A very effective setting for the tiny blue and red patches. There are ways in which countryside views have improved, though. When this was built the trees along country roads would have been covered with dust raised by the traffic on the unmetalled roads, for example. Of course the trains would have covered the trees along the line in soot. The ravages of that, though, seem to have survived mainly in the cities.

Perhaps I have a Canadian perspective on this. The farmers here liked railways because they didn't have to haul their produce miles to market. Going to market used to take a couple of days -- the important intersection of Bloor and Yonge in Toronto became important because farmers would camp there the day before market because it was the last place they could stay for free on their trip. I imagine in England going to market took far less time.

In summary, though, this is a really fine view.

Your remarks about the value of the railways to the farming community resonate here. Dairying was a big industry in North Wiltshire and milk trains to London helped it to flourish. And the coming of the railways made other great advances possible, including the avoidance of muddy roads (winter) and dusty roads (summer) as you mention.
This wouldn't be much of a picture without the train passing in the gap. I wanted the flash of red on the doors where two carriages are connected. Therefore I simply set the shutter to high speed and bingo! I was glad to have your contribution on this.

I agree -- the flash of blue and red makes the shot. Canada was late in discarding steam locomotives, by the way, and I lived near a main railway line, so I don't have a romantic view of the age of steam. The railway line ran through the railway scrapyard, and I remember being impressed by the stacks of locomotive carcases they made when they finally switched to diesel.