RAIN AND PLATFORM NINE

I plonked myself on a bench on platform nine of Waverley Station, sheltering from the heavy and persistent rain. The ancient wooden station portico protected my head from the raindrops. It was mild for a February day - mild and wet. A class 60, pulling a cement train, was waiting impatiently at a red signal at the extreme western edge of the platform. Each of the thirty-six cylindrical wagons weighed 38 tonnes, making up a 1,000-tonne train. I could see the outline of the interior steel bracing bars which these wagons would need for strength. They were all-welded units, a much neater job than the old, leaky, riveted wagons BR used to own. A sign on each wagon informed me that their safe working pressure was a mere 30 lbs to the square inch, or the equivalent of the amount of air inside an average car tyre. It didn't seem very much, so I sub-consciously tucked my feet underneath my bench seat in case the wagons blew up. Another sign warned me that wagons were not to be loose or hump shunted. As if I would do anything of the sort.

A curious pigeon waddled over to see if I was a source of food. It was like all feral pigeons - scruffy, dopey, fat and irritating. Its head bobbed up and down as it walked clumsily on its pink feet and it occasionally cocked its head to one side and looked stupidly up at me. I kicked out at it and it indolently wandered a couple of yards away, out of range of my boots. I transferred my gaze to a carrion crow, which stood expectantly on the platform alongside the waiting locomotive as if to await the driver opening the locomotive door and flinging out half of his lunch-time piece. I was surprised, as crows are normally rather cautious birds. It gave up after a while, as did the pigeon, which lurched over to platform 8 and found an empty polystyrene pizza container. The rain had eased, so I hauled myself stiffly off the bench and made for the station exit. The signal changed to green and the heavy cement train gathered up speed and was soon out of my sight, bound for I knew not where.