Les Grands Chantiers (Wattys 2022)

16. Site Visit

Brendan had a good view of the northwestern foothills from the elevated stop at the Crossroads mall, over the six lanes of the M2 motorway. He was not that far from Carleton. Their destination was in fact a straight shot up the M2, but Brendan decided that it would be better for them to take the scenic route.

It was a cold day. Not snowing anymore, but a cold wind was blowing, and there was a little flecks of rain in the breeze that stung his cheeks. Snow never really stayed around. The longest streak he remembered was two days. If you were lucky the temperature would stay low enough for some dirty chunks of snow to remain in the gutters for a week or so.

In the 1970s the steam hauled narrow gauge lines into the northern mountains had been converted to standard gauge, electrified and connected to the tram network. An unqualified success that had been progressively upgraded over the years. In 1975 this has been a level cross across a two lane road. Now it was unrecognisable.

The guided skateboard thing had been conceived as a feeder for this. It would have been a few stations down the line.

They stood on the platform with the other waiting passengers. There were not that many on a Sunday morning, a few days after full moon had come and gone. He guessed a lot of them like him, had come from the route 60 bus. In high school he had passed this point every day on his way to school, at the bus interchange underneath the ornate station building had been retained, and now it served as the waiting hall. He would get off here and change to the 68.

It arrived, having just travelled the long stretch along the M2 crossing the M2 on a sweeping viaduct. A typical consist, A 2700 coupled with a 2750 series. The third generation of rolling stock on the light rail lines. VVVF drives, 70% low floor and air suspension. The 2750 series were also equipped with toilets, and hence they were used on the longer distance services to Liarbey and New Brighton.

Being a weekend it was not heavily loaded and they found a seat easily. There were a lot of hikers heading into the hills. But the hangover from full moon was still in effect.

They left the northwestern suburbs behind and started climbing into the hills, along the contours of the river valley, following the meandering path of the river. 

Screeches and hisses emanated from the bogies underneath as they climbed ever higher into the mist. The tracks were too curvy for them to get up to any kind of speed, and he was able to process the scenery at a decent enough rate to truly appreciate the depth of the beauty. The craggy rockfaces, the knurled trunks of the ancient beech trees, the sheer drops of the valleys.

There was mist curled over the river valley down below. rivulets of water dripping from springs above. In some places the forest obscured the sky and only slivers of sunlight were able to fight their way through. At some places the cloud of mist came close enough to the window that he could see the individual droplets of water swirling in the air in streams and eddies.

Adrian was surprised to see that even on a weekend, the most remote halts were well patronised, with old ladies laden with bags of foraged vegetables and mushrooms destined for market. Carved into the sheer slopes were stairways disappearing into the undergrowth. Some of the halts were carved into faces of solid rock. Occasionally he could even see the windows of a house high up in the rock faces. He realised for the first time that people lived here. He had just assumed before that this was virgin forest. It had been pencilled in in his mind as the kind of generic forest hatching you saw on maps.

They reached Lisburn Junction, nearly the midpoint, several hundred metres up. the old wooden station buildings looked eerie shrouded in fog. This was where the Route 74 branched off. Brendan had ridden that line once, One of the steam locomotives from the previous age was plinthed at the side, a reminder of narrow-gauge steam train line which had once existed. It must have been magical, clouds of smoke hanging in the air.