Peter Carmichael (1807-1897) was stationmaster at Douglas for nearly twenty years, having previously been in charge of various other stations, including Carluke and Garnkirk. Although Douglas was not the busiest of the Caledonian Railway’s stations, the oversight of two signal boxes and goods sidings would have demanded much of his attention.
Peter was a talented amateur poet, whose poems were printed regularly in local papers and whose collected works were published in 1884 as “Clydesdale Poems”. His poetry drew inspiration from many sources; the beauty of nature, the changing of the seasons, current events, or local legends. His thoughts were always expressed with a great wit and charm. In the preface to his book he begs the sympathy of his patrons for the many imperfections of his verse but explained he “was not educated at Oxford or Cambridge, but at a small village school, and at ten years of age had to labour for his daily bread, when, to complete what was considered the common standard of education, he attended evening classes for several years.”
His poem “The Platelayer’s Well” has a special charm as it concerns an area close to Douglas station that was his personal domain for two decades. Its subject is a pure crystal spring that once welled to the surface in Hippandon Wood, but since the coming of the railway had pooled close to the line. “Unmixed, pure and wholesome” it quenched the thirst of both woodland animals and railway track workers.
25″ OS map, c.1895
The Caledonian Railway’s Douglas Branch opened to passengers in 1864, slicing through Hippandon Wood (now spelled Happendon) to curiously terminate at a little-populated location almost three miles distant from the village of Douglas. Within ten years the line was extended to Muirkirk (and onward into Ayrshire) following a route that carefully avoided the grounds of Douglas Castle; and much to the inconvenience of the villagers.
Douglas station was renamed Happendon in 1931, and (regrettably) the line was closed in 1964. Today the trackbed, and the walls of the platforms and loading bank, are still evident, and the station houses, (presumably including the home of Peter and his family), have been updated and extended as a fine home.
There are few clues to the precise location of the “well” within the wood or at the lineside, and to what extent artistic licence has been exercised in the poem. Water from Happendon Wood now drains into a small burn that passes through a long culvert beneath the embankment on which the station once stood. The exit of this culvert seems a likely candidate as the Platelayers’ well, however the iron-stained stream seems more like a irn-bru than wholesome water; perhaps because much of the wood has been harvested for timber in recent years.
On his retirement in 1888 (at the age of 81) Peter Carmichael was presented with an elegant mantle clock by the Earl of Home. Most of Paul’s retirement was spent in Lanark, which he considered as his home town.
1.) Station platform, 2.) Loading bank, 3.) View towards station, with station cottages, 4.) Trackbed looking towards Lanark, 5.) Happendon wood, following recent harvesting and replanting. 6.) Happendon station in 1963, courtesy of Railscot.co.uk
Robin Chesters, 16th February 2025
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