My former classmate at the Lyceum, Joe Bugeja, sent an open invitation to senior citizens to recount their association with the trains in Malta (September 23). Here is my contribution.

I too travelled on the train. I am only a month or so older than Bugeja, however I happen to be the son of a former train driver.

My mum used to recount how she travelled on the train with me in her arms and my elder brother tugging at her skirt. It might be, for all we know, that when Bugeja travelled on that train my father was at the controls.

My dad worked at Ħamrun technical school, which was housed in the former railway station in the locality. When I attended the Lyceum, the first years were spent at Ħamrun, which lies wall to wall with the station. I used to go near my father during breaks and near the engines that were still there. There was also a wagon in the yard.

Notwithstanding my father’s appeal to retain these engines for posterity, because they were still fully functional, they were sent to the scrapyard.