Railway Poem from Roger and Ros

We've been on a Fathers’ Day special,
A train ride round all parts of Kent.
I thought I'd tell you about it,
So you knew how your voucher's been spent.

We met at Victoria Station,
Dads, Mums, and kiddiewinks too.
The kids were afraid. “It's a ghost train!
The engine goes, ‘Woo, woo.’”

The engine was Tornado,
Built in two thousand and eight
By a gang of lads from Darlington.
To see it was utterly great.

We blasted out of the station
And swept across the Thames.
We saw the Eye and the Gherkin
And countless other gems.

After Shoreham and Kemsing, Mailing and Barming,
Over the Medway we went
And turned into Kentish fellas
Instead of fellas of Kent.

At Canterbury, there's a cathedral –
A Cathedral of splendour and rank –
But it couldn't be seen from the siding
Where we pulled in to fill up the tank.

We travelled first class on this outing,
And very nice it was too,
But the best thing of all - never seen it before –
There was wallpaper lining the loo.

On to the coast, to Sandwich and Deal,
To Dover and Folkestone we sped
And wherever we went people turned out and waved
And in sheer disbelief shook their head.

The way home was posh, through Tonbridge, you know –
And Orpington - awfully nice.
Then back down to earth with Catford.
We seemed to be home in a trice.

It wasn't a trip for nostalgia.
It was something that rang much more true –
A real engine doing real business,
Showing just what steam engines can do.

At the end we just stood and admired it –
Majestic and powerful and spare.
And we said a wee thanks to all of you folks
For enabling us both to be there.

Roger and Ros