A trip to Seamer

I don’t think I had ever been to Seamer before, just on the outskirts of Scarborough. I may have passed through by car as we visited Scarborough as a family when the children were young. They are grown women now so it was some time ago and all I remember was visiting the rock factory. I digress.

This time, I was off to visit the offices of Anglo American, the multinational mining company, to talk about the CyberFirst programme to bring more young people into the sector. I decided to let the train take the strain and I can categorically say that I had never been to Seamer by train before. 

Though a little late, the journey down was uneventful yet idyllic. I sat there trying to work yet the mobile connection made it impossible as the train trundled though some beautiful and bucolic countryside. The sun was out and I let my mind wander, channelling my inner Portillo. It made me want to come back and visit for a short break. Perhaps I will.

The walk to Anglo American was pleasant, though a shirt and tie was not the best choice for such a day. The meeting went well and after a very pleasant lunch I made my way back to Seamer Station for a longish wait for the next train and that was when the fun began.

The sun was beating down and there was next to no shade on the platform. I had taken my jacket and tie off by that time. All was going well, the board said that the train was on time and a trickle of people were joining me to wait for its arrival. The tannoy was alive with announcements of cancelled trains and we all kept our fingers crossed. Everything seemed fine until, with ten minutes to go, the train disappeared from the arrivals board. There was no announcement, no explanation and nobody to ask. We all stood around, looking at each other, trying to work out what to do. The next possible train to York had been cancelled and so there was not another possibility for two hours.

I tried to organise a small party to share a taxi to York but where I was going to get one from was another matter. I checked the Trainline app only to be told that the train had been and gone from Seamer. It was like living in a parallel universe and just as I was planning to leave the station, in came a train going to York, some fifteen minutes late. Of course, by this time I had missed all my connecting trains and arrived home later than hoped.

Somehow the technology had not worked properly. The information sent to the app was wrong and I suspect this is the same information that produces the automated announcements. I can look back and laugh now but this made me realise how different things are on rural lines as opposed to the main lines. On the East Coast Main Line you have choices. Your train may be cancelled but there will be another one coming along relatively soon. On a rural line you are not so lucky. If the train doesn’t come you have no alternative but to wait and wait.