Page 53 of New Beginnings on Railway Lane

‘Well, I guess it’s history, but it only matters to us old boys now,’ said Bob, looking at his dad with a sad smile. ‘Nobody knows about this kind of stuff or cares anyway.’

‘I do.’ Katy began to pace up and down in an excited manner. ‘And perhaps they should know about it.’

Ryan looked at her. ‘What do you mean?’ he asked.

‘When I was growing up, Mum and I used to visit all sorts of museums,’ she said, obviously still running an idea through her head. ‘The strange and the wonderful, but all were fascinating to us. I wonder if we could display the collection of objects that you’ve kept. That could be our USP!’

‘Our what?’ asked Eddie, his grey eyebrows crossed in confusion.

‘Our unique selling point,’ Katy told him with a smile. ‘We would be the station coffee shop, complete with some of the memorabilia. Wouldn’t that be great?’

Bob smiled. ‘You know what, love? That sounds smashing.’

‘I agree,’ said Eddie.

They all turned to look at Ryan, but he found that he too was smiling. ‘Why not?’ he said.

Katy was still smiling and Ryan found that he couldn’t tear his eyes away from her at that moment and revelled in her excitement.

With the idea for dressing the coffee shop as a sort of museum decided, they put the scales to one side, along with the telephone and some of the branded stationery. But Bob also allowed Katy to throw away most of the different blank tickets, keeping only a few examples of each.

‘You’re actually allowing us to get rid of some of this?’ asked Ryan, with wide eyes.

Bob nodded. ‘Katy has promised me that we won’t get rid of anything that holds personal memories or sentimental value, but I think keeping a history of the station is important, don’t you?’

‘Absolutely,’ replied Ryan, looking at Katy with something akin to admiration.

He looked at his dad and grandad who were still beaming with excitement over the plans for the coffee shop. His dad especially looked better than he had done in weeks. There was hope there now, thought Ryan.

And it was all down to one remarkable woman, he realised, looking at Katy. He was growing in respect for her each day and found himself hoping that even when the station was finally cleared she would stay for a while. Because he wasn’t quite sure that Cranfield would ever feel the same if Katy wasn’t there as well.

28

As the week went on, Katy felt more and more like her old self once more after the illness.

She felt invigorated too, with the idea of the coffee shop in the station. She began to wake up happy and excited each day, more so than she could ever remember feeling when she worked at any of the hotels. Now she would rush downstairs after breakfast to meet with Bob and Eddie as they cleared first the crowded ticket office and then the waiting room.

She was amazed to discover that the waiting room went on past the fireplace and onto another smaller space at the end of which was a small kitchen.

‘What was this used for?’ she asked Bob, once they had cleared a path so they could step inside the empty room.

‘This was for the ladies to wait in,’ he told her, with a wink.

Katy was confused. ‘Just the ladies?’ she asked.

‘In Victorian times, they couldn’t stay in such close proximity to the men,’ said Bob, with a grin.

‘I see,’ replied Katy, fascinated once more. ‘Just in case they were put in a compromising position, I guess.’

‘Definitely,’ said Bob, laughing.

He was much more cheerful this week, she thought, especially when they came across a whole load of black and white photographs in one of the boxes. Bob told her that it was the same steam engine that he was working on. Katy thought that it would have been quite a sight puffing its way out through the quiet countryside.

‘How about we get these framed and put on the walls?’ she said, looking around. ‘After a quick lick of paint, of course.’

‘I think that’s a great idea,’ Bob beamed.

‘And some of the posters too that I’ve found,’ Katy told him.