Slow train

Slow Train is a song by the British singing duo Flanders and Swann from 1963. The chairman of British Railways , Richard Beeching , had submitted a report entitled The Reshaping of British Railways , which was planning major cuts in the railway network, what is known as Beeching Report called the Beeching Ax .

In Slow train the impending loss of railway stations and railway lines are complaints at that time, because disappear by the highway, so says the text, even a lifestyle.

No churns, no porter, no cat on a seat,
At Chorlton-cum-Hardy or Chester-le-Street.

Not all of the above-mentioned stations were closed, so the stations of Chester-le-Street , Formby , Ambergate and Arram still exist . The train station of Chorlton-cum-Hardy is a railway station since 2011 the Manchester Metrolink . The station 'Gorton and Openshaw' is now called Gorton .

The said stations of Selby and Goole were not threatened with closure, but on the route between the two stations the passenger traffic was stopped. The other line expressly mentioned by Flanders and Swann between St. Erth and St. Ives was spared, and the line and the two stations were preserved.

Other versions

In 2004 the Canadian quartet Quartetto Gelato released an album entitled Quartetto Gelato Travels the Orient Express , the introduction of which is recorded by Slow Train .

A version of Slow Train was sung by the King's Singers , this was also sampled in a version of the King's Singers by the duo Lemon Jelly in track 76 aka The Slow Train with Albert Hammond's title I'm a Train . The British group Stackridge released a live version on their DVD 4x4 in 2009.

Stations called in Slow Train

The official name of the station is given in brackets where different.

• Millers Dale for Tideswell ( Millers Dale ), on the Midland Railway between Buxton and Matlock
• Kirby Muxloe , on the Midland Railway route between Leicester and Burton upon Trent .
• Mow Cop and Scholar Green , on the North Staffordshire Railway between Stoke-on-Trent and Congleton .
• Blandford Forum , on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway between Templecombe and Broadstone, Dorset
• Mortehoe and Woolacombe , on the London and South Western Railway - Ilfracombe Branch Line between Barnstaple and Ilfracombe .
• Midsomer Norton , on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway route between Bath Green Park Station and Shepton Mallet .
• Mumby Road , on the Great Northern Railway between Willoughby, Lincolnshire and Mablethorpe .
• Chorlton-cum-Hardy , on the Cheshire Lines Committee route between Manchester Central Station and Stockport Tiviot Dale.
• Chester-le-Street , on the North Eastern Railway route between Durham and Newcastle Central Station . The train station is still open.
• Littleton Badsey (Littleton and Badsey) , on the Great Western Railway route between Evesham and Honeybourne .
• Openshaw (Gorton and Openshaw) , on the Great Central Railway route between Manchester London Road Station and Guide Bridge .
• Long Stanton , on the Great Eastern Railway between Cambridge and Huntingdon .
• Formby , on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway route between Liverpool Exchange Station and Southport . The train station is still open.
• Four Crosses Station , on the Cambrian Railway route between Oswestry and Buttington .
• Dunstable Town Station , on the common line between Hatfield stations on the Great Northern Railway and Leighton Buzzard stations on the North Western Railway .
• Dogdyke , on the Great Northern Railway route between Boston and Lincoln .
• Tumby Woodside , on the Great Northern Railway route between Firsby and Lincoln.
• Trouble House Halt Station , on the Great Western Railway route between Kemble and Tetbury .
• Audlem , on the Great Western Railway route between Market Drayton and Nantwich .
• Ambergate , on the Midland Railway route between Derby Midland Station and Chesterfield . The station has been downsized considerably and is still open.
• Chittening Platform Station , on the Great Western Railway route between Filton Abbey Wood Station and Avonmouth .
• Cheslyn Hay (Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay), on the London and North Western Railway route between Walsall and Rugeley Town Station .
• Selby , on the North Eastern Railway between Doncaster and York .
• Goole , on the North Eastern Railway route between Doncaster and Hull Paragon Station . Both stations still exist, but the line between the two has been closed.
• St Erth , on the Great Western Railway route between Truro and Penzance . The train station still exists.
• St Ives , on the Great Western Railway route from St Erth. End of the Great Western Railway route.
• Cockermouth , on the Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway route between Workington and Keswick .
• Armley Moor , on the Great Northern Railway route between Leeds City Station and Bramley, West Yorkshire .
• Arram , on the North Eastern Railway between Driffield and Beverley .
• Pye Hill and Somercotes Station , on the Great Northern Railway between Kimberley and Pinxton .
• Windmill End , on the Great Western Railway - Bumble Hole Line between Dudley and Old Hill

swell

• Ian Allen, British Railways Pre-grouping Atlas and Gazetteer. 1988. ISBN 0711003203 .
• Tony Dewick, Rail Atlas 1890.
• Alan Jowett, Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain & Ireland. 1989, Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1852600861 .

Text by Flanders and Swann Slow Train on Flanders and Swann Online .