Since the Victorian era the railways have played a valuable role in the industries which built and duly fuelled this nation. In the early days they transported commodities such as tin and coal on which the fortune of towns and communities relied. And today that tradition continues of a weekend as the railways ferry revellers from the small town pubs to the bars and clubs of the bigger cities. There are two kinds of Saturday evening train-ride drinkers; those whose antics and revelry amuse, and those who make you wonder just how many blows with the emergency window hammer it would take to render yourself unconscious.
Thankfully, the group standing at the end of the carriage on this late evening train into Worcester are amongst the former group. As we pull into Worcester Shrub Hill station one of the congregation becomes concerned as she reads the station sign;
“Worcester. This is Worcester. We’re off here. Aren’t we?”
“No, no, this is Shrub Hill, we’re going one stop beyond,” assures a friend.
“But it says Worcester on the sign.”
“Yeah, Worcester Shrub Hill. Trust me we’re going one stop beyond”.
His friend appears placated, that is until we carry on towards Worcester Foregate Street, for which the train must initially go back the way it has just come.
“What’s going on? We’re going backwards now”
“That’s the way to Foregate, I told you, it’s just one more stop beyond”
“Yeah its only one stop beyond,” confirms another.
At which point another member of the group, who had until this point remained silent slumped against the curved wall of the toilet, holds an arm aloft and with perfect timing bellows;
“Hey you! Don’t get off, stay here, this is the heavy, heavy monster train, the nuttiest train around, and if you’ve just come in off the street, well listen buster you better start to move your feet, to the rocking-est rock-steady beat of madness. One! Stop! Beyond!”
And as he finishes the rest of the group jump up and launch into a shouted acapella version of the Madness hit. So rather than trundle the one and a half-minute journey across the city, the train, or this carriage at least, bounces.
platform four 