[bulleid-boy]

I found this forum purely by chance while searching for some history on 71000, the Duke - it's booked for a rail excursion my wife and I are taking later this year. I've been excited by rail travel from my earliest childhood and was fortunate that steam on the lines to Bournemouth and Swanage (then, as now, favourite holiday spots), lasted longer than elsewhere. How much anticipation was generated by a simple trackside advertisement announcing that 'you are nearing the Strong country' (remember them?) are we thundered by behind a bulleid pacific! Now, as I near retirement, I've rediscovered the delights of longer distance, steam-hauled rail travel through the many excursions that are available.

I was fortunate, as a child, to live near the LMS line from Euston, and Kenton Rec was only a short walk away. From there, either peering through the railings or from the footbridge, I had a close-up view of just about anything moving on the line. I was introduced to loco spotting (as someone else has pointed out, a perfectly acceptable pastime for all ages in those days) by an old railway man I met in the park. I'd be about 7 or 8 and in those days we hadn't been taught to fear the approach of strangers (in any case, we were protected by 'Parkie' who kept a stern but benevolent eye on us). The railman gave me a locoshed book, an I-Spy book on railways (which I subsequently completed!) and explained how to identify different engines, how signals worked, about water troughs (we had one near Bushey), how to read timetables, and so on. I was hooked!

Like other lads, in later years I was distracted by the other things life has to offer, like girls, but never lost a fascination for railways and rail travel (school vacations travelling overnight from Boulogne to Basel - steam to Amiens, the delights of the Swiss rail network, commuting from Loughborough to London and, further afield, from Dusseldorf to Cologne and, more recently, Beijing to Xi'an by rail and a trip on the Maglev between Shanghai and Pudong Airport. I hope I never tire of it.

Now, as I begin to have more time on my hands, I hope to achieve a long-held ambition to build a model railway layout. I'm thinking I'd like to base it on a Swiss layout because travelling by train in Switzerland is a delight and because of the myriad possibilities it offers. However, I'm not very familiar with what's available in terms of rolling stock, track, accessories and the like so I'm hoping from some help and advice from fellow forum members.

That's enough rambling from me. I look forward to getting to know some of you through this forum.