Regarding Michael Cunningham’s letter (5 August), my late uncle Sid worked in the Lancashire cotton mills during the 1950s and loved riding on the steam trains in and around Oldham, his place of birth.
There used to be six railway stations serving Oldham, and he told me that while on his travels he once went to Oldham Mumps station and, out of curiosity, asked the Asian ticket officer where he could travel to by train from there. After a brief pause for thought, the ticket officer said: “You can go to Delhi central station from here, sir.”
Not long after that, a friend of his, also working in the cotton mills, had a similar story. He told my uncle that he had been in Delhi and asked the ticket officer there for a ticket to Oldham.
After a brief pause, the ticket officer asked my uncle’s friend: “Do you want Oldham Mumps, Oldham Werneth, Oldham Clegg Street, or Oldham Guide Bridge, sir?”
Martin Wells
East Coker, Somerset
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