Thanks Margaret and especially Anthony for your kind words of support and helpful advice. Please find the revised version of ghost trains posted below...

 

break the seal of brick built tombs

musty, dusty, rust filled rooms

stand vacant now

workshop clock stopped

on some distant afternoon

no longer marking minutes

hours

years

decades

they slip by still

unnoticed

decay and dereliction bring

destructive beauty

only ghost trains

are built here now

hazy spectres

smoking, fiery phantoms

shades and shadows

echoes of a time and place

some still remember

when a thousand men

wrought iron and steel

to thunderous, furious life

sparks flew

funnels blew

all was noise and heat and light

rugged engineers

sweat soaked

lungs choked

with sulphur and smoke

creating machines with hammers and spanners

faces stained with oil and pride

strong hands couldn’t turn the tide

times change

bricks crumble

nature stakes its claim

to empty sheds

to fading signs

and whistles on the wind

what remains

as iron turns to rust?

sleepers in the dust