‘You are not allowed in there because I say so’

From: Frank W Pate, Hargill Court, Redmire, Leyburn.

ON the Sunday of the Railways 1940s Weekend, I visited Redmire Station in time to watch the arrival of the 4.10 steam train from Leyburn.

With a few minutes to spare, I was walking towards the old carriage now parked at the side of the platform and which last time I was at the station was being used for refreshment facilities.

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The door to the coach was open as though for public access, but as I approached it a rather overbearing little man who had been busy drinking some beverage while chatting to a uniformed volunteer called out: “Where do you think you are going? You are not allowed in there.”

I replied that my intention was merely to look in at the open door and not to go inside what appeared to be in a dilapidated and dirty state anyway.

“You are not allowed to do that,” said the man. I asked him why and he replied: “Because I said so.”

I have supported the railway since its revival. Indeed, it has many fond memories for me. I well remember as a small child (and long before either of these two people could have known of the railway’s existence) travelling with my parents from Skipton on the Settle-Carlisle line to Hawes Junction (as it was then known) and then via the LNER train to Aysgarth station, there to be met by my grandfather who all his life had been a farmer just a few miles away.

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