Riding the Rails

I'd like to start with an irrelevant photo of the Peace Gardens.

I went to Doncaster today. Fuck if I meant to thought! I was at work at 10am until 3pm today and so as usual I set off from here at about 9:30. I’ve been doing this run for about 3 weeks now without a hitch but that was about to change. After about 4 or 5 mins of typical railway swaying and shuddering we came to a gentle stop at Meadowhall Interchange. Like always I left my seat to head to the doors and an older couple where waiting there already. The train doors ask you to wait until they are nicely illuminated before they will successfully do as they’re told and open the doors. The man in front did as ordered and then pressed ‘Open’ when it was lit….nothing. Its ok I thought, I’ve pressed the button loads and it doesn’t open for a while. But it stayed shut all to the horror of me hearing the tell tale two bell rings that 3 weeks of train travel have informed me is the universal signal for a train about to leave a station.

What could we do, the conductor was no where to be seen as the train gentle started to move. I ran down the isle to find help but by the time I reached the other end of the train we where chugging along at a fair old pace. “What’s the next stop?” I cry. You guessed it, Doncaster. To be honest I had to smile at the events, I don’t really have much loyalty to Debenhams and a quick call to let them know confirmed that they didn’t really matter that I would now be late. It left me with time to take in what some of Yorkshire had to offer and I was pleasantly surprised by the picturesque countryside I saw rolling by. Once at Doncaster I hunted out the station master to explain myself and ask for help – she was really nice and even offered to let me use their phone to call work but I’d already done it via my mobile. The 15min wait flew by as I struck up a full blown conversation with a woman from Africa who asked me why it was so busy at the station. I explained that I didn’t know and felt like revealing a little more about my train troubles. This was a nice opening into all sorts of topics and by the time the train arrived I felt I’d made a friend and sort of felt like a real adult for the briefest of moments. The conductor on the train back to Meadowhall found my story quite amusing and fear of having to pay to get back were quickly quashed as he smiled and walked further down the carriage happy that I’d already paid my way. Now what I found a bit unfortunate was the train that took me further from my desired destination didn’t make any stops on its way to Doncaster. If it stopped at Rotherham I probably wouldn’t have been late for work. Now the train that took be back to Meadowhall managed to stop at every little station on the track and probably a few that weren’t, meaning I was even later.

The view somwhere between Meadowhall and Doncaster

Eventually got to work just over an hour late and so I had to stay until 4pm. Luckily the trip back to Sheffield was problem free!