Today I had reason to come home from Ashtown Station - this doesn't seem to be a very common thing for anybody, let alone myself, as the guys who operate the level crossing exclaimed "it must be a mirage!" when I entered the station. They could have been talking about something else, but it's fun to speculate.

The train showed up bang on time, but was preceded by one of the two lads stepping out onto the line and dragging the two gates across to operate the crossing.

Brilliant, and just a few miles from the city centre.

Clonsilla is also manually-operated, but at least they have a quaint little house on stilts and the gate is mechanically operated. Ashtown wins, I half expected a big black steam train to pull in four hours late and John Wayne to step off in search of his ancestors!