He booked to Epping Street. The train
Drew out and clanking idly strayed
Along the line with dull refrain
That mocked the exigence of trade.
At Woodford milkmen long delayed
The journey ; and at Snaresbrook noise
Broke out, and passengers inveighed
Against the line : such bitter joys
Two-faced occasion brings. At Theydon Bois,
At Chigwell Lane and Loughton, all
Complacent forest hamlets, folk,
Since chance itself might not forestall
Their sylvan leisure, tarrying, spoke
On footboards poised ; and this one's joke,
And that one's parting comment, wound
A strand of laughter through the smoke
And pulsing steam, whose rhythmic sound
With pliant wheels a thundrous music ground.
From Epping Street where half a score
Inviting hostels lie between
The upper forest and the lower,
The bounds and metes of that demesne
That once from Waltham surged in green
Luxuriance to the northern tide,
The lover of the fall's serene
Miraculous renascence hied
By turnpike, woodland path and forest-ride.
[Extract]
This is an extract from Davidson's poem about Liverpool Street Station.
From Liverpool Street the lines run out through Essex.