Railways 3

The relationship between the Church of England and steam railways has been long and deep. If you have never seen the wonderful film The Titfield Thunderbolt then you have missed a treat. It and Thomas the Tank Engine are full of theology. The Rev W Awdry had a bleak Calvinist outlook on crime and punishment. Henry the Green Engine was bad - would not come out in the rain, so he was walled up and that was that. The last line of the story ran "I think he deserved it, don't you?" The publisher insisted on a follow on story in which Henry is let out, but Awdry clearly thought that smacked of the "Romish Doctrine of Purgatory." In a later book he has a sad engine who had been sinfully bumpy on the rails and who had his wheels taken away to be made into a pumping engine. More jolly is Titfield. In the video link at 8.29 the railway - enthusiast vicar looks on the wreckage of the engine (destroyed by the baddies who want to replace the train with a bus) and recognises that he has failed in his pastoral charge. "That such a crime could be committed in my parish." 

At the risk of my enthusiasm for railways being over estimated here is a picture of the 4-4-0 924 Haileybury about to be broken up. 

The Bluebell Railway archive has some rather more exciting pictures of 924 Haileybury on their site here. 

Street Clutter

In today's Daily Telegraph Mark Blandford-Baker (K 1974) has the letter in the middle of the page which is illustrated by a photograph. His subject - street clutter. Signs get everywhere:

There is a great street sign sermon illustrating story of a box junction outside a crematorium. The notice told drivers "do not enter the box until the exit is clear."

Looking for the picture above I found this:

Haileyburia

Mrs Talbot at Speech day 1926

Some time in the 1920s the boys in the Lawrence House Room entered the flower box competition. They bought lots of good sees and planted up their box. But the flowers did not grow. There was some concern since there was a prize involved and they wanted to win. Their Housemaster investigated and their mistake was recorded in his Random Recollections which I have mentioned before. The problem was not so inattention but undue excitement: each day they dug the poor plants up to see how the roots were doing, with disastrous results for the health of the flowers. The prize was offered by the Master's wife, Mrs Talbot. She was described as 'the perfect Master's wife' and had her own flower border in the Master's Garden which was renowned for its beauty. Haileybury is still a place of many flowers.

Flowers in Quad 2010