The Children

The children were introduced to steam railways at an early age. From the summer of 1979 at Buckfastleigh onwards, they experienced many relatively short journeys behind steam that they will have, no doubt, long forgotten. Perhaps they have simply merged into a single steamy haze, as we entertained them with Connect4, Flower Fairies, My Little Pony and Star Wars figures, and plied them with Hula Hoops and drinks that had far too much sugar in them – just one of the things I would change, if we had the chance of a re-run.

We huddled around the Formica-topped tables in the Mark 1 open coaches, wiped the condensation from the window and peered out into the damp and gloom of an English half-term holiday landscape. Under such conditions, I kept the faith - if a little more intermittently than previously.