“The railroad ran through the middle of the house………”

The railroad comes through the middle of the house.
The railroad comes through the middle of the house.
The trains all come through the middle of the house
Since the company bought the land.

They let us live in the front of the house.
They let us live in the back.
But there ain’t no living in the middle of the house
‘Cause that’s the railroad track.

(I recall this song well, circa 1956, sung by Alma Cogan, among many others. Lyrics reproduced here courtesy of https://dmdb.org/lyrics/middle.of.the.house.html).

I recently spent an enjoyable few hours with two of my fellow members of South Gloucestershire Mines Research Group at the Avon Valley Railway at Bitton. This heritage line is a branch of the former Midland Railway which has been preserved by dedicated volunteers. Visitors can enjoy riding the rails on three miles of track along the Avon Valley in the restored locomotives and carriages, once again to experience the romance and sound of steam.

The occasion of the visit was to celebrate 200 years of our railway history, the world’s first public passenger train, from Shildon to Stockton on Tees (Stockton & Darlington Railway Co) 27^th September 1825.

In bygone days in my own history, we took an occasional trip by train from Lawrence Hill to Severn Beach:  Mum and us kids, and neighbouring women with theirs.  Dad always said “Don’t lean out of the window. You’ll get a smut in your eye.” I always did. And I always did.

The more recent day out in 2025 at Avon Valley was also nostalgic, firstly in view of the many birthdays spent there when our grandchildren were little.

Secondly, back to an even earlier time which even I do not remember:  November 1846, though the action (described below) also by the Midland Railway may not have been along the same branch. (A railway enthusiast may like to save my ignorance.)

In 1841 my great great grandparents Stephen and Jane Pillinger and their children, were living in a house they shared with Jane’s mother, Rachel Summerell at Siston.   Provided the proposal went through, they undoubtedly would have had to vacate the premises.  This is the full report, Bristol Mercury, 14^th November 1846:

The relevant extract from the document as it affects my family is the addition of a proposed new branch from Mangotsfield to Bath…..

“…..diverging from the said intended railway in the said parish of Siston near to a certain farmhouse there, belonging to Thomas Pexton Peterson and now or late in the occupation of Stephen Pillinger…..”

I imagine that Rachel said, “this’ll be the death of I” which it duly was. Three months later she was dead of phthis, (TB), aged 76, but was still living at Siston Common. As the informant on her death certificate was given as John Stone, “present at the death”, Stephen and family may have already decamped for Kingswood where they are located by 1851.  The farmhouse must have been demolished.

This is one of many stories which can be read in “The Pillinger Family – Part 1 -From Yatton Keynell to Outer Space” which can be read on page 126. It is part of my juvenilia, and I am sorry to say that it is in pdf and urgently requires an update.

Acknowledgement

The title photo is repinted courtesy of Avon Valley Railway Heritage Trust.