ten Twenty-Eight:
Walking the line can such memories evoke
The days of my childhood, the smell of the smoke;
When brother and sister were off to school gone,
I'd be out on the banking with my windcheater on;
I was just a small child, only four and a half,
I'd be talking to fairies and having a laugh;
Soon it was time for the ten twenty-eight,
Mum changing the signal and closing the gate.
The smoke and the steam and the wheels on the rail,
With a wave from the driver past our house she would sail.
The Maitland, the Thornhill, Fenella and Wood,
I'd wave to them all from the bank where I stood.
The steam from the whistle, the bright shiny brass,
There was sometimes a spark that set fire to the grass;
Number on funnel and nameplate on tank,
Passengers waving, as they passed by the bank.
Down to Ballaugh on the ten twenty-eight,
Past the gorse and the fuchsia and the white painted gate;
Standing stone to your left, the dub to your right,
An enchanting journey, a beautiful sight.
But now all the trains and the fairies have gone,
Like my dreams and my childhood, with the years they have flown;
Oh! What I'd give to be back at the gate,
Waving with Mum, at the ten twenty-eight!
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