It wasn't thirty years ago - Gravesend Model Railway Club held their exhibitions in our school for a couple of years about ten years back, usually near my father's birthday - so I popped in to pick up any Brighton railway books for him. This one wasn't opencast, though. And no gloop. And I thought it was original! A plagiaristic treacle mine.

It was one of my childhood regrets that my Granny had passed Dad's Hornby train and his Mamod steam engine on too someone, so I never got the chance of a good train set. A clockwork one which goes round in circles doesn't get the idea out of the system, though. My sisters' children's Brio sets were good for that, though. No drive for the engine means lots of track, and umpteen sets of points...

Oops, just remembered, I have to set up a number of marble runs for my literacy group tomorrow. Same old problem - not enough track...

Penny