Mon, Jul 22, 1996
Ethel finally persuades May to admit that she and Cecil dated briefly during the war and relays this back to Jack in garbled form. Everybody pulls together to move Cecil's belongings into the station master's house, after which he buys them a drink and looks forward to their team-work preventing Beeching closing the station. He then has a bath but is interrupted by Ethel and May who bring him hot water and suggest he gets a bigger sponge as he tries to hide his modesty.
Mon, Jul 29, 1996
Whilst Cecil is out a coffin arrives unexpectedly at the station, of which the local undertaker knows nothing. The staff decide to hide it in Cecil's office but he returns before he is supposed to and the coffin is passed out of the window, flattening Ethel's daft young son, assistant porter Wilf. In fact the coffin should have been sent to Hagley station, not Hatley, as Cecil knew all along.
Sun, Sep 28, 1997
The staff discover that the station is a hundred years old and decide to have a street party to celebrate. They dress up in Victorian costume as the mayor cuts a ribbon, a brass band plays and the press covers it for the local paper. Unfortunately, they are let down by the butcher, who refuses to contribute free food, so that the party fare consists chiefly of pea soup, tinned baked beans and rhubarb crumble - with predictably windy results.
Sun, Aug 17, 1997
Ethel has found romance with American airman Joe, who took her to see 'West Side Story' and who promises to take her back to the States with him. Wilfred decides that he will then join the army. Unfortunately Joe is recalled home very suddenly, leading to a 'Brief Encounter' moment on the station with Ethel. She is upset but she is very happy when Wilfred tells her he will be staying with her after all as the Army have rejected him on account of his flat feet.
Sun, Jun 29, 1997
Whilst Ethel struggles with her new 'Position Closed' blind, May has her own problems. Not only has she succumbed to a lingering kiss with Cecil but thieves have stolen the milk cart and she is out of milk - with the Transport Minister arriving for a visit in a couple of hours. Jack's effort to milk a cow is a disaster but he is annoyed when Cecil rings Gloria and asks her to bring a couple of pints. After all that the Minister's train doesn't even stop but runs straight past the reception committee.
Mon, Aug 14, 1995
In the pilot episode of what would subsequently become the first part of a series, Cecil Parkin travels to the small country railway station of Hatley to take over as its station master. He is pleased to find that his old girl-friend May Blanchflower runs the station buffet, less so that she is now married to porter Jack Skinner. Certain aspects of the station's running leave a lot to be desired but this is as nought compared to the news that new transport minister Doctor Beeching intends to close small stations like Hatley.
Mon, Aug 19, 1996
Jack and Cecil are down-hearted to learn that May has applied for a better paid job at the larger Loxley station, working for lecherous station master Fred Foster, but their own applications for a transfer and Cecil's refusal to give May a reference bear no fruit. Fred comes to Hatley where Harry names him as the man who broke up his marriage - and thanks him for it. Fortunately Dr. Beeching himself comes to their rescue, by closing down the Loxley line.
Mon, Aug 5, 1996
Cecil buys May a set of red undies for the eighteen birthdays she has had since they last met though she is reluctant to accept them. Vera, the station cleaner, tells Jack about them but Ethel saves the situation by telling Jack that May asked Cecil to go and buy them for her to look good for her husband - who gets very frisky as a result. Lady Lawrence is expecting the delivery of her horse but a lion arrives instead. It's feared the lion ate the horse until it is discovered that there were two trucks and the one with the lion in arrived at Hatley whilst the horse was sent down the line.
Sun, Sep 21, 1997
As Jack and May prepare to celebrate their wedding anniversary a tearful May suspects that she might be pregnant. Jack is not pleased. Arnold the train driver, having had an accident learning to drive the new diesel engines, fears that he will be made redundant and the staff, including Cecil, organise a petition as Arnold chains himself to the front of his engine. Fortunately, news of his redundancy, like May's pregnancy, turns out to be a false alarm.
Tue, Aug 27, 1996
After Gloria is locked out of the house Cecil lets her stay the night on his couch, leading to a row with Jack over parenting. The two men fall out again when Cecil feels that Jack should have a medical as to his suitability for the job in the light of his bad leg. However Cecil ultimately back-tracks over the medical so as to impress May. Ethel has a date with skirt-chasing Percy the train guard at the local dance.