All Hallows Eve…

I find myself following familiar roads, retracing a well worn path back to Chirk on this most unholy of evenings…The streets are awash with parents and little children heading home and teenagers heading out, the most peculiar of haunting hours as the world forgets the real meaning behind the original pagan ceremonies of old and embraces capitalism fuelled consumerism. Now I’m neither religious or spooked but it strikes me as peculiar as I’m driving these streets in search of a treat of my own… a West Coast pair on the logs…Stood in the cold on Chirk station as revellers heading to Chester arrive for the Holyhead train I hear it first, an unmistakably EMD ying, just audible over the noise from the factory, then a light on the rails as the 57 pair drag the train slowly past the kick back turnout into the log yard pulling right through the station, both working hard despite the favourable conditions and relatively level track. After a long minute paused they propel back and I watch once…