A summer Saturday in July at Ankle Bend crossing on the edge of Combwich. And is is the norm for a weekend railway in Little England the rail-replacement bus service is running which you can see briefly paused outside The Royal Oak. As mentioned in past posts, the rail-replacement bus service is the law for weekends, the railway being legally bound to only run trains Monday to Friday, or frequently less due to industrial action. The bill was passed in 1883 should anyone want to Google things further. Though it was at that time known as the rail-replacement horse & carriage service.
The convoluted route bears little resemblance to the railway route it replaces, but it does take in every pub between Combwich and Evercreech Junction, which at a rough guess was around 96 at the last count, but is likely to be far more for those prepared to walk more than 5 minutes from the bus stop. It also has the bonus of running on the hour, every hour in both directions. So for this reason it is far more popular than the train ever is, for that only takes in 15 pubs and runs only 3 or 4 times a day depending on the weather and phase the moon.
Next to the gates, our favourite socially challenged Nasal Nigel is chatting to the crossing keeper, which is unusual, for casual conversation isn’t really his thing, unless you ask to see his TT gauge Flying Scotsman which he keeps in the special pocket of his sticky green anorak.
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