Jeremy Clarke's fascinating account of the Chessington branch (Vol.36 No.2) took me right back to the days when I knew it well. Ruxley Towers, a neo-Gothic pile, some fifteen minutes walk from Chessington South, was the headquarters of NAAFI (Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes) where my father worked as an accountant and I would take the train each December to attend the annual Christmas party. Another event which required my attendance was the summertime expedition to Chessington Zoo. This, to quote Jeremy was “as much a funfair as a zoo”. Indeed I cannot recall any of the animals in residence kept in what were most likely conditions of which the modern world would most certainly not approve – Regent's Park was a far better place in that respect. But what I do recall, quite clearly, was riding behind the 12in gauge GWR 4-4-0 which was a pretty accurate replica of one of those curious outside framed ‘9XXX’ Class 4-4-0s, allegedly dating from the 1930s but which were really 40-year-old ‘Bulldog’ frames with an even older ‘Duke’ Class cab and boiler perched on top. I was particularly taken with the motion of the connecting rods, swinging gaily around outside the frames, not remotely like anything I'd ever seen on the Southern, although I did later make the actual class's acquaintance and even travelled behind one from Barmouth to Dovey Junction. I took the grandchildren to Chessington World of Adventures last year and can confirm that the little GWR 4-4-0s were long gone – I wonder if they still
