The Haunting Sound of the Early Morning Choo-Choo

Monday 21st October

Early morning walk with the dogs, the beach was deserted, cold, wet and the wind was whipping sand into my face so I had to retire to the promenade.  I noticed that the pier was open, though it was only eight on a Sunday morning.  At Walton pier you walk through an old-fashioned covered amusement arcade, complete with dodgems, and rides, go-karts and all those seaside trials of strength and grab machines and rifle ranges and the obligatory banks of slot machines.  It was at this hour quite dark, only one or two machines glowing in the distance.  I walked through the silent machines, sadly quiet, and out and on to the pier proper.

Here the wind was still quite strong and we walked about half the length before turning back to walk through the silent amusement arcade and home.  We were halfway through when just to my left I heard the haunting sound of the choo-choo train.  Bright red light and bell ringing the train was rolling along its track pulling a whole series of carriages, all lit up.  This mini roller-coaster only rises about ten feet in a convoluted double spiral.  It was quite weird seeing and hearing this single ride in the dark cavernous unlit barn.  I walked over with the dogs, who were straining at their leads.  I soon discovered the mystery of the ghostly train; an engineer was testing out the equipment.  The train, pulling its lit-up carriages, completed a few circuits and then ground to a halt and the engineer filled in his check-sheet.

Presumably different machines are tested regularly on early Sunday mornings when no-one is usually around. It certainly brought a smile to my face on a rainy Sunday morning.