A bicycle was my second-best friend

I say second best because I know that many people would insist that a dog can reasonably claim first place in many households.

I discovered the joys of a cycle when my father taught me to ride at the age of ten in 1953. It was my only form of transport right up to the time that I passed my motorbike test in 1959.

On weekends and long school holidays my cycle took me to many places around Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, usually in the company of a couple of others.

Sometimes these trips were just voyages of discovery, but on other occasions there was an enhanced chance of some valuable train spotting.

In Leicestershire there was Leicester loco shed, and of course a site in Loughborough, where the municipal waste tip provided many happy hours adjacent to the crossing point for the Midland Main Line and Great Central Railways.

Derby being a main line from the west was always worth the journey, also with care you could go unobserved into Derby locomotive works. Hidden treasures abounded, until you were discovered and escorted out. Some shed foremen were very good to us, others called us ‘Train Spotting Vermin’ and worse!

The big West Coast main line was only available to us at Nuneaton, and this represented a long ride with only a couple of hours before it was time to return home.

The only East Coast main line visit was a trip to Grantham, which I missed out on, due to some child related illness. My parents seemed to be indifferent to this loss, saying that it was ‘perhaps all for the best’.

I would not have swapped my cycle for anything. It was after all the key to having like-minded mates.

David Taylor

Jan 2021