Page 14 of New Beginnings on Railway Lane

The workshop was bought as part of the station and nobody in the family had known quite what to do with it. But at the far back of the large space, Bob had discovered an old steam train, left abandoned in there from many decades previously, and he had decided there and then that he would get it up and running once more. And so the labour of love had begun. But despite all of the effort, the steam engine still didn’t work and Ryan secretly doubted it ever would.

Ryan went down the couple of steps at the end of the platform and along the track that led into the workshop. He could hear the banging and clanging outside so knew that his dad was inside somewhere. After all, when was he ever anywhere else?

At that moment, Ryan realised that his dad never really left the station any more. Did he ever go to the pub? To a football match? Even to the shops. No. His whole life was obsessing over what was in the workshop.

After the station had closed down, his dad had sought work doing anything that he could to keep working with the railways. So he had taken a conductor’s job on the nearby line which ran from Aldwych town only ten miles away. But with the introduction of guardless trains, Bob had been made redundant a couple of years ago and all of his time was taken up with the renovation.

Ryan went inside and looked up at the large full-size steam engine in front of him. It was going to be beautiful one day if it was ever finished being restored. But it was a mammoth task. His grandad had helped out over the years, but he grew more tired these days. So the hard work was mostly down to Bob.

‘Dad?’ called out Ryan.

‘Over here,’ came the reply from up in the driver’s cabin of the train. ‘Didn’t expect to see you,’ he said, climbing down the steps. ‘Thought you’d be sorting out our new guest.’

His dad was very enthusiastic about Katy’s brief stay with them. Ryan knew why, of course. His dad was hoping that even a minor transformation would make his mum rethink her life in Spain and return. So he had pinned all his hopes on whatever Katy would achieve but Ryan knew better.

‘She’s certainly keen to start work already,’ Ryan told him.

Bob’s face lit up. ‘Great stuff,’ he said, nodding enthusiastically. ‘I knew Katy would be a hard worker the moment I met her! She’ll have the place tip-top in no time.’

‘Yeah,’ said Ryan, trying to inject a bit of positivity into his voice. ‘Listen, I, er, opened this by accident earlier, thinking it was for me.’ He brought out the envelope from his jeans pocket and handed it over to his dad.

Bob blanched at the bank’s address on the envelope. ‘I see,’ he said, quickly stuffing it into his own pocket.

‘Don’t you want to read it?’ asked Ryan.

He shook his head. ‘No need,’ he said. ‘I know how much there is left to be paid. I’m not that grey and addled yet.’

‘Dad,’ said Ryan, with a sigh. ‘I thought you had a large pay-off from the railway company when you got made redundant? Surely all those years of hard work weren’t for nothing?’

‘Of course they weren’t!’ said Bob, beaming up at the steam engine. ‘My redundancy paid for all the big parts that we needed for this. We’d have never got this far otherwise!’

Ryan blew out a long breath.

‘I mean, your mum was upset at the time,’ carried on his dad, with a frown. ‘But like I said to her, I had to finish it, didn’t I? This isn’t just me being selfish. It’s part of the history of our family. Your great-grandad was the driver of this train. I couldn’t just let it rust away.’

Ryan realised at that moment that denial had grown into full-blown rejection of any kind of common sense. His dad was obsessed with the steam engine and nothing was going to dissuade him from it.

His mum had always told her sons that he was too wrapped up in the train, but Ryan had never realised that it had made their financial situation so precarious, as well as their marriage.

'Anyway, we'll get the place spruced up and then your mum will want to come back, won’t she?’ said Bob, his voice sounding a little more unsteady all of a sudden. He huffed out a shaky sigh before his face creased up as if he was going to cry.

‘I don’t know, Dad,’ Ryan told him, shaking his head.

‘I know I’ve let her down,’ he said, nodding his head. ‘I know I’ve let you boys down too. This is our home. But I’ve gone too far to stop now, haven’t I?’

His dad’s face was now a mixture of guilt and panic and despite his frustrations, Ryan was suddenly filled with pity for him.

So he took a step forward and drew his dad into a hug.

At that moment, Ryan knew that he couldn’t leave his dad now. His brother wasn’t coming back permanently, so what else could he do? His dad was too fragile to leave by himself. His family needed him. It was his responsibility as the eldest son, wasn’t it?

He knew that he had to stay, but Ryan had never felt more desperate to run away from all of his problems.

8

Katy spent a somewhat frustrating hour in the entrance hall of the station, which appeared to be the old ticket office from the faded signs that she could see on the wall almost hidden behind vast piles of boxes.

On the other side of the room was the door to the waiting room, which was also filled to the brim with yet more boxes and piles of stuff.