I was born in Winslow in 1924. My fascination with railways began with watching trains from my pram. I was given a camera (620 Brownie) in 1937 and began taking photographs. In 1939 I was convalescing from pneumonia at the age of 15 and spent much of the time on a long family holiday taking photographs whenever the opportunity arose.
After the War I returned to photography when film became available initially using ex-RAF film which could be purchased in a tub from photography shops. I couldn’t afford to take girls out because I was qualifying to become a chartered surveyor so instead I joined the Stephenson Locomotive Society and went on shed visits. During the 1950s I became disillusioned with the state of our Nation’s railways and turned my attention to vintage cars.
My enthusiasm for railways lay dormant until 1968 when I felt I ought to see the 15 guinea special. This resulted in my becoming involved with Steam Town at Carnforth and sharing 44871 with Dr Peter Beet. However I moved to the Isle of Mull in 1972 and this made the Steam Town connection rather tenuous. But this was not to be the end of my involvement in railways as to my surprise I found myself being responsible for building a miniature tourist railway on Mull which opened in 1983.
Although I don’t profess to be a photographer and didn’t take a large number of photographs, I hope that you will find one or two interesting items in the list.
