大象传媒

I have no memories of the party that took place in our road to celebrate the actual victory announcement, but the day after (May 9th), was declared a holiday from school. My brother and I had been collecting engine numbers for many months to we took the opportunity of this free day to cycle to five different locomotive depots to see the many engines that were not being used. These were all Southern Railway sheds, this being our favourite of the four railway companies owning the railways of the U.K. With virtually not traffic the biggest hazard was the tram lines as we ranged as far as New Cross Gate in South East London, back to Feltham just 4 miles from home in Heston. We saw for the first time the tremendous damage the five years of bombing had caused in many areas, especially in Battersea near the biggest Southern Railway depot in London, Nine Elms (now the fruit and vegetable market for the capital), and Stewarts Lane, another shed with a large allocation of locomotives.

When we got around to digging up the Anderson shelter we re-erected it on a concrete base to serve as a coal cellar. It was still being used that way when on my Mother鈥檚 death in 1989 the house was sold. I believe it was not dismantled until the early 90鈥檚, 50 years or so after it was first installed in the back garden.

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