The boy on the train

Railways were a part of my boyhood not least cos my dad had and still has a fascination with model railways in connection with he'd take us to various railway museums and preserved vintage railways at weekends and while vacationing.
Sometimes we'd take the train to them and at other times we'd drive to them but often  there would be a shortish ride on a train powered by a big steam engine with all its smells and noises you could hear before you joined the line to board it as if it had a personality of its very own that you could tell the minute you were off having sat down in the carriage.
We also used trains to get to the large towns and cities nearby especially in the summer months when we were off from school and indeed one year I remember having arrived at the station coming back , crossing the road to the parking lot I get in the car the searing heat as I went to sit on the car seat coming through my shorts and the sting from the heat to my exposed legs.