The frieghtliner Terminal was on the old Willesden MPD site

What got me interested in Railways? From my childhood home in I could see the railroad tracks and I still remember the first time I was allowed to stand beside the tracks to watch a passing train up close. I was hooked from then on. There is still nothing more impressive than seeing a westbound freight wind it's way up the famous "loops" just west of my hometown.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX5H4...eature=related

What a fantastic response and interesting reading. For me my mother told me that she used take me to a bridge over the loco shed at Guildford before I could walk properly, I would insist from my pushchair to go there! I made a journey to the west country when I must have been about two (I have no memory of this) and apparently was enchanted by it and spent my time just taking it all in, no crying or fussing - completely out of character! Railways are in blood I never lost interest.

the way i got intrested in to trains was:-

my friends were having a clear out in there loft before they moved to ireland, and they found an old train set (in working order) and all they was going to do with it was through it out, so i spotted it just before got rid of it and i asked if i could have it, so they said yes and i took it home and it expanded and expanded etc. and still expanding to this day, and that is how i got in to trians.

this all started when i was 4 1/2 and i am now 14 and it is still going

daniel budd
(railwaybuddy)

How I became interested in railways.
 

I blame my parents. This all began even before I went to school - and I ought to say I started school in September 1948! My Mum used to take me to meet Dad as he came out of work. He worked at Rolls-Royce, Derby. We used to wait on a footpath running parallel to the Derby-Birmingham line near Pear Tree station. Dad used to come over the bridge and join us but by the time he appeared I had usually watched, enthralled, as one or two filthy, run-down 0-6-0s or 2-8-0s with "LMS" on their tenders had struggled past with trains of clanking loose-coupled wagons. I have never recovered from those early experiences. JohnH

Hi,
i am an "ex" german living in south Africa - well hmm maybee still some german in me :-)

i am interested in - hmmm i don't know what its actually called - it's the manmual pusched wipping thing where they went out to repair the steamlocks with - where could i find any pics of these waggons or info on them

thx Rob

Among my first memories were those of a Summer spent in a cottage at Corfe Castle just after the war. My father was still in the RN and involved in the decommissioning of submarines at Swanage. That summer seemed to last forever and the sun shone day after day. Some days my mother would take me, by train, from Corfe Castle to the beach at Swanage and then back home when my father finished work. I can still see those glorious little tank engines with just a couple of carriages that used to meander along through the glorious Dorset countryside and the sounds and smells of that summer will remain with me forever. Although I was only a nipper at the time that summer was, probably subconsciously, the start of my interest in railways and "the rest is history" as they say.

i used to love thomas the tank engine (5 years old??) then my dad took me to the West Somerset Railway and we saw a GWR manor and that started my love of steam. We went not much longer afterwards to a place near somerton to watch the HST's scream past in the 125mph zone! that got me to love diesels. And i first encountered electrics on th ECML what fun :P

Thomas The Tank Engine, and blue/grey HST's seen from The Metro at Chillingham Road :)

A humble appology
 

I feel like an intruder on sacred turf, my experience and knowledge of trains is limited to taking the tube in london, going by eurostar to france twice, travelling accross Europe on ex communist trains and previously owning a Hornby trainset.