'Do I catch this train to get to Peterborough?' asked the ghost, smiling as he walked down the platform.

     There was a ripple of nervous laughter.

     'What are you doing?' asked Tom.

     Frank spun 'Oh, I didn't hear you come back in. I was just telling them all your story. I didn't mean any harm by it.'

     'It was my fault', said Sue. 'I'd heard about your encounter but the rest of the family said you don't talk about it. So Frank said he would tell the story.'

     Well, he was getting it wrong. As usual. Tom glared at his younger brother. Frank tried to hide his embarrassment by collecting up lose wrapping paper.

     'I suppose I'd best tell you the story. Grab a mince pie. Switch off the television. Get comfortable.'

     The younger members of the family gathered together. They had all heard about Tom's story, but few here had ever heard him tell the tale, and then only once each, years ago.

     Tom ran his fingers through his grey hair and looked around at his silent audience.

     'Back in the war I was a soldier. We were going to be shipped out but didn't know where. I had got myself some leave to see my parents, their home had been blitzed. Frank had been evacuated to the country. So I was traveling back to camp in the evening and had to change trains at this small station in the middle of nowhere. The train I'd been on had been delayed so I didn't know if I would make the connection.'

     Tom paused to sip his whiskey before continuing the story.

     'I'm on the platform all alone, and I can hear, off in the distance, a train approaching. You know how quiet nights can be out in the countryside. Well, back in the 'fourties it was double quiet. No lights on my platform, blackout restrictions, but suddenly I realised that the one opposite, for the other direction, was lit up. There was a railway man over on that one too.

     So I calls over, 'Do I catch this train to Peterborough?' He probably hadn't realised I was there, in my khakis, in the dark. So he fare jumps. I yell over again 'Do I catch this train to Peterborough?' And he starts waving to me so I come closer to the edge of the platform. 'This train?' Beginning to wonder if the old chap is deaf . I supposed that the railways would be glad to employ anyone in wartime. Then I realised, he's waving me back, not beckoning me. So I goes back to the door to the ticket office, when the train hurtles through without stopping.

     Tom looked round at the fidgety crowd.

     There were wagons attached to the train. A plank had come loose and was hanging out across the platform. If I'd been standing where I had been it might have cut me in halt. After the train passed through, the bloke on the other platform was gone, and I figured he'd turned the lights off as well.

     After the war I took various jobs and for a while I was on the railways. Mid-sixties that would have been. Anyway, I'm back at that same station one night, pottering about, clearing up, when the lights on the other platform go out. I'm going to go and check the fuses when I hear someone call across 'This train to Peterboro'?' It's a young soldier.

     'Peterborough' I hear him call again and my brain is starting to work. I can hear a train now and I start to try and wave him back but he starts to step forward. I can't see his face, no lights on the other platform, and I don't want to. 'This train?' he calls again. Then he realises what I'm trying to tell him and he goes back into the shadows. Train goes through and when it has gone, the lights were back on. I'm thinking, well, you can guess....

     So I checked up. That train wasn't due through and no-one else saw it. I asked the old station master about it. He gave me this.

     Tom reached into his jacket to where his wallet was. This was new to all who had ever heard his story before.

     It don't explain anything. I think that's just as well.

     With nervous fingers he unfolded a yellowing scrap of paper and handed it to his younger brother to read out.

     It's a newspaper clipping dated 1923. The headline reads 'Mystery Men Stop Station Tragedy'. Three families narrowly avoided serious injury and possible death when a train passing through Narrowby Station had a plank of wood dislodged amongst its cargo, said Mr. Brown of Peterborough. 'We were waiting to travel home from visiting the fun-fair. As the train was approaching the station the lights on our platform dimmed low. We did not realise our danger though a soldier on our platform and a railway man on the opposite side patently did. If it had not been for the gallant actions of those two, some in our party might have been seriously hurt.' Despite investigations, neither of the pair have been identified to receive the families thanks.

     Tom sipped his whiskey, others ate the mince pies or nuts, but all was done in silence.