Homeward Bound

Platform 11, Crewe Railway Station

A railway station was opened at Crewe in Cheshire in 1837 by the Grand Junction Railway when the inhabitants of the nearest village numbered about 70. Within 30 years, 40,000 people were living in the new town of Crewe, a population that grew up to serve what was by then the London and North Western Railway. The Crewe works, at its height employed 20,000 people building steam engines and coaches in the 'plum and spilt milk' livery. Today, a small fraction of that number are employed at the Works, and many of the other big employers are gone too. A sad story of decline.

I declined the opportunity to ovenight in Crewe, even though I need to be back there again tomorrow. The lure of home was too attractive.

If my calculations are correct, after tonight there are 100 more blips until the end of 2011, which means I have done 265 so far this year.

I'm sorry I was comment-light last night. Blipfoto seemed to go into meltdown and I was simply unable to open more than a couple of journals before retiring for the night. I was to catch the 0701 train out of Arnside this morning, so I needed an early night. Let's hope the same doesn't happen tonight, but am I alone in finding increasing difficulty commenting at what appears to be peak time in the late evening in the UK?