To me, there is something vaguely exciting, unsettling and romantic about places of transit: airports and railway stations in particular. Saltaire station looks especially romantic right now - the little waiting shelter is covered over with a mass of the palest pink roses. I have no idea what variety they are... some sort of climbing rose with very dense, small petalled rosettes of flowers, and very pretty.
The station itself used to be a lot more attractive than it is now (see here for an old photo). The railway pre-existed Saltaire (and was one of the reasons Titus Salt chose this site for his mill) and the station opened in 1856. It was closed by government cuts in 1965 but thankfully reopened again in 1984. It is now a busy commuter line with links to Leeds and Bradford; both cities can be accessed in less than 20 minutes. Having a station so near at hand is great - Leeds is a very good shopping centre and both Leeds and Bradford have some excellent theatres and other cultural venues. As you can imagine, when my daughter was in her teens the bonus of being near the station meant I didn't have to worry about transport when she went off on (frequent) nights out with her friends.
The building behind the station is the old Saltaire Dining Hall, which used to provide meals for the mill workers and is now part of Shipley College. Beyond that you can see the top of the New Mill's chimney.
Oh, how perfectly charming! Makes me want to board a train and travel somewhere exotic :)
ReplyDeleteYou are right, there is something about places of transit and I would even suggest that you could distill a little of whatever it is even in a motorway service station.
ReplyDeleteYou brought back loved memories of standing at the airport with my face pressed against the fence waiting for my father's plane to land. I watched intently hoping to be the first to see his face in the window of the plane of at the top of the plane stairs.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the memory.
nellie
Hi Jenny,
ReplyDeleteThis is very nice. Sorry to have to say goodbye for the moment. Best wishes for your photography and blogging.
that is so true about the feeling of excitement in such places. This one is especially lovely with the building in the background and that lovely climbing rose!
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comment about places of transit!! In fact, it used to be fun to go to the MSP airport and stand beside the huge windows just to watch the planes take off. Now a casual plane watcher can't even get beyond the ticket desk, thanks to 'security.'
ReplyDeleteLike that bit of red in the photo. :-) I once commented to my cousin that Renoir used bits of red in his paintings and I wondered about that. She said, 'Red was probably on sale.' lol
That looks so sweet and romantic ! when stations are like this I love them too, but not the once full of graffitis.
ReplyDeleteA lovely image of olden days, still functioning well in modern times. An accidental cut of a computer cable in Vancouver this week paralysed all the commuter trains because they have no human drivers!
ReplyDeleteThis does look so romantic and makes one feel ready for an adventure!
ReplyDeleteThe roses do make this an appealing spot in the current season. I have traveled a lot by train and plane, and must have missed the romance. The usual emotion was aggravation and worry about whether it would be on time.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment today on HDP. I enjoy your visits and comments, as well as my own visits to this charming industrial town in England's heartland.
We were amazed at how easy it was to get around England by train or bus. Our county has neither.
ReplyDeleteHave just caught up with your blog which I love. My grandparents lived in Caroline Street and as a small child I was taken down to see the Flying Scotsman pass through standing on the footbridge which is no longer there or by the railings both of which ment disappearing in a cloud of steam. Great fun!
ReplyDeleteYour train stations there are much more quaint and romantic than here! So pretty. ~Lili
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