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I suppose you can say I was born into it. My dad worked at Devons Road MPD and we lived in a railway street of terraced houses attached to Bow Locomotive Works. By the time I was old enough to remember, the works had closed down, but the houses were occupied by railway workers from all trades and departments. My uncle worked on the footplate in Arbroath and when my brother left school he went to Devons Road which by then had become dieselised; type ones I think they were called at the time. My first train set was a Hornby clockwork gauge 0. Later I got a Trix-Twin set for Christmas. Then my eldest brother, working for BR Bow Parcels as a van boy, bought me a “proper” Triang set; an American diesel with bogie cars and a caboose. I built up on that for years on the big ole sheet of hardboard in the bedroom.
When the shed closed in 63 we relocated to Northwich. It was a bit of a shock for my brother who had never fired a steamer. I left school at 15 and went down the cleaner, passed cleaner, fireman path. Although the engines were not as pristine as the persevered ones, most people who were in the footplate career will tell you it was the best job they’ve ever had. Although it was many years ago, the interest remains.
Just imagine, working on locomotives, money, and pretty young girls, all coming into my life at the same time.
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