Call for extension of armed forces railcard to former personnel

[whole diary]

[GBM]

Ex-REME, with excursions with the Artillery etc. Even did a few circuits of the Longmoor Military Railway before that vanished, and still have my slim copy of the Military Railway Rule Book.

Spent 2 weeks (!) as an Army Cadet there one summer holiday on the railway operations course.
Not sure what I loved most, perhaps being in the box at Longmoor or assisting shunting operations.
They also had an excellent working 'O' gauge layout of their track on which to train us (no pun intended).
Loved every minute of that two weeks.

[Thatcham Crossing]

Maybe not mines, but when I was - briefly - there, Ordnance were kept busy clearing the rocks of Javelin missiles that had belly-flopped.

My work up there usually involved loading or off-loading Tracked Rapier (in-by-inch as it was a tight fit) from a C130.
If positioning up or back (from Lyneham) with enough space a Land Rover or Sherpa minibus would be taken to able us to go exploring between flights!

[TonyK]

Aka "Benbeculiar." Wild scenery, empty beaches, variable weather....very similar to the South Atlantic islands, except that at the former the beaches were at least clear of mines! (and on the ones that weren't mined the smelliest penguins I've ever had the displeasure of being close to)

I don't remember anything too malodorous about this happy group I got to papp on the Falklands, although it was very windy.

[Thatcham Crossing]

I don't remember anything too malodorous about this happy group I got to papp on the Falklands, although it was very windy.

One learnt very quickly not to linger behind them! (not just because of the smell)