By Dave Goodison

My first encounter with railways took place when I was 4 years old. I was taken on a train journey to what seemed to me a far off land, the destination actually being a small station in Lincolnshire called Northorpe.

Father, who had been a railwayman all his life, started his career as a Junior Porter at Deepcar, had been promoted to Station Master and we were to live on the station at Northorpe. This was the beginning of my love affair with steam and all things railway.

Several stations later and having left school I worked on the railway for about 10 years. I have since had quite a number of different jobs having now retired. I still work on a steam railway The North Yorkshire Moors Railway as a volunteer, enjoying every minute of the days up there.