Driving to work

This picture of my dad driving a coal train (engine No 37 003, I have recorded obsessively on the back of the print) was one of the first shots I took with the Zenith-E camera I was delighted to have got for Christmas.

I remember being with my brother on the embankment we knew as Newty Bank, and I was taking the picture of the train before I realised dad was leaning out of the window, giving a thumbs-up sign. It occurs to me that I'm now almost the same age as he was when this was taken.

The state of the negative is shocking: the print looks much better, but won't scan well because it's printed on that matt textured paper that was (bizarrely) popular at the time. But part of me likes the aged, distressed look.