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Pink blancmange rabbit anyone?

It’s a little-known fact that there is a bit of an age gap in the BRM team. This was brought home to Phil at a show as he reminisced about the first series of Battlestar Galactica, and Howard revealed that he wasn’t born in 1978 when it aired.

All this means that while half of the team get all nostalgic about Class 58s and Ford Sierras in meetings, the rest look on with pity because they weren’t lucky enough to remember those days. For them, the joys of a cardboard cup of tea and Casey Jones burger served in the buffet carriage are as alien as quaffing mead at a medieval feast.

Nostalgia is a funny thing. Will Howard one day wax lyrical about the joys of travel on a Pacer? Can we expect those currently enjoying their Playtrains sets to one day fundraise to preserve a FLIRT unit?

If so, perhaps there is a sales opportunity for someone to produce rose-tinted glasses for modellers. Then we can happily wallow in nostalgia for the smelly, bumpy ride of what are now heritage DMUs, while getting sniffy about the Sprinters that replaced them. Although, as they approach their fourth decade, maybe it’s time for a reappraisal there too!

Or will we still hark back to the great days of steam, even though hardly any of us are old enough to remember it?

What would you do if you could use a time machine to go back 40 years?

Andy: I’ll get on board the APT and enjoy a rum and coke for 37.5p!

Debbie: I’d pay a visit to my grandparents and then head out to a local club/ discotheque for a boogie - music was great in the 80s.

Howard: Deltic-hauled train from Peterborough to catch a Concorde flight to New York. Two icons in one trip!

Phil: I’m going to watch the launch of Channel 4, and then tune in for The Young Ones.

Ruth: Go to the school disco and dance to Come on Eileen.