SHREWSBURY. Ever Get the Feeling You’re Being Watched?

A favourite destination of mine is Shrewsbury. It’s a pleasant and easy rail journey from where I live, down to Chester then along the Welsh border through Ruabon, Chirk and Gobowen. The landscape of rolling hills slip easily past the carriage window, usually helped by a coffee and packet of Jaffa cakes, other cakes are available, from the on board trolley. I like to travel in style…

SHREWSBURY. Railway station impressiveness.

The station at Shrewsbury sits at the top of the town, more or less on the neck of the loop formed by the River Severn. On a map it gives the town an almost teardrop shape as it circles around.

The station dates from the 1840’s with the building of a railway line from Shrewsbury to Chester and it is in the mock Tudor style that was the fashion of the time. A harking back to the past with what was then the latest technology of the time.

29/09/18 SHREWSBURY. The Station. Craved Head.

SHREWSBURY. The station, a carved head on platform 3.

These carved faces always amuse when I see them, they are on platform three. Odd thing about this platform, you get to it from outside the station, through a separate door and not the main entrance. Caught myself out a couple of times before it finally sank in, wandering about the ticket hall like a Hobbit trying not to set out on an unexpected journey.

There’s something about the carving of the faces that changes for me with the light. They are thoughtful and serene in the day, perhaps less so on a dark and foggy evening, when the pools of light cast mysterious shadows in doorways and corners and perhaps, like in the best ghost stories, you may see the faces move……..