Railway Forum - Benjidog says Hello

Greetings to all members. Like a number of others on this site I am also a member of Ships Nostalgia (where I am a Moderator) and Aviation Nostalgia. Joining this site completes the set of "Trains, boats and planes".

As I have stated in my profile, I was born in Harlesden in North-West London and was a train enthusiast from a very young age.

We watched activities from the railwayman's steps at the top of the bridge over the main line where we could see both the main line and local services. Our house was quite close to a large marshalling yard and the street I lived in took a few hits by bombs that missed the target in WW2. In fact many of the streets in the area had a few ugly gaps and the remains of the houses lying flattened at the bottom. Nothing like the damage to the East End of London though.

I was a frequent visitor with a friend to the Willesden (1A) and Old Oak Common (81A) sheds. We had an almightly cheek really and just trespassed because we were fascinated by the sights and sounds of the steam engines and the sheds. We watched the engineers cleaning and maintaining the locos. Mostly they just let us watch as long as we behaved ourselves, and I can only once remember being chucked out with a clip behind the ear by a jobsworth security bloke. We usually saw them coming and hid or scarpered before they got near us. No doubt in this day and age we would have ended up in court and getting an ASBO!

I lost interest in railways on the introduction of diesels - I remember seeing the first Deltic. Apart from the occasional visit to York Railway Museum and the odd preserved railway I have not thought much about trains for a very long time other than cursing them for being late and expensive.

Maybe this site will re-awaken old memories and interests. Thanks to Billyboy to pointing it out to me.

Regards,

Brian