Hi! I’m Jason. Welcome to my amazing adventures in history.
The Beginning
I had just come home from school - yuk! - and I was in the cellar of our house in Eastbourne, running my model railway. I love trains. While I was staring into the tunnel, waiting for the train to come through, I noticed a strange light. Suddenly, I found myself inside a real tunnel in a town called Blackburn, 300 miles away! And it wasn’t 2017 any more!
“Before he had reached safety, he heard a train’s whistle; and he saw, to his horror, a black steam engine approaching.”
It was October 1862. Imagine how scared I was! I was cold, too, because I had no sweater. However, I quickly found that most people were very kind and helped one another. And I learnt so much about the history of Blackburn during the bad days of the Cotton Famine.
You won’t believe how people were living! Many had no work and little money to buy food. The first boys I met had no shoes; they were begging and, later, they went out at night to steal potatoes. And lots of families didn’t even have their own toilet!
I met some wonderful people and I got caught up in some exciting and even scary situations. You can read more about them on the History Page. But my main problem was this - how was I going to get back home?
Get on Board!
“School sucks!” Jason says more than once. And he used to think that history was boring. Not any more! He actually experiences the history of Blackburn - it happens all around him.
Nearly all the people that Jason meets in the story were actually living in Blackburn in 1862. The main events are based on real historical incidents, which you can read about in the newspapers of the day.
By reading Jason’s Magic Railway, you can learn and live the stories of real people in the Lancashire Cotton Famine. Then, you can find out even more in the local libraries in Blackburn and nearby towns.
THERE’S A LOT MORE INTERESTING STUFF TO COME, SO KEEP WATCHING THIS WEBSITE!!