The author left school in 1960 and was lucky enough to be offered employment by the Midland Red. A keen bus enthusiast, the next four years proved to be some of the most satisfying of his career. Economic circumstance dictated a move away from the bus industry just before his 20th birthday, but in time railway engineering beckoned and he trained as a civil engineer with British Rail. Although with different masters this is a career path that he pursued for most of his life apart from a period as General Manager of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway in the late 1970s.