Proper Trains

The 50s - when trains were exciting, when steam ruled before the days when idiotic notions of having high speed trains pointlessly rushing to non destinations with only people on expenses being able to afford them. The 50s and 60s - when no thoughts of HS2 disturbed us.

Trains

What is it about steam trains which excites whereas electric and diesel simply bore?  When I travelled on steam trains as a child (real ones, not just preserved lines), whenever I could, I would open the window and stick my head out, catching a glimpse of the train at the front and enjoying the noise and the smell. If I hear the sound of an old steam train whistle, a wave of nostalgia hits me. Maybe they were dirtier but the sound of the steam powering the pistons fully made up for that. One house that I lived at had a deep cut at the bottom of the garden and I sometimes used to go down the bank just to see, hear, smell and feel those trains.