PLATFORM

Plaistow was where Roy’s railway magic started in the 1940s

You recently asked for memories where and when steam first worked its magic.

In 1949 at the age of seven, I was living in Plaistow, East London, close to the station and the MPD. One day I was walking along the famous sewage outfall where a small marshalling yard ran alongside the footpath and there I encountered ‘Jinty’ 0-6-0T No. 47328 at rest. Its crew noted my interest and invited me onto the footplate. I remember the driver had an enormous grey ‘Walrus moustache’.

Having talked to me about their duties, I was invited to move the reversing lever for them to continue their work, I still remember straining for all I