The British Birdfair is located in England's smallest county Rutland near to the town of Oakham.
Birdfair is on the banks of our largest reservoir... Rutland Water.
I have been aware of Oakham for most of my life.... this post is to explain why.
Oakham Station.
As children my brother and I had a fantastic electric Train Set... It was a permanent feature in the spare bedroom of our house taking up most of the space.
As we grew older we started to realise this fantastic toy we spent hours playing with was really... Dads!
We (Dad) had stations with platforms, goods yards and a lovely little signal box... a plastic Airfix model with a sign on the side...."Oakham".
I have been aware of the town of Oakham most of my life because of this little signal box so as I left the Birdfair on Sunday I drove into town in search of the railway station and signal box.
The little plastic building of my childhood was actually a copy of the real thing.
My father passed away aged just 44 in 1971 a victim of cancer.
(I was just 15 years old)
The train set by then had taken over the loft space of the house... it was his therapy, something to take his mind off his illness and he had great plans for it... unfortunately never completed.
We still have all of this train set in my Mums loft (in boxes as she moved house 25 years ago) and that little signal box is still up there.
I really enjoyed my visit to Rutland at the weekend and am so pleased I made the time to visit the little building that brought back some wonderful childhood memories.
10 comments:
oh, how sweet! a real-life replica in your father's train set! i'm truly sorry you lost him at such a young age. terribly sad for all of you. glad your family still has the train set though after all these years.
Have you ever entertained any thoughts to pulling that old train set out of your mother's attic...um, I mean loft and setting it back up at your home? You're never too old you know. Pretty cool the little scale model was of the real McCoy.
A place with memory usually means more to us.
Buongiorno Andrew,wonderful stations thanks for sharing!
have a nice weekend
greetings
Matteo
A beautiful time with the train set. Going to Oakham must have been a real treat for you and bro.
Beautiful but sad memories.
Have a nice weekend!
Memories...........sad and happy. They make ones life.
What a wonderful post even though I'm sorry your Dad left so soon, so young.
What a beautiful little train station. A wonderful post, Andrew.
A nice weekend to you from Norway.
The station building is beautiful! And how cool that you have played with a signal box just like the original one. It's so cute.
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