[Chinahand]

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.