
At Highley on the Severn Valley Railway, a guard gives the ‘Right away!’ signal, indicating that it is safe for the driver to set the train in motion. For anyone wondering whether the train was ready to depart, this would be the most obvious clue but not the only one. A banging of doors, last farewells between passengers and those they leave behind on the platform, shouts of ‘All aboard!’ from the station crew, and a shrill peep on the guard’s whistle, would all be heard before the sudden clanking of the couplings, the rhythmic beat of the pistons, and perhaps a blast on the engine’s whistle — another great British invention by the way: see The First Steam Whistle.