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Post by Swampirella on Feb 12, 2021 12:30:23 GMT
I've had a look at the copies available a few times but so far have resisted prying open my wallet. Maybe now that I've been reminded of it again... "Supernatural Steam" is about 90% padding, 3% covers and 7% actual book. By a country mile, the best book about The Other Side of the Tracks is Paul Screeton's "Crossing the Line - Trespassing on Railway Weirdness":-I've had a look at the copies available a few times but so far have resisted prying open my wallet. Maybe now that I've been reminded of it again... Anyone who enjoyed this collection would do well to check out Paul Screeton's "Crossing the Line - Trespassing on Railway Weirdness" which collects and discusses railway folklore. Everything from the world of gricers to haunted engines to the strategic steam reserve (that's the urban legend that circulates in railway circles that not all BR's steam locos went to the breaker's yard, actually a secret fleet of them was spirited away and is hidden somewhere (Box Tunnel?) to be resurrected for use in time of war when imported diesel dries up and electricity can't be generated and/or distributed for these new-fangled engines) to the "maniac on the platform"...
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Post by Shrink Proof on Feb 12, 2021 14:01:44 GMT
I've had a look at the copies available a few times, but so far have resisted prying open my wallet. Maybe now that I've been reminded of it again... I would add that it's exclusively focussed on railways in Britain, which is logical enough I suppose. Not only is the overwhelming proportion of the world's railway enthusiasts British (appropriately, the Victorians called them "Railwayacs"), but this country is also one of the strangest/weirdest/creepiest places on the planet.
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Post by helrunar on Feb 12, 2021 19:18:07 GMT
Malcolm, you're reminding me of this famous story about the filming of Horror Express, shot in Spain with an international cast that included Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Telly Savalas (circa 1972). There was this scene where the police were interrogating various passengers about a mysterious string of murders amidst reports of some kind of "monster" roaming the train corridors. Cushing had a line where his character was supposed to snap: "What do you mean, monsters? We're British, you know!" Lee used to tell a yarn about playfully switching the dialogue round (which does not seem at all in character for his usual behavior on set) and finally getting Cushing to say the line as "What do you mean, British? We're monsters, you know!"
Apparently not only were the gentry in various parts of northern Scotland and/or Europe drunk nearly all the time, they were also constipated a lot. A lethal combination.
cheers, Steve
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Post by andydecker on Feb 12, 2021 20:27:37 GMT
finally getting Cushing to say the line as "What do you mean, British? We're monsters, you know!" Sounds like "Duck Season" - "Rabbit Season" :-)
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Post by Swampirella on Feb 12, 2021 20:29:43 GMT
finally getting Cushing to say the line as "What do you mean, British? We're monsters, you know!" Sounds like "Duck Season" - "Rabbit Season" :-) You mean "Wabbit Season", don't you? ; )
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Post by Shrink Proof on Jan 13, 2022 19:02:30 GMT
Well, since others have linked to their own stuff, here's another one for the Railway collection - "Return Journey"...
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Post by dem bones on May 20, 2022 9:57:58 GMT
Huw Langridge - The Train Set: Six Ghost Stories (2020) At Steepdean Halt The Suited Man of Lock St. Station Last Train to Tassenmere The View from Setcham Viaduct Dark Tickets Flyers
About the AuthorBlurb: Ghosts haunt our railways. Sinister seaside towns lurk at the end of branch-lines not visible on any train map. A dark and disused London Underground station harbours a diabolical secret. Families come together and grow, and families are broken apart.
"The Train Set" consists of six stories.
Two previously published works, "At Steepdean Halt", first published in 2008 in The Ranfurly Review, and "Last Train to Tassenmere" which after its publication in Supernatural Tales received an honourable mention in Ellen Datlow's Year's Best Horror of 2009.
Rounding out the collection are three new short stories, and "Flyers", a brand new novella.At Steepdean Halt: ( The Ranfurly Review, Sept. 2008). A girl killed on the track in 1928 is doomed to haunt the line until she can entice another child before a train. In the sweltering summer of 1976, she finally meets with success. Short and grim, bodes well for the rest. The Suited Man of Lock St. Station: St. James Square, London, winter 1957. When James Hemming, a senior member of staff, is unceremoniously dismissed from his post at Standard West Documents Co., Warner, the new clerk, is told to collect together the man's private papers and burn them in the basement furnace. Travelling home on the tube that night, Warner's train inexplicably pulls up at Lock Street, a disused station whose existence he was unaware of. Watching him from the platform, a lone figure he recognizes as Mr. Hemming. When Warner calls at Hemming's Alperton address, he's informed of the man's death, the widow loudly voicing her conviction that it was Standard West put him in his grave. Fatally for Warner, the vengeful ex-employee's ghost leads him to the archive of incriminating documents the company will stop at nothing to destroy.
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Post by dem bones on May 20, 2022 17:19:43 GMT
The Train Set is not dissimilar to a Black Shuck sampler. Compact (140 pages), stories linked by common theme. Novella Staples is longer than the other five stories combined.
Last Train to Tassenmere: (David Longhorn [ed.], Supernatural Tales #15, Summer 2009). Three years into the relationship, Carla suggests it is about time they got engaged, but Alex, 25, is loath to commit. One massive argument later, he gets drunk after work, falls asleep on the late Waterloo-Farnham train, and winds up stranded the night in a miserable coastal town seemingly deserted but for a pub landlord and the proprietor of a derelict funfair. Alex puts up at The Three Pistons - only to wake the following morning in his own bed. So begins an obsession with locating a seaside town that exists only for him. What will happen if he can find his way back there?
The View from Setcham Viaduct: When Setcham End station was shut down in the wake of the Beecham report, along with it went grandfather's job as platform announcer. At a loose end and with no hope of future employment, the one-eyed war hero leapt to his death from the steel viaduct. Should you stand beneath the derelict signal box and set the radio to a certain frequency, you'll still hear him announcing phantom trains, although a report in today's paper suggests the last shift is imminent.
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Post by ripper on May 24, 2022 11:20:49 GMT
The Train Set is not dissimilar to a Black Shuck sampler. Compact (140 pages), stories linked by common theme. Novella Staples is longer than the other five stories combined. Last Train to Tassenmere: (David Longhorn [ed.], Supernatural Tales #15, Summer 2009). Three years into the relationship, Carla suggests it is about time they got engaged, but Alex, 25, is loath to commit. One massive argument later, he gets drunk after work, falls asleep on the late Waterloo-Farnham train, and winds up stranded the night in a miserable coastal town seemingly deserted but for a pub landlord and the proprietor of a derelict funfair. Alex puts up at The Three Pistons - only to wake the following morning in his own bed. So begins an obsession with locating a seaside town that exists only for him. What will happen if he can find his way back there? The View from Setcham Viaduct: When Setcham End station was shut down in the wake of the Beecham report, along with it went grandfather's job as platform announcer. At a loose end and with no hope of future employment, the one-eyed war hero leapt to his death from the steel viaduct. Should you stand beneath the derelict signal box and set the radio to a certain frequency, you'll still hear him announcing phantom trains, although a report in today's paper suggests the last shift is imminent. Sounds like an interesting little collection. I'm partial to a bit of railway supernatural weirdness, and I notice that it's currently on Kindle for £1.79, so I think I'll give it a go.
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Post by dem bones on May 25, 2022 17:57:40 GMT
Sounds like an interesting little collection. I'm partial to a bit of railway supernatural weirdness, and I notice that it's currently on Kindle for £1.79, so I think I'll give it a go. I'd be interested in your verdict, Rip. Dark Ticket: A police undercover operation to infiltrate a Shatterbury teen gang of vicious repute. PC Ben waits on the icy station platform, wondering what form his impending initiation will take. Flyers: The last, far the longest, and perhaps the strongest of the six stories. Waterloo station, November, 2006. A tumble on the stairs as they rush to catch the 17.34 to Basingstoke sees Daniel and Cassie miss their train. Minutes later, it collides with an express on a bridge overlooking Lambeth Palace. The disaster claims 200 lives. Three years later, the couple marry and move into the oldest house on Copsgate Avenue, Sandlebourne, available at a knockdown price as the previous owner, Mr. Howard Burnshaw, who lived to see his hundredth birthday, let the property fall into disrepair. They've barely set foot through the door before the newly-weds realise number sixty-six comes with a resident ghost prone to slamming doors, weeping throughout the night and soaking bedsheets. Has some dark secret in the late Mr. Burnshaw's life unleashed a poltergeist?
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Post by ripper on Jun 1, 2022 14:03:35 GMT
After reading through this short collection I have to say that I really enjoyed it. My favourite stories were At Steepdean Halt, Last Train to Tassenmere and Flyers. I'm a sucker for stories about road ghosts and their railway equivalents, so At Steepdean Halt really hit the spot. I also enjoy tales of people encountering stations that don't exist, and I thought Last Train to Tassenmere was a good example of that sub-genre, and I can see why David Longhorn chose it for Supernatural Tales. Agree with Dem that Flyers is the strongest entry in this slim volume. All in all, I thought The Train Set was a worthwhile read, and I am tempted to try one of the author's other titles.
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