A composition capturing the excitement of the opening of a Sidmouth Railway Station has been rediscovered and recorded for a modern audience.
The ‘Galop’ could have been played at the station’s opening in July 1874 and was published for sale later in the year.
A photocopy of the sheet music was found by Sue Bartlett, whose ancestor, a C Culverwell, sold it from his Fore Street shop.
Pianist Vyvian Bronk recorded the tune for Sidmouth Museum, part of the Sid Vale Association, which is selling the CD for £2.50 to help fund repairs to its storm-damaged roof.
The museum’s Ann Tanner said: “The polka-style tune could have easily inspired later composers of silent movie music as it would be the perfect piece to conjure up the image of a steam train puffing along in the countryside, increasing its speed, with a heroine tied to the railway track waiting for her hero to save her!”
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