“The only way of catching a train I have ever discovered is to miss the train before.”
― G.K. Chesterton

“The train bore me away, through the monstrous scenery of slag-heaps, chimneys, piled scrap-iron, foul canals, paths of cindery mud criss-crossed by the prints of clogs.”
― George Orwell, The Road to Wigan Pier

“Yes. I remember Adlestrop—
The name, because one afternoon
Of heat the express-train drew up there
Unwontedly. It was late June.”
– Edward Thomas, Adlestrop

“The aristocrats, if such they could be called, generally hated the whole concept of the train on the basis that it would encourage the lower classes to move about and not always be available.”
― Terry Pratchett, Raising Steam

“I had my own compartment – plenty of space, plenty of provisions, the grapes, cookies, chocolates and tea that made being on the Trans-Siberian like a luxurious form of convalescence.”
― Paul Theroux, Riding the Iron Rooster

“Was it worth keeping the Halt open,
We thought as we looked at the sky
Red through the spread of the cedar-tree,
With the evening train gone by?”
– John Betjeman, Dilton Marsh Halt

“Railways, like Daleks, have difficulties in getting up hills.”
― Ian Marchant, Parallel Lines: Or, Journeys on the Railway of Dreams

“This is the Night Mail crossing the border,
Bringing the cheque and the postal order,
Letters for the rich, letters for the poor,
The shop at the corner and the girl next door.”
– WH Auden, Night Mail

“Pardon Me boy, is that the Chattanooga Choo Choo?”
― Mack Gordon, Chattanooga Choo Choo

“For many country folk, the railway was Paris.”
– Catherine Hewitt, Renoir’s Dancer: The Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon

“Lord, that Hollywood train, forever coming round the bend!”
― James Baldwin, The Devil Finds Work:

Gaily into Ruislip Gardens
Runs the red electric train,
With a thousand Ta’s and Pardon’s
Daintily alights Elaine
– John Betjeman, Middlesex

2025 Railway 200 – the 200th anniversary of the modern railway

New music for sci-fi silent classic

ONE of the greatest films of all time, and a classic of the silent movie era, Fritz Lang’s 1927 Metropolis is being shown at Bridport Arts Centre on Friday 10th October with an exciting new live soundtrack performed by Palooka 5, playing 1960s-tinged ‘sci-fi surf music’.

The film is one of the best science fiction movies, a dystopian vision of a future city where workers toil like machines underground to sustain the pleasure-seeking elite.

Freder, the wealthy son of a city master, and Maria (the iconic Brigitte Helm), spiritual leader to the workers, attempt to heal a divided society. But inventor Rotswang’s transformation of a robot into Maria’s doppelganger stirs violent revolution – and creates one of the most memorable sequences in cinema history.

Few films have such a distinctive look as Metropolis, with its Expressionist designs that combine Bauhaus, Cubist, Futurist and Art Deco influences.

And, in turn, few films have been as influential. It shaped the look of sci-fi classics from Frankenstein (1931) to Blade Runner (1982) to The Matrix (1999) as well as the work of musicians and designers including David Bowie, Beyoncé, Jeff Mills and Karl Lagerfeld.