Racing Trains is the first in a series of travelogues which celebrate the foolishness of travel in all its outrageous forms and revels in travel’s unlikely catalytic effect. This book of micro-stories explores the surprising and absurd moments of travel I’ve experienced in my time travelling to, around and from Nottingham by bus, train and plane. No boat stories yet, but it will just be a matter of time.
This week, I’m serialising the lead story, Racing Trains, to coincide with an exciting announcement later this week. Want to know more? Just read on and keep your eyes open…
Huge thanks as ever to Paul Warren for his generosity and illustrations.
Racing Trains
Have you seen him? Have you seen the Racing Man?
Looking out of the train window a lone figure chases over brambles, roots and concrete inertia alongside the rail track but the train eventually outpaces him stride for stride. But still he races, hopping, bounding, stumbling, throwing himself forward, reaching out to grab the doors, the woodwork or something else, invisible to us commuters in the train but visible to himself, the man who races trains.He races every morning, never from a standing start, but he’s always there as we take the wide curve out to East Midlands Parkway, racing long the path next to the lake, coursing through the water, sometimes running along its surface, always catching up, sometimes in line with us seated commuters, sometimes if we slow down on that arc, getting ahead of us. We’re too far away to see the look on his face but you’d be sure he is staring in delight as he races by us, water splashing, trails leaving ripples marking where he’s been.
And when I say ‘racing’ I mean racing: not ambling, jogging or sprinting. I mean really racing at full pelt. On a good stretch racing man keeps up with the train and must be doing at least 90mph. This is no Usain Bolt at work. Racing Man is a true one off, a force of nature that no-one I’ve met can yet explain. You can’t be sure of his age; the Lycra gives nothing away and his pace, likewise. His frame is slight but muscular and toned. But the track suit hides everything else. Sometimes he waves at us as we speed away but he doesn’t slow down but just banks off to the left, racing towards the distant woods.
The Racing Man running against the trains. Who else sees him? I’m never sure because no-one comments on him, no-one smiles at me in recognition when I look back to the carriage.This morning though was different. I looked away from the Racing Man and saw a woman look at me at the same time. We smiled briefly at each other but then both looked back outside. Looking for the Racing Man disappearing into the woods. Well, I was. I’m not sure what she was looking at. The next moment we’re into a railway tunnel and the Racing Man will not be seen until tomorrow.
Racing Trains: a Travelogue
“Racing Trains” is the first in a series of travelogues which celebrate the foolishness of travel in all its outrageous forms and revels in travel’s unlikely catalytic effects.
The foolish traveler is when…
… You leave your passport at home because you’d left your laptop bag in the back of a van in …
