Joe Reader

I can remember when I was about 5 years old I went with my Nan to the Spa Valley Railway and that was the day that I fell in love with trains, I just remember becoming addicted to the smell of the steam from the locomotives and the sounds that they made. I was also amazed at how the small tank engine could pull the 6 coaches.

 

I think the things I like about steam trains the most is how they transport me back to a time from before I was was born and the way that they still make me feel, which makes my inner child still smile even to this day - just as it did on that day with my Nan back when I was 5.

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At the age of 16 years I still had a huge passion for steam trains and so I became a volunteer on the Spa Valley Railway and worked in catering, the shop, ticket office and also dealing with the general public for about 4 years, in that time I finished my full time education and left the part-time job I also had to enter the world of full time employment with Aldi. Unfortunately this and other commitments meant I had little time to volunteer with the railway anymore, I hope to pick this up again in the future.

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It was about the time I had to leave the railway I bumped into Adrian Harrison at our local model railway show, I had known him before as he ran the local model shop, he told me about the model railway club in our home town (the East Grinstead Model Railway Club) and asked if I would be interested in joining. I naturally jumped at the opportunity to be able to do something railway related around my employment and relished the task to now get really involved with building and learning about model railways and progress from the train set I had at home to getting into something more detailed that I could possibly exhibit.

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Around my job at Aldi I am also working toward becoming a police officer for the London Metropolitan Police (currently I am a special constable with the service) and in my spare time I like going to the railway club and working with Adrian on a layout we are building, a representation of the London terminus of Paddington in the 1960's.

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Steam railways and model railways have been a passion of mine for so long and have proven such a way to relax that I am sure they will be for a long time to come.