The 17:05 to Glasgow Central.

This is platform 3 of Gourock train station.

I like to think that the spirits of my late father and grandfather can be felt around here. On the right is the site of the house (now the Health Centre) where my father was born and raised, and from these platforms my grandfather drove steam locomotives.

On the left is the pier from where the ferry to Dunoon runs. In years gone by the offices of The Caledonian Steam Packet Co were situated there, and one of the young secretaries was my mother who had to do loads of typing for a young British Railways freight clerk.

And a few years later they married and soon I appeared on the scene...