Playing with trains

When I was a boy, I played with my Hornby OO train set - I can remember fitting together the curved pieces of track - there were three rails - a tiny metal tongue under the toy locomotive picked up the frail electric current -

The train set was packed in a bright cardboard box - there was an image of a sleek speeding express train upon the lid - my set contained the locomotive and tender, two green coaches and the sections of track - there was a small transformer, with a lever you moved to increase or decrease the speed of the locomotive -

In my imagination, a complex rail network spread out over the lino and carpet of our living room - I made a tunnel for the track under our radiogram - I would lie under the radiogram, my cheek pressed against the lino, listening to Sing something simple - the train would go round on its oval of track -

I would read Railway Modeller, marvelling at the layouts described upon its pages - in my mind's eye, I was a fearless railway engineer, or a fireman, riding a powerful beast of steam and fire -

I can remember, but only very vaguely, the smell of the steam trains I travelled on with my family - I have a picture in my head of clouds of steam, billowing over the platform at Waterloo - my skin was flecked with dots of soot -

Sadly, I stopped playing with trains - I don't know why - Len still does - he has a complex layout set out in  the attic - the passage of the trains is controlled by a computer - Dave Marris, my first Chair of Governors, had a splendid layout - I miss him still - he had a wonderful snuffling laugh, and was very wise -

I saw this train set in a shop of curiosities in Salisbury - it took me back, immediately, to a time when the world was full of promise - my heart was full again -  of delight and excitement -