I'm trapped behind a train track -
a new controller,  so I am, 
with no cap, flag or whistle - I'm denied a tram exam. 
There's an array of dials and switches - and I'm told just what to do:
'turn the left knob anticlockwise, then flip the top switch up on cue'.
The train lights blaze in red, as it emerges from the shed, 
'not too fast, at first though, or there'll be carnage up ahead!'
The figures on the hillside are mute as they just stare 
at the loco thundering past too fast, and don't even seem to care. 
I receive yet more instructions while that train is now on route:
I wish I'd never started this - being such a raw recruit. 
Although I feel right out my depth, I'm still above my station, 
as I try and process all that comes in the next communication. 
'Now grasp the right dial in your hand and turn it towards me, 
then scan the track in front of you and tell me what you see.'
'Oh, there's an Inter-City express heading towards the first - will I need to flick a switch or owt, to put it in reverse?'
'No, no, it's well-rehearsed, young man, it's on another line;
if you'd read the thing more carefully, you'd have seen that on the sign'.
The trains then pass each other leaving such a narrow gap, 
then I'm frowned upon impatiently as I get into a flap. 
For this is not the real thing, but a clever simulation 
of a model railway all set out in an attic situation. 


© All Rights Reserved