{"id":275142,"date":"2025-08-29T21:10:31","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T11:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/railuk.com\/?p=182040"},"modified":"2025-08-29T21:10:31","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T11:10:31","slug":"poet-laureate-marks-railway-bicentenary-with-commemorative-poem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=275142","title":{"rendered":"Poet Laureate marks railway bicentenary with commemorative poem"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/railuk.com\/rail-news\/poet-laureate-marks-railway-bicentenary-with-commemorative-poem\/\" title=\"Poet Laureate marks railway bicentenary with commemorative poem\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"485\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.railuk.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/29120035\/Simon-Armitage-Railway-200-485x360.png\" class=\"webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" style=\"display: block; margin-bottom: 5px; clear:both;max-width: 100%;\" link_thumbnail=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.railuk.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/29120035\/Simon-Armitage-Railway-200-485x360.png 485w, https:\/\/cdn.railuk.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/29120035\/Simon-Armitage-Railway-200-80x60.png 80w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 485px) 100vw, 485px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The 200th anniversary of the modern railway has been celebrated with a commemorative poem from Poet Laureate Simon Armitage CBE.<\/p>\n<p>Titled \u2018The Longest Train In The World\u2019, the poem is published today (29 August) as part of Railway 200, a national celebration of the past, present and future of the railway, exploring how this British invention has shaped our lives and livelihoods.<\/p>\n<p>Rail\u2019s bicentenary is inspired by the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway on 27 September 1825, a journey that changed the world forever.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"&#039;The Longest Train In The World&#039; - by Poet Laureate Simon Armitage.\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/eTS-iYvhcqc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>The Longest Train In The World<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">We stood in a northern field and witnessed it<br \/>rocketing past, barrelled and chimneyed,<br \/>towing an open-top truck, kicking up dust<br \/>and chucking out sparks as it cantered<br \/>the metal road. We gasped and it gasped back.<br \/>It kept coming: we sat with our legs dangling<br \/>over a stone bridge as it steamed along,<br \/>cheeks and chest puffed out, lungs heaving,<br \/>hauling the golden age and ragging a blue sky<br \/>with silver clouds. We saluted &#8211; it hooted back.<br \/>It kept on coming: from steep embankments<br \/>and country platforms we whistled and flagged,<br \/>tried to peek inside the upholstered Pullmans<br \/>and catch the eye of important someones<br \/>riding on plush cushions; we waved,<br \/>hoping a gloved hand might wave back.<br \/>It kept on coming: we clapped like mad<br \/>when its diesel engines went like the clappers,<br \/>gawped from city streets and apartments,<br \/>smiled at hundreds of faces, as if the carriages<br \/>whooshed entire towns of passengers station<br \/>to station. It kept on coming, tunnelling<br \/>under mountain ranges then vaulting ravines<br \/>and canyons. When sleepwalking coaches<br \/>shushed through curtained suburbs at night<br \/>we wished them sweet dreams; when freight containers<br \/>trundled and rumbled down branching branch lines<br \/>we nodded a knowing wink to the rolling stock<br \/>and it winked back. It just kept on coming:<br \/>we fist-bumped and high-fived the sleek machines<br \/>of the future, some bulleting here to there,<br \/>some gliding on air. And we waited to clock<br \/>the last guard&#8217;s van swinging its red lantern,<br \/>but that didn\u2019t happen: rounding the globe<br \/>coupled nose to tail to nose to tail that train<br \/>was two centuries long and still counting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Copyright 2025: Simon Armitage<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Image credit: Railway 200<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/railuk.com\/rail-news\/poet-laureate-marks-railway-bicentenary-with-commemorative-poem\/\" title=\"Poet Laureate marks railway bicentenary with commemorative poem\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"485\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.railuk.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/29120035\/Simon-Armitage-Railway-200-485x360.png\" class=\"webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image\" alt=\"\"><\/a>The 200th anniversary of the modern railway has been celebrated with a commemorative poem from Poet Laureate Simon Armitage CBE. Titled \u2018The Longest Train In The World\u2019, the poem is published today (29 August) as part of Railway 200, a national celebration of the past, present and future of the railway, exploring how this British [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4920,16017,47,85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-275142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-heritage","category-industry-news","category-rail-news","category-uk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=275142"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":276594,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275142\/revisions\/276594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=275142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=275142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=275142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}