While ‘Princess Victoria’ hurtled along, making the exploits of ‘Mallard’ look decidedly sluggish and fully justifying the ample toilet facilities on the Tri-ang station, the real railway was once again in a period of transition. This was evident from my much-thumbed 'Locospotters Annual 1964' and 'Trains Annual 1965'. They are still within arms reach now... not sure if that's a good thing after 50 years.

This was evident from the Infants’ School that I attended, from which could be seen, at a distance, the main line into Bath Spa. The occasional eye was cast in that direction from the rough and tumble of the playground, where everybody seemed to be sporting that red stuff on our knees that was put on cuts and scrapes.

Steam was in retreat. Small yellow warning panels were beginning to appear. I rather liked them, they didn’t detract from the looks in the way the later full yellow ends did. I felt that the small yellow panels often added to the looks, and went very well with BR Green. A green Hymek with a small panel looked just right to me, and it was these and green DMUs that I would see with the most frequency from the playground. A yellow end on a Blue Pullman never really worked for me.

The forays to grandparents in South Wales were mostly by train, though I do recall going at 90mph on the newly opened M4 with dad, with not a car (or a seatbelt) in sight. DMU’s were the mode of travel for the most part, and it was always preferable to sit directly behind the cab. We stopped and reversed at Temple Meads, visiting exotica such as Patchway and Pilning en route.

Neither of these boosted the excitement quite like Severn Tunnel Junction did. What a huge place that was, crammed full of locomotives and wagons of all descriptions. It was a full scale fiddle yard, very long and mostly parallel to the main line, like a classic American yard, and it was here that I first saw 'Falcon'.

The locomotive scene in South Wales was very different to that of Bath. Diesel Electrics were more common, in particular what would later be known as Classes 37 and 47. There was far more heavy freight in South Wales and the lack of a dedicated hydraulic freight locomotive had opened the door to these fascinating interlopers.

I was always fascinated by the pink tinting on a Class 47’s windscreen, wondering why it glinted in that odd colour. This was obviously due to tinted glass of some sort. No doubt somebody has replicated it on a two tone green 47 but I’ve never seen it modelled. That glass wasn't replaced and now I assume its a thing of the past.

I had a grandmother in Cardiff and another in Barry. Barry had everything a small boy could wish for, beaches a-plenty, docks that could be walked around, an airport, a huge funfair and more railway track than you could shake a stick at. It was well past its prime (1913, when it was the world’s biggest coal exporting port, handling 4000 ships), but it still boasted many coal tips on the docks (aka staithes/hoists in other parts of the country), some of which were still used. Barry smelt of coal, and the entire considerable acreage of the docks were covered in it.

The coal wagons were shoved up an incline to the tip, usually by a shunter at this time, whereupon the entire wagon was grabbed and upended over a loading chute on to a ship, then dumped back on the track, on the return rail. And a small boy could wander freely across the many railway lines and watch events.

One of my other passions is ships, indeed it’s been a career. Paddle Steamers in particular have resonated with me from a series of excursions on the Bristol Channel and the Clyde, and I have dim memories of Barry Pier station, now no longer, with a waiting green 3 car DMU (or 6 cars if busy) to whisk the voyagers back up the line to Cardiff and the Valleys.

The phpt shows Barry in 1929, and is well known on the internet. It's from before my time, but much of what can be seen was still there in the 1960's.

I have tried counting the P.O wagons, best estimate I can up with is about 2,000.

Now that's a train set, model that. And while you're at it, Cadoxton sidings are around the corner