Honing train makes Hannes feel good: « Want to thank locomotives »
We are late. The train will enter the Floda station 13.17, it is two minutes left. We run towards track three where Hannes Lindgren is waiting in his orange jacket, calm as a file bowl.
« It's a delay in minutes, » he says after checking in an app that follows the trains in real time.
We hurry to the end of the platform where he stands to appear better and not disturb anyone. The rail begins then vibrate and Hannes turns towards the approaching roar.
When he sees the train, he lifts his right arm, ties his fist and stir it up and down as if he pulls an invisible rope.
A week earlier If he has posted a post in the Facebook group « Railways before and now » where he told us, among other things, that he is struggling with his mental mood and that train duties, or typhoons, help him feel better.
« In short, I wonder if there are any drivers here in the group who, according to plan, drive past Floda sometime in the coming week with their train during the appropriate time of day, and who can think of giving typho for me, » he wrote.
The response was huge. « I more than happy for you, » wrote a driver and suggested some times. Another told me that he always scouts for Hannes and is ready to honk. He has received even more answers as direct messages, he says.
– Most people in this group recognize me. They also write to me if they are delayed. And I usually write and thank them for the tutor, he says.
Why do you think they want to do this for you?
– Because they are nice people. I want to thank all the locomotives from the depth of my heart, that means more than anyone can imagine.
Hannes has autism, ADHD, obsessive -compulsive disorder and Tourettes. He has long struggled with mental illness.
That he got his diagnoses early – he was six years old – thinks he has made it easier for him in life.
But the diagnoses have also put a stop to his big dream – to drive a train himself.
– It's been a sadness. But I have traveled a lot of train so I compensate that way, he says.
The trains have been around since early childhood. The fascination may have started during the annual train journeys to the family in Sundsvall, he believes. In particular, he remembers on December 27, 2000 when he traveled with his mother in a family car with a play corner.
– Then I started playing with a little girl, who was as old as I was, and we were writing love letters to each other all the time. I had just learned to write. It was my first big train memory, he says.
His absolute favorite train Today, an older type of commuter car with the vehicle number 3140 is that he himself has traveled with many times on the Floda-Gothenburg route.
– It is a fascinating vehicle that has lovely sounds. Then I like in the winter, when it is frost on the contact lines so it flashes about the power carrier. I also like trams and ferries, he says.
A few years ago, one of Hannes posts went viral when he asked for help to gather for a gold card at SJ. From August 2020 and a year on, he was therefore able to go and eat for free on the trains.
– I felt much better mentally that year. I went to Jämtland a lot and there are a lot of audio signal boards so that was when I noticed that it is a lot to be honored with the trains. Then I started to like that with typhoons, I will be happy about them.
Right now he is struggling with depression, fatigue and anxiety. But when he stands there at the end of the platform in Floda, in his orange jacket to appear better, he is expectant.
Just before the train breaks past If the locomotive driver responds with a long trumpeting that feels throughout the body and for a few seconds, all other sounds wipes out all thought activities even.
Hannes stands still for a while. Then he smiles big.
– I get overjoyed, he says.
