Transport of delight

When I was small in Buckinghamshire, if I didn't cycle to school I went by train and because we were out in the country our trains were still powered by steam. So my childhood memories are of occasional rides up front "on the footplate" with bacon cooked on shovels in the flames of the firebox - my brother more so than me, he loved steam trains.

So, waking this morning in Dymchurch to see their famous scale steam railway was a treat - and seeing the schoolchildren all being whisked along to school by it looked like fun too and presumably substantially cut the SUV count on the roads around the local Kent schools. Since these short-run SUV journeys are killing the planet AND the children it was yet another reminder of how we need to rethink schools and their scale, location, timing...

...but a nice reminder too of a blissful childhood. I just had to pop over to the station to see this scale size engine getting ready for it's tourist run out to Dungenness for crab sandwiches on the beach. But I was too busy to be able to take the ride. Next time...