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Oddly enough, my first encounters with anything Southern was on the ex-GWR line between Reading & Tilehurst. When I was just a sprog in the early 50's, my grandad used to take me to Tilehurst station late on a Sunday morning (he was waiting for The Roebuck to open), and when I was old enough, it was just a few minutes walk, so I started 'spotting, with some of the other kids. On m way home from school at Grovelands, if I was quick enough, I could see an unrebuilt WC/BB (none rebuilt yet) crossing Scours Lane bridge with the Oxford (and probably beyond) train; I once saw an LSWR 700 class 0-6-0 pottering about in the Government cold storage depot next to the Oxford Road, but my most memorable recollection was of a SR Q1 'coffee pot' 0-6-0 chuffing eastward through Tilehurst on a goods train. I can still recall the clanking after all these years!
After moving from Reading around 1957, the family ended up in Gosport, not known for vast quantities of trains, but regular visits to Eastleigh and umpteen shed bunkings there made up for it (then, anyway). During the very early 60's, the shed would have a wealth of SR locos, many of which were of pre-grouping origin, albeit largely on the scrap line. Naturally, I lost 99% of my notebooks. Oh, for a digital camera back then.... (sigh...)
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