The passing of a good friend
27th June 2020
As time passes by in life it is inevitable that eventually you have to face the reality that the people you meet are only on this earth for a relatively short time. Sometimes they are fleeting encounters, and on others they are longer-term friendships that, for the most part, you tend to take for granted. But you hope that in that brief time you have made the most of the opportunity and enjoyed their company and friendship. I write these lines just a few days after the loss of a good friend and travelling companion, Alan Arnold, who sadly passed away on Thursday 25th June 2020.
We had been travelling on UK Railtours' "The Valley of the Witch" tour and the train paused at Bynea for a 50 minute pathing stop. It seemed that instantly half of the tour train occupants descended on the unsuspecting rugby club outside the station and raided their bar. To be honest there was little else to do here! It was a surreal event and one that I am sure left the locals somewhat shell-shocked! Here's Alan after we left the bar and about to head back to the train. 22nd October 2011.
Alan and I met through a mutual friend, Spencer, back in the mid 1980s. Alan and Spencer had known each other for some time before and had often travelled on railtours together, accumulating mileage and visiting rare and long-lost lines in their quest to highlight as many lines in their Baker's atlas as they possibly could. When Spencer discovered my own interest in railways all three of us soon struck up a friendship that would last for a long time, and when Spencer moved away, Alan and I became the intrepid duo, riding the occasional railtour and partaking on other trips as the mood took us, whether by car or train. Tours to Scotland, and the north, or to Wales, car trips to galas across the southern counties, and even sudden short-notice 'phone calls to Alan to tell him that “so-and-so train” was running and did he want to nip out and see it with me! Nearly every time he was there.
Not being a driver he relied on others to take him around and I know that he relished the opportunity to join me on some expedition somewhere, when the call came. He jokingly used to call me the "Rail Tour Manager", or "R.T.M." for short, in recognition of the planning and arrangements I made so that he could enjoy a day out somewhere.
It was always fun. He never stopped reminding me of the time that I made him scramble through brambles to get to a good photo location on the South Wales Main Line between Newport and Cardiff, and he always chuckled at the thought of the time when a flock of sheep at Charlie's Gate, on the Bodmin & Wenford Railway in Cornwall, took an unhealthy interest in me wherever I walked in the field adjacent to the line. We always managed to have a laugh.
Alan at Long Rock, Penzance in April 2019. Screenshot from a video by Mike Wilcock, from South Wales, and thanks to Mike for allowing me to use the image.
Our last trip out together was to the GWR Open Day at Long Rock, Penzance, in April 2019, and it is to my deepest regret that we did not do anything else together after that. But I am glad we did what we did.
Alan was taken ill in April this year, and the prognosis was not good, but despite that his passing on 25th June was still a shock. I was on a week’s holiday and on that day I had in fact gone over to Bradford-on-Tone, Somerset, on the Western main line, to shoot some trains. I reflect now that had he been well I would have asked him to come with me and he would have joined me for sure. It was a great day out, with lovely warm summer sun and some good trains to see and shoot, so maybe Alan sorted things out for me and helped ensure that everything fell into place. Whatever happened then, I know now that I will no longer have his company on my trips, and will think fondly of those times when we did explore together. Thank you Alan for your companionship and I hope that you'll be looking down on me whenever I am out lineside and keep me company during the years ahead. Rest in peace my friend.
We had been travelling on UK Railtours' "The Valley of the Witch" tour and the train paused at Bynea for a 50 minute pathing stop. It seemed that instantly half of the tour train occupants descended on the unsuspecting rugby club outside the station and raided their bar. To be honest there was little else to do here! It was a surreal event and one that I am sure left the locals somewhat shell-shocked! Here's Alan after we left the bar and about to head back to the train. 22nd October 2011.
Alan and I met through a mutual friend, Spencer, back in the mid 1980s. Alan and Spencer had known each other for some time before and had often travelled on railtours together, accumulating mileage and visiting rare and long-lost lines in their quest to highlight as many lines in their Baker's atlas as they possibly could. When Spencer discovered my own interest in railways all three of us soon struck up a friendship that would last for a long time, and when Spencer moved away, Alan and I became the intrepid duo, riding the occasional railtour and partaking on other trips as the mood took us, whether by car or train. Tours to Scotland, and the north, or to Wales, car trips to galas across the southern counties, and even sudden short-notice 'phone calls to Alan to tell him that “so-and-so train” was running and did he want to nip out and see it with me! Nearly every time he was there.
Not being a driver he relied on others to take him around and I know that he relished the opportunity to join me on some expedition somewhere, when the call came. He jokingly used to call me the "Rail Tour Manager", or "R.T.M." for short, in recognition of the planning and arrangements I made so that he could enjoy a day out somewhere.
It was always fun. He never stopped reminding me of the time that I made him scramble through brambles to get to a good photo location on the South Wales Main Line between Newport and Cardiff, and he always chuckled at the thought of the time when a flock of sheep at Charlie's Gate, on the Bodmin & Wenford Railway in Cornwall, took an unhealthy interest in me wherever I walked in the field adjacent to the line. We always managed to have a laugh.
Alan at Long Rock, Penzance in April 2019. Screenshot from a video by Mike Wilcock, from South Wales, and thanks to Mike for allowing me to use the image.
Our last trip out together was to the GWR Open Day at Long Rock, Penzance, in April 2019, and it is to my deepest regret that we did not do anything else together after that. But I am glad we did what we did.
Alan was taken ill in April this year, and the prognosis was not good, but despite that his passing on 25th June was still a shock. I was on a week’s holiday and on that day I had in fact gone over to Bradford-on-Tone, Somerset, on the Western main line, to shoot some trains. I reflect now that had he been well I would have asked him to come with me and he would have joined me for sure. It was a great day out, with lovely warm summer sun and some good trains to see and shoot, so maybe Alan sorted things out for me and helped ensure that everything fell into place. Whatever happened then, I know now that I will no longer have his company on my trips, and will think fondly of those times when we did explore together. Thank you Alan for your companionship and I hope that you'll be looking down on me whenever I am out lineside and keep me company during the years ahead. Rest in peace my friend.