Set in 1963, at a rural branch line railway station called Hatley, Jack Skinner (Paul Shane) the porter is acting stationmaster until a replacement is found. Jack deeply loves his wife May (played by Sherrie Hewson in the pilot episode, with her scenes re-recorded by Julia Deakin when repeated as the first episode of the regular series) who runs the station buffet, but is prone to becoming very jealous of her around other men. Without a station master the station has become rather disorganised: for instance the eternally miserable signalman Harry Lambert (Stephen Lewis), is so underworked that he is running several sidelines from his signalbox – including hair-cutting, selling fruit and vegetables, repairing bicycles and taking bets – seeing his signalling duties as an unwelcome distraction; he frequently speaks of "ruddy trains". The station is part run by the eccentric and easily flustered booking clerk Ethel Schumann (Su Pollard), who is always on the lookout for a new man in her life and whose son Wilfred (Paul Aspden), the product of a relationship with a now deceased American soldier during the war, is the station . Wilfred often comes across as stupid, but sometimes displays signs that he is brighter than he appears – for instance in the episode "The Van", he finds Arnold's missing wife Jessica.