Let me introduce you to Cyril and Tommy, our travelling companions on a recent trip from Blackburn, Lancashire on the Settle to Carlilse Railway.
MWM and I usually have K&T for company on our trips but this midweek trip was a gift from mother and father-in-law, so we had no idea who our travelling companions would be until we boarded the train and took our seats. Enter Cyril and Tommy. Cyril said Tommy was old - he is 90. We presumed that Cyril was younger, probably 89 and a half!
Cyril and Tommy sat opposite us on the train and regaled us with tales and anecdotes of what they got up to in the second World War - all the way to Carlilse and back and very entertaining it was too. They were both sailors on minesweepers doing an essential job which enabled supply ships from America to bring much needed food to England, until the 'dig for victory' campaign was established and the British people were able to grow enough food to be self sufficient.
Cyril said that whilst he was winning the war Tommy went on a cruise on the Queen Mary over to America! What actually happened was that Tommy did sail over to America on the Queen Mary but it was with the ship's company to collect a minesweeper that had been built there, which they then sailed back to the UK!
Tommy told us how he and his friends had gone in the cinema on the ship one evening and a young ATS girl had sat in the vacant seat next to him. He said his friends had embarrased him by shouting "Go on Tommy, put your arm round her", "Get in there lad" and other such things but Tommy had resisted because he had not long become engaged to his girlfriend. He later found out that Sir Winston Churchill was on board and the young lady that had sat next to him was in fact Churchill's daughter!
Cyril told us a very sad tale about fishing bodies out of the sea (English and German) and laying them out on deck, covering them with tarpaulin. They then searched for a coffin ship to transfer the bodies but there was non to be found, so sadly they had to return the bodies to the sea.
Have you ever wondered why, on those old war films, they took pot shots at mines in the sea? According to Tommy the aim was not to blow them up but to fill them full of holes so they'd sink!
Cyril was the cook on his ship 'The Pearl' and his captain told him one day to make the men some food without making smoke - in other words don't cook. The captain suggested sandwiches to which Cyril replied "You can't give fighting men sandwiches!" but he didn't tell us what he did give them.
These were just some of the tales they told us, mostly laughing, though they did say it wasn't funny at the time.
We had taken lunch with us, as had our two new aquaintances, which we enjoyed on the train before we arrived at Carlilse. MWM managed to get some really great shots of the Cumbrian countryside through the window of the train so I've put together a little slide show for you.
We only had just over an hour in Carlisle so we exited the station and went for a little walk before calling in a pub for a drink before it was time to get back for the trip home.
The City Walls
Arriving back at the station MWM took some photographs inside whilst we waited for the train.
We bought some sandwiches for the journey back and met up again with Cyril and Tommy on the train, who told us yet more tales of their WW2 escapades.
When the train stopped at Appleby to take on water MWM and I got off to take some photos of the engine and the station.
We arrived back at Blackburn Station at 7.30 p.m. where we had to get the coach back to our pick up point in Bury. We'd had a great day and had really enjoyed Cyril and Tommy's company. As we left the train we shook hands with Cyril and Tommy and told them it had been a pleasure to meet them and thanked them for their service to our country. They both said how much they had enjoyed the trip and our company too and we got Tommy's email address to send them copies of some of the photos we had taken.
Just in case you think we only have steam trains here, we took a photo of an electric train at Carlilse Station.
I know which I prefer.
