Community reporter Martyn White from Beeston has sent us this article:
I used to be a trainspotter, and yes I did wear an anorak. With a friend or two or by myself I used to go and watch the steam trains going past.
There were quite a few places to go, I only lived a few hundred yards from the railway, and Nineveh Bridge was only ten minutes away. At that time it was a place where steam trains could take on coal and water.
We used to go to the railway station. Leeds had two at the time, platform tickets only cost a few pence. There were three or four stations in Leeds that we used to go to, buying cheap tickets.
These days it seems to be mainly adults that go to watch the trains. There are quite a few places, all over the country that cater for the steam enthusiasts. In Leeds we have the oldest railway in England. The Middleton railway, which is run by volunteers, and remarkably has two lady train drivers.
Quite well known, there is one that is famous for its use in the film “The Railway Children”. The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway usually attracts a fair bit of attention.
Two of my favourite places to see vintage trains are within a mile of each other. At Llanberris in North Wales. The main one is the train which goes up Snowden, on a rack and pinion line and the Lake Padarn line. Both have steam trains from The Hunslet Engine Company.
This firm made many fine Steam Engines , some of which were used in the construction of the Channel Tunnel
