One of the earliest memories I have as a kid was the day my Dad got the chance to let me see a Steam Locomotive. I don’t remember all that much about it or what I did, but I remember seeing it.
Have you got memories like that? memories where you know you did something, and that it meant something at the time, but for the life of you, you just can’t remember what it was all about.
What was it like? Take a look at an old Steam Engine and just imagine, let your imagination ‘do the talking’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wma5Tg2dg6w
What I do remember is that Dad was a Coal Merchant growing up, he sold coal to people. Back then, in the early sixties most people didn’t have central heating, but had the old Coal fires to keep warm, Dad made a living selling them that coal
We had eight ‘coalmen’ in the town then. Dad was one of them, he was the only one that had his own yard, but his yard wasn’t big enough to have all the types he needed, so he had an agreement with some of the others that they’d let him have whatever he needed ‘at cost’ (and a small profit) whenever he wanted it.
Their communal yard was down pretty close to the centre, and was actually the old ‘shunting yards’ the steam engines used to use, that was until they got closed down and the freight was moved to Manchester.
There we were, in the yard. I’ve no idea why we were there, but there was this enormous engine on the skyline (it wasn’t, but that’s how I remember it) and I got to play in it.
I’ve no idea how long I got to play in the engine’s ‘firebox’ as the plate where the driver and ‘fireman’ stood was called, but I remember standing there, and what I didn’t know was it was something that was going to be ‘rare’ as those engines were a ‘dying breed’ as big Diesel and Electric locomotives were taking over.
I wasn’t to know it, but within about two years all those big steam engines would be gone, considered ‘obsolete’ and consigned to the Museums and ‘Heritage’ railway links, maybe that’s why I remember it? maybe it never actually happened, but part of me wants to remember an age that was passing into memory, the age of Steam was giving way to the age of the Diesel!
As writers we are blessed in more ways than we realise, even those of us who don’t sell that many books have so many blessings we just aren’t aware of.
To us, the writer falls the wonder of recording the passing of the ages like the age of steam, when we can not just record the event like ‘on such and such a date this happened’ but we get to explore what it was really like for the people there, not just telling their stories, but putting ourselves in their shoes and lives, sometimes to re-live the event and feel the emotion.
Feeling the tear on the cheek as an old man who’d worked all his life on Steam engines sees one for the last time trundling down the track, or the tear of joy as the engine he thought was lost suddenly makes a special outing. Engines like the ‘Flying Scotsman’ the first to break the hundred miles an hour barrier takes people on a nostalgia trip and builds up a ‘full head of steam’
Or what about the smile on the face of the old mechanic who sees a vintage car, restored to her former glory driving down the road causing havoc at all the ‘turned heads’ giving her the ‘once over’
The really amazing thing is, we can go back and re-live the event even hundreds of years in the past, or head to the future to imagine what it would be like racing through the Galaxy at ‘warp speed’ or moving through the dimensions ‘jumping into hyperspace’ and the only restriction we have is our imagination!
It’s us, the writer who gets to tell those stories, and what an awesome ride it can be.
So enjoy that ride, and take a few of us with you.
One ride you’ll enjoy https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QXPQNGJ
Lawrence
Lawrence's letters 