My girlfriend showed me her model railway on our first date

On our second date she showed me how to build a model signalbox

We visited a Hornby shop on our third date and purchased a replica of East Grinstead High Level station

She spent most of our fourth date explaining the complex track layout between both the high level and low level stations

I was also permitted a chaste kiss and we held hands for a few minutes

On our fifth date she told me that her parents were moving to Australia

She left a month later and did not have time to tell me about the amazing signalling at both St Pancras and Kings Cross stations

For a while I felt lost and I confess I travelled to East Grinstead Low Level station as I wanted to end it all

But when I arrived I found it had been previously demolished so I gave up on the idea

Three years after my terrible loss I met and married a canal lock from Falkirk

And we now spend many evenings together planning the restoration of Britain’s lost canals