Engine 29 was their most reliable one back in the day and the first steam-powered one in the whole county. It was big news for the whole area - a connection between the isolated countryside and the thriving cities deep in the south of England.
Even when more modern trains had pushed all their predecessors into collectors hands or scrapyards, Engine 29 carried on its same route with its same passengers and no one thought anything of it. No one even noticed that the staff never went anywhere near the driver's cabin or that nobody had seen or knew who the driver was.
Fewer still seemed to realise that Engine 29 moved on tracks that hadn't been used in over fifty years and were in fact little more than indents in otherwise unbroken grassy fields. It's truly amazing what the human mind can ignore in favour of arriving at their destination in a familiar way.
It was known, but unspoken, that tree of the five carriages belonged to the dead and that if you went into one you wouldn't be able to leave. You'd take your seat - a seat that had somehow always been yours, even showing up on the ticket you didn't remember buying - and stare out of the window like everyone else.
Even when more modern trains had pushed all their predecessors into collectors hands or scrapyards, Engine 29 carried on its same route with its same passengers and no one thought anything of it. No one even noticed that the staff never went anywhere near the driver's cabin or that nobody had seen or knew who the driver was.
Fewer still seemed to realise that Engine 29 moved on tracks that hadn't been used in over fifty years and were in fact little more than indents in otherwise unbroken grassy fields. It's truly amazing what the human mind can ignore in favour of arriving at their destination in a familiar way.
It was known, but unspoken, that tree of the five carriages belonged to the dead and that if you went into one you wouldn't be able to leave. You'd take your seat - a seat that had somehow always been yours, even showing up on the ticket you didn't remember buying - and stare out of the window like everyone else.
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