Full Steam Ahead, Felix

1. Rise and Shine

At precisely 5 a.m. the first shafts of sunlight spilled across St George’s Square. A summer’s day was dawning in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, in July 2016.

The light was muted at that early hour, gently illuminating the bronze statue that stood in the square’s centre and the figures who topped the surrounding buildings: the trident-wielding Lady Britannia and the curly-maned big cat who stalked on the rooftop of the Lion Building. That striking structure was Grade II-listed, but that wasn’t unusual in this historic town: Huddersfield was home to over 200 listed buildings – the most in Yorkshire – and each of them was bathed in ever-increasing brightness as the sun began to climb higher in the sky.

The town was still and almost silent at that time of day. Here and there sparked the first signs of life: a delivery driver parking up, his hazard lights flashing, to drop off his goods; a still-the-worse-for-wear group of lads meandering down the street, their unsteady zigzag walk revealing that they were still sobering up from the night before, having not yet gone to bed. A pigeon squawked and fluttered on its corrugated-iron perch. A big black crow became airborne. And a fluffy black-and-white tail flicked steadily back and forth as a diligent animal patrolled her patch.

The rising sun’s strengthening beams also picked out a handful of solitary figures who were hurrying across the pedestrianised square in the early-morning light. There was a middle-aged man in a dark suit with a briefcase, a fresh-faced lass in pink-and-black workout gear, and a pregnant woman in a summer dress who was dragging a holiday suitcase behind her. From all walks of life, they were all drawn like magnets to perhaps the grandest listed building of them all: Huddersfield railway station. It stood at the top of St George’s Square, directly opposite Leo the Lion, and seemed to face the coming day with a dependability born of its centuries of service.

Never had a station looked so welcoming – or so grand. Completed in 1850, the magnificent building had a spectacular classical portico with imposing Corinthian columns, the latter of which stretched all the way along the station’s 416-feet façade. Its sandstone walls gleamed in the sunshine, looking just as inviting as its newly opened blue front door. As steadfast as the sunrise, Huddersfield station opened its doors promptly at 5 a.m. every morning, and today was running as smoothly as the clockwork in its railway clocks.

And so the passengers scurried onwards, up the steps and into the station, each of them bleary-eyed or bushy-tailed, and all intent on reaching their final destinations. As one chap crossed the threshold, a yawn took hold of him and he stretched his jaws wide, wearily smoothing down his black beard afterwards. There were not many upsides to being up at that hour … but these passengers were about to discover one.

There were a few clues, had they cared to look around. A brightly coloured packet of Dreamies that was poking out of the pocket of the TransPennine Express (TPE) team member manning the gateline that morning … A fish-shaped squishy toy covered in yellow-and-red polka dots that lay abandoned on the concourse floor … And what was that in the corner? That thing with a black-and-white cartoon image on it, and five purple letters arched over its window? Was that … a cat flap? In a station?

Those in the know kept their eyes peeled as they journeyed through the station, crossing the gateline with a twist of disappointment that they had not yet caught sight of the vision that they sought. She was there to greet passengers at the door most mornings, but she was not there today. Often, she took up residence at one of the five serving windows in the booking office, just to the left of the main entrance, but the office was not due to open until 5.45 a.m., so she was not on duty there yet. Blind white shutters covered those windows, their blankness only serving to emphasise that she was not present.

You could almost tell who was in on the poorly kept secret and who was not. Those who streamed through the barriers, their eyes focused only on the display boards overhead, were not part of the privileged few. It was those who moved slowly, eyes darting this way and that, who knew what they were looking for. Those same people tended to turn left once they made it through the gateline, where they walked along the concrete catwalk that was platform number one.

They saw the sign almost as soon as they had passed the Coffee Xpress concession, where the tempting aroma of freshly ground coffee beans was already scenting the station air. The sign jutted from the sandstone walls with prominent importance. ‘Customer Information and Assistance’ it read. Below it an open door invited customers into a small lobby with a thin grey carpet and a single serving hatch. As you approached from the main station entrance, it was impossible to see round the corner to the hatch. You almost had to be facing the door square on before you could see if she was there.

And, this morning, she was. Chest puffed up and proud, she sat with a regal air atop the desk, waiting to assist in whatever way she could. Her snow-capped front paws were pressed neatly together, as though she felt that when on duty she should be professionally turned out: no slouching or spread-eagled limbs here. Her white bib shone brightly in the dawn light, making for a vivid contrast to the ebony fur that gleamed elsewhere on her ever-so-fluffy little black body. Americans describe such colourings as ‘tuxedo’ and it did indeed seem that she had slipped on her most expensive designer black tie to come to work. Nothing but the best for her customers.

Her long white whiskers twitched as she took in the morning scents. A pair of exquisite emerald eyes blinked lazily as customer after customer came to say hello. Their own eyes sparkled as they met her, but not enough to outshine the glitzy twinkle of her glittery purple collar, nor the gilded glow of the circular gold tag that hung round her neck. They gently stroked her silky-soft fur and excitedly cooed greetings and impassioned well wishes into her white-tufted ears. They exclaimed and oohed and ahhed and sighed deeply with contented satisfaction, thrilled that their treasure hunt, this time, had ended with a pawprint that marked the spot. Such customers came away feeling lucky and lighter, and that this was going to be a very good day indeed.

And how could it not be? For they were some of the chosen few. They had just been granted an audience with none other than Felix, the Huddersfield station cat.

Frankly, did life get any better than that?

After a while that morning, Felix decided it was time to move on. She was a busy cat, in demand across the station, and she could not spend all day in one spot. Each day, she set her own rota, and she clearly felt she had fulfilled her responsibilities on the customer-information point for the time being. Soon, the announcer with whom she shared the serving hatch would report for his shift; she could tag-team with her colleague to ensure the point was well looked after. So, with a single sporty leap, she jumped down and padded out on to the platform.

As she emerged, her appearance was unmistakeably noted. Surreptitiously, from a short distance away, a middle-aged lady in a forest-green anorak and sensible brown brogues – who had been painstakingly tapping out a text message, one letter at a time – somewhat awkwardly angled her phone anew and snapped a sneaky picture of the station cat. Felix didn’t even flinch. Since July 2015 she had had her own Facebook page, and over the past year it had grown to attract a massive 80,000 followers online. Her popularity had been particularly boosted in January 2016, when she’d been promoted to senior pest controller by her employer, TransPennine Express, and thousands upon thousands of fans worldwide had wished her congratulations. Social-media stardom had brought a fair few of those fans to the station, and so this famous Facebook cat had long become used to the clicking sounds and camera flashes that her presence seemed to inspire.

Undaunted, Felix lowered her head to the ground and sniffed at the platform. No crumbs here. Shame. She raised her head to squint at the pigeons who lived in the corrugated-iron roof above the station. They had probably hoovered up any leftovers; it was just the kind of thing those pesky pigeons did. Somewhat disgruntled, she gave herself a good shake and several loose strands of her fluffy fur escaped her pelt; they danced in the air like confetti around a blushing bride, making her velvety nose give a sudden sharp sneeze. Then she padded on, stretching out her tippy-toes to show off the little black patches that adorned them, as though she was a ballerina on stage at the Royal Opera House and knew all eyes were on her twinkling toes.

Felix reached the edge of the platform. Though she had long been able to cross the tracks safely (and had her own Personal Track Safety card to assert her authority to do so), on this occasion she stopped sensibly at the yellow line that marked the platform’s border and sat down. Her enormous eyes drank in the sights of the slowly waking station. She glanced north, towards platform two and the looming black mouths of the railway tunnels. The Head of Steam pub was located in that direction, but at this hour it was quiet and no kegs of beer were being rolled around with a musical clinking sound, as sometimes happened. She looked in the opposite direction, to where a forty-five-arch viaduct stretched far away into the distance, so that even Felix’s powerful cat vision couldn’t see to the other side. Things were a little busier this way as the rush-hour commuters started to arrive, flooding through the gateline like an oceanic wave, ready to catch their regular services. It all seemed too busy for Felix that morning, so she faced away from the arriving passengers and instead blinked thoughtfully across the tracks to platform four, as though considering her options.

One of them was to visit the railway garden, which flourished opposite her on platform four, right in the middle of the station. The garden was the handiwork and legacy of a much-loved and -missed former colleague, Billy Bolt, who had died back in 2015. Felix and he had been firm friends and she often liked to hide among the garden’s long grasses or to roll in its catmint leaves – but not today, she decided. Getting smoothly to her feet, she turned her back on the garden and retreated to perhaps her favourite spot of all: the silver bike racks just beside the customer-information point. It was a location she had loved ever since she was a kitten.

Felix had lived at Huddersfield station since she was eight weeks old. She had grown up here, slowly learning to become used to the roar of the train engines and the ebb and flow of the people passing through. She was not a stray or an adopted moggy: she had been headhunted for the role as a baby and parachuted in as a pest controller from the very start, her job officially green-lit by HQ. However, while she did have an official name badge to describe her role – ‘Felix, Senior Pest Controller’ it read, with the smart, purple-and-blue TPE logo in the corner – in truth, she was just as much a pet. Having given five years of service to date, she was a beloved member of the team. In fact, she was everyone’s favourite.

Her name always needed a little explanation. When Felix had first started work at Huddersfield, her new colleagues had believed her to be a boy. Soon after her arrival, all those folk who worked on the railway network, along with the TPE team, had been invited to submit name suggestions for the new male kitten, with the chosen one being drawn at random. Felix was the chosen name – and only after she had been christened was her female gender discovered. But, by then, the name had stuck. Luckily, it rather suited her.

That summer’s morning, Felix wound her way between the bike racks’ metallic bars and sat with a sigh among them, her black back pressed to the yellow-brick wall. At that hour the racks were largely empty, just the odd D-lock reserving a spot, like a towel thrown on a sunbed at a holiday resort. Soon, however, Felix knew they would fill up as the commuters who cycled to the station left their bikes behind as they boarded their trains. That was how she liked it best, for being hidden among the bicycles gave her the perfect vantage point to observe the comings and goings of the station – of her home.

She watched now as those colleagues of hers who were on the early turn arrived for work. Given her concealed location – she had chosen to hide behind the one bike in the rack – it looked rather as though she was conducting a spot check on whether they were late for work, carefully noting down any infractions. Her emerald eyes missed nothing, sometimes shining as the rising sun glinted off the green. Here came a train driver with a cold bald head, clutching his lunchtime sandwiches tightly. Despite Felix’s attempt to disguise her presence, he soon spotted her sitting there and called out a cheery, ‘Eh up, lass,’ as he walked by. Another worker, dressed in all-over orange hi-vis, merely eyeballed her as he passed. An unspoken, somewhat cursory acknowledgement passed between them: a gruff greeting on this summer’s day. As she took in the morning traffic, Felix’s head turned left and right like that of an avid tennis watcher. She listened hard, too. She could hear the clink of keys in people’s pockets, the thrum of the engines as the formerly sleeping trains now came to life, and the rhythmic beat of footsteps as people passed along the platform.

But still she didn’t hear the sound that she was waiting for.

Voices carried easily at the station. She could hear the conductors riding on the trains calling out to the platform staff and vice versa, and the occasional burst of laughter of friends travelling together. Her twitching ears processed each and every sound. So, when Felix suddenly heard a woman’s voice, flavoured with a Yorkshire burr, call out to her in a jolly tone, ‘Morning, gorgeous!’ she was more than ready. As if responding to a cue, Felix jauntily poked her head up from between the bikes. Then she sprang from her hiding place, as though released from starting blocks, and rushed to greet one of her favourite people on the planet: team leader Angie Hunte.

Angie had been central in bringing Felix to the station and had mothered her ever since with love and care. Even though the cat was now five years old and fully grown, Angie still called Felix her ‘baby girl’. A big-hearted, fun-loving woman of Barbadian heritage, Angie had worked at Huddersfield station for more than two decades and was very much its undisputed reigning matriarch (second only to Queen Felix, of course, to whom everyone took second billing). Felix’s special greeting for her made her morning every day, and Angie chattered away happily to her as Felix bounded up to her feet. Instantly, the fluffy black-and-white cat weaved affectionately in and out of Angie’s legs. She made her presence felt with a series of insistent demands for Angie’s attention now.

‘Come on then,’ said Angie cheerily, as she gave in and scratched the cat firmly behind her ears. Felix’s tail flicked back and forth in appreciation. ‘Are you coming with me, then?’ Angie continued.

Felix didn’t need asking twice. As Angie headed to the customer-information point and entered the back offices through the door in the little lobby, the cat followed in her footsteps. Angie held the door open for her and Felix shot inside, before looking back over her shoulder anxiously to ensure that Angie was following, not wanting them to be separated. The two girls companionably entered the team leaders’ office, which the six team leaders shared on rotation, as each took responsibility for the running of the station on their shift.

Angie was immediately hard at work, printing off passenger lists and preparing for her handover with the team leader who had preceded her on duty. Somewhat uncharacteristically, Felix watched everything patiently from the floor, her eyes following Angie’s every move and her ears attuned to every word cast her way, as Angie chatted to her as she went about her work. In the end, Felix’s patience was rewarded.

‘Come on then,’ Angie said to the little cat at last. ‘I have to go out in a minute for the security checks. Now’s your chance.’

That was all the instruction Felix needed. In an instant she was up on the desk, not wanting to miss her opportunity for a cuddle before her mum went out on to the platforms again.

‘Gizza hug,’ Angie said affectionately, with a cheeky smile. She sat behind the desk, her chair pulled in, and jutted out her chin. Felix, knowing this dance of old, stepped forward on the desk to join Angie, her snow-capped paws treading confidently. The cat got very, very close to Angie’s face, until her big green eyes were only millimetres away from Angie’s brown ones. Then the two leaned forward, so that their foreheads gently touched. Felix pressed lovingly with hers, rubbing her head against Angie’s over and over again. The purr that began motoring inside that cat was loud enough for all to hear. It came from deep within Felix like a heartbeat, happy and contented and full of pleasure.

Unfortunately for Felix, all too soon Angie had to break away. Well, she did have other duties, despite what Felix might have thought. She wasn’t actually employed to be at the cat’s beck and call all day. Angie pulled on her smart navy jacket and her yellow hi-vis vest, and turned to the cat, now ready to head outside. Very often, Felix would join her, but today the cat had stretched out across the desk like a supersized queen on a golden throne, taking up all the space. It was just as well Angie didn’t need to use the computer!

‘Someone’s looking relaxed!’ the team leader quipped. She bent down and looked into Felix’s eyes somewhat jealously. ‘Shall we swap?’

But the station cat, for the time being, had had enough of work. Huddersfield station is staffed 24/7, and Felix had kept up her usual routine of manning the night shift the previous evening. Though Angie was heading out on security checks, Felix’s rota told her that it was time to take a catnap. The sun might have been rising and shining outside but inside the office Felix’s eyes were beginning to shut. Giving her a final stroke, Angie let her be and bade her a tender farewell, gently closing the door behind her.

Left alone in the office, Felix’s ears twitched every now and then, as she listened sleepily to the distant sounds of her colleagues clocking on or to the rumble of the cars starting up in the taxi rank outside. Every now and again, as regular as clockwork, a station announcement could be heard, proclaiming the coming or going of yet another train service. The station was going about its business, unstoppable as the sunrise that had so recently blessed the day, but for the time being the station had to cope without its cat. She had much more important things to do. As the regular announcements acted as a lullaby, Felix the cat fell fast asleep.

Which was just the way she liked it.