Fate decreed that I was not finished with railways, for one day whilst at York on business, I almost drove into the back of a bus when I heard the familiar sound of a chime whistle and nearly disjointed my neck to see where it had come from. Deciding to be late for my appointment, I drove back to York station and where walking onto the platform, my eyes saw not one but 2 A4's! Bittern and Sir Nigel Gresley. Needless to say I phoned my appointment and said that my car had broken down and was unable to make any business meeting that day.

My interest returned and I looked for a Society to join, and in 1979 found the Midland Railway Centre. Here along with other people, we rebuilt the stations, track and locomotives whilst also going through the grades of Cleaner, Fireman until that exulted day when I was passed out as Driver. My friend and I also joined the West Somerset Railway, which is without doubt, the finest line in the country for Locomen to learn the job properly, and came as no surprise to me, when they won the Footplate crew of the year competition - twice!

Days Out came into being by a chance phone call with Chris Milner of the Railway Magazine, when I complained about the treatment we had from Special Trains Unit on our Blythe and Tyne excursions last year. I jokingly said I could do better than them. He suggested that I rang a number at Railtrack Headquarters and talk to a certain gentleman(?), who may or may not be of interest to me. Having spoken to your Phil Marsh on that Railtrack phone number, we arranged to meet. It became clear that an opportunity had arisen due to privatisation for someone with the nerve to be the alternative to the Special Trains Unit / Flying Scotsman Services monopoly of 'go where we want you to go and now where the passenger would like to go'.

The rest is history. We became the first independent company to negotiate our own global Track Access agreement and then set about a program that I knew the market was screaming for. I did not realise the extent of the endeavour of 'the establishment' to try and stop me. As was quoted to me by a friend, "we had broken the mould and 'they' could not stop it". Their only hope was to prey on our inexperience, but they had forgot that it is not me, but Railtrack, Rail Express Systems and the Train Operating Unit's traincrews who do the work. Nobody could say they were inexperienced. Where do we go from here? Well, Quainton is very important in our future plans, for with all the increase of traffic in the London area, the case for getting from the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre to London Termini is very apparent. Also of prime importance is the Hitchin Turntable and I was delighted to hear of your progress in reinstating this for when we bring 'Blackies', 'Pacifies', or any other engine into Quainton. This is very, very important for my operation on the main line.

Finally, covered accommodation is also necessary, for it is a constant worry to the owners about possible break-ins to support coaches and thefts from locomotives. The message is, achieve this and the BRC will become the main southern depot for stabling main line steam. May I wish you continuing success as for many years you have been one of the poor relations of preservation. Take the opportunity presented and make the BRC, your railway, THE Centre it has always had the potential to become.

Editor's Note
It was with great pleasure that I accepted the offer of Mel Chamberlain, (of Day's Out Ltd), to introduce himself to the members of the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, (BRC). Days Out can be contacted on 0115 9418557 for details of forthcoming railtours.