Freight Thro’ Eight

At times it drives you to despair
You sometimes think “it isn’t fair”
For while you wait on Platform Six
A shot planned out, a freight to take
The traffic goes thro’ Platform Eight

Westbound, beyond the camera’s reach
Stevenson was right
For they’re “Each a Glimpse”
Rumbling through on Platform Eight
A pair of electrics on heavy freight

Success, I think, as the planned shot works
A Ying on cartics Ford’ward bound
Bang on time, the expected freight
Passing through Seven,
Not through Eight

A change of platform to catch my train
A rumble behind as I check the time
What have we here? I turn to find
It’s hoppers behind a Fifty-Nine
Finally to photograph a Freight Thro’ Eight

Martin Addison – 21/05/2013

11 responses to “Freight Thro’ Eight”

goodboycharlie

May 21, 2013 at 12:34 pm

Wow, my dad loves trains and railroading. He’s what you would call a foamer!

Reply
1. 2e0mca
  
  May 21, 2013 at 3:16 pm
  
  Hi – I had to look that one up. Never heard ‘Foamer’ used in the UK. I don’t quite fit in that category – I just fit in some ‘trainspotting / photography’ between a number of other interests. I hope your Dad enjoys the poem. Thanks for stopping by to comment 🙂
  
  Reply
  1. goodboycharlie
    
    May 22, 2013 at 3:21 am
    
    Trainspotting is known by rail fans here in the U.S., but foamer is the derogatory term used by railroad workers as they look at fans along the RR tracks. Cheers!
Island Traveler

May 23, 2013 at 12:19 pm

Wonderful post!

Reply
1. 2e0mca
  
  May 23, 2013 at 2:29 pm
  
  Thank you 🙂
  
  Reply
Patti Kuche

May 23, 2013 at 5:28 pm

Poetry in motion Martin! I love the lines in your great platform shot!

Reply
1. 2e0mca
  
  May 23, 2013 at 6:26 pm
  
  Thanks Patti 🙂
  
  Reply
Three Well Beings

May 24, 2013 at 5:40 am

What a wonderful poem! There is no end to your talents, Martin! I enjoy your trainspotting. 🙂

Reply
1. 2e0mca
  
  May 24, 2013 at 6:46 am
  
  Thanks Debra – Much of my modern-day trainspotting is centred around photographing the rail scene in the London area unlike in the first time around when collecting the numbers was the prime motivation. I hope the poem expresses (oops! pun alert) the mixture of pleasure and frustration you can encounter when out photographing freight trains 🙂
  
  Reply
kateshrewsday

May 27, 2013 at 5:57 pm

Glad you got that shot in the end, Martin. Nothing more frustrating than being in the wrong place at the right time.

Reply
1. 2e0mca
  
  May 27, 2013 at 7:04 pm
  
  LoL – yes Kate. I had my planned shot based around a freight that you can usually set your watch by. The three going the other way (yes there were actually 3 of them though the poem only mentions 2) are all run as required and on another day wouldn’t have appeared. The vagaries of freight trains is one of the joys in seeking to photograph them 🙂
  
  Reply