Last train to Buntingford

 

N7 tank locomotive taking on water from the tower behind the signal box at Buntingford Station, September 1958.

© Michael Covey-Crump

“My poem ‘Last train to Buntingford’ was a recent entry to the Ware Poetry Competition.

I have fond memories of travelling on this long vanished railway branch line – an autumn journey with my mother in 1961 and a journey with my toddler brother in the summer of 1964. Alas the line closed for passengers in November 1964.

I also have memories of attending St Edmunds College near Puckeridge from 1965-1970 and cross country running along the lanes near Levens Green and Dane End.”

LAST TRAIN TO BUNTINGFORD

Come citizens who live in Ware

Fond memories I’d like to share

A sleepy branch line – here no more

Beeching closure – by the score.

Stanstead Abbotts – caught the train

Up, up to Mardock – and again

Through Hadham, Standon – lovely ride

True Arcady on either side.

Track bed succumbed to grassy seed

Braughing full of rampart weed

Puckeridge – cars slowing down

Bypass relief – this little town.

Peaceful lanes around Westmill

And rural idylls – canvas fill

Nature paintings spring to mind

Vanished station hard to find.

Our journey’s end is Buntingford

The very place now strikes a chord

Delightful name – to me at least

Impossible from Hertford East.