Having been born at a house with a railway line at the bottom of the garden in Hereford and wherever I moved too in my early years had a railway line just yards away, railways were in my blood. Living across the road from the mine at Clipstone, Notts where I moved to when I was 5 and watching LNER 04s and LMS 8Fs shunting the empties in the sidings gave me the longing to become an engine driver. I also travelled all over the place train spotting locally, Old Clipstone, Tuxford, Retford, Mansfield, Nottingham then venturing even further to places like York, Crewe, Nuneaton and Rugby. After leaving school I moved back to Hereford to live with my grandparents because they lived close to the local engine shed and again there was a line at the bottom of their garden. I got a job as a cleaner but they were so short of firemen I was only cleaning for a week. I then spent some years firing until Dr. Beeching came along. It was at this time I got married and again there was a line at the bottom of the garden of our first house. I was made redundant soon after and was successful in getting a transfer to Southall but decided this wasnt the way to start married life living in a hostel miles from my wife so changed my mind and left the railways. I had many happy times doing the job and loved it and the cameraderie amongst the footplate men. I worked on many classes of engine, most of the GWR locos with the exception of the King Class. L.M.S. classes (or Jackos as they were known to Western men) I fired were Black 5s, 8Fs, Crabs and Jubilees. I fired most Standard classes but only one Britannia, 70054 on a christmas parcels to Bristol and back. The most famous loco I fired was the last British steam engine built, 92220 Evening Star, which I worked on a few times whilst it was based at Ebbw Junction at Newport and Cardiff Canton. Those were the days and although I never became a driver I dont regret making the decision I did because those days cant be re-enacted today despite the preserved lines. Coincidentally I met my wife through a friend ( another fireman)who was courting her friend. It turned out my wifes father was an engine driver and her grandfather was a retired engine driver. Her dads cousin was a driver and her cousin was a fireman. Initially I used to dodge her dad if I saw him at work heheheh! but he was one of the nicest people you could wish to meet with a heart of gold to match. He sadly passed away in 1983 and I still miss him. Apologies if this is a bit longwinded.