Steam trains

One of the cousins my wife mentioned on Facebook that her nephew, the youngest one of the family, had his first steam train ride recently. He is only a toddler. I commented: "I envy him,: it took me 37 years to have mine." Which is rather incongruous, as I always loved trains. I did it last summer, twice. The first time in the journey from Dartmouth to Paignton. The picture on this post is from that time. The engine is aptly named Hercules. I actually found this first experience rather underwhelming. It was on my second journey, on another line (see my post about it here), that I was truly taken away and absolutely smitten. Now for the young boy, of course he loved it. There is just something about trains in general and steam trains in particular. I still don't know what.