Redundant

Severance
for my father

On Sundays we walked the line

from Drumglass to Edendork

You telling us of the time

you drove the  steam train

All the way to Cookstown.

Nettles stung our calves

as we leapt from one sleeper to another,

Sleepers that would later be ripped up

to bolster flower beds In suburbia.

On weekdays after school

we played at the freight train station

where you, as foreman, presided

braced and waist-coated,

Unloading and selecting goods for onward

delivery. Punching cards, whose presence 

or absence of holes, gave data. 

Overseeing the No 50

Fill up from the water tank.

We leapt on and off box cars

and covered wagons and hoppers

Until the engine began to groan

and chuff and emit steam

and hiss and lumber to a start,

Its cranks sprung into arm,

elbow, shoulder action,

Propelling the great wheels

around a parabolic

curve, under the Milltown

tunnel, heading for Derry

Until the ton miles hauled

per unit of energy consumed

was deemed too low,

The freight train redundant,

And you, after decades

of labour were let go,

 Uncompensated.

The freight train station in Dungannon closed in February 1965. It was not until August 1965 that The UK Redundancy Payment Act addressed comprehensively the question of severance payment  for redundant workers.

Copyright with Cathy Leonard 2018