Up hill, down dale

Further to the letter about railways always going up to London and down from London [ FT399:68]: hereabouts in South Wales, the railway franchise is Valley Lines, and because of the severe gradients of the railway, all trains are officially down to Cardiff and up from Cardiff. When I was a child, there was a watering point for steam locomotives at Dinas Rhondda. If the engine driver missed this point on the down line, it was not possible to reverse against the gradient. There used to be a request train stop at Cefn Onn, at the downside exit of the Caerphilly Tunnel. It was not always possible for the train driver to stop against the gradient, so people sometimes missed the train. The station still exists, but is overgrown and abandoned.

The roads are the same – every year, the Sinclair C5 Owners Club of Merthyr coast their vehicles 15 miles down to Coed Duon. I don’t know how they get home. Maybe they never do. This is why the south-east of Britain is so crowded; people roll there by the force of gravity and can’t get home again. So it should really be down to London.

Viv Hobbs

Caerphilly, Wales