Ray Armstead at his miniature railway in Barking Park

Miniature railway fanatic Ray Armstead, 50, spent nearly every weekend riding the loco at Barking Park as a child. The security manager from Stratford devoted three years of his life bringing back the 1/8th scale railway to Barking Park, in Longbridge Road. His labour of love, completed with friends in 2009, cost around £70,000.

It had the lido, motor boats that you could drive yourself and of course the little train. Barking Park was unique.

The lido closed and when I heard that the train was doomed as well, it was just too much.

So I petitioned the council to think again about the railway, offering my services to run it.

After about 20 months, they had agreed to provide a new rail, ticket office and track bed. Alas the original track was beyond repair.

So along with my children, seven in total, we began work on the new railway.

We purchased the wood and cut it to length for the sleepers, drilling them for the track pins, drilling the rail for fish-plates and then assembling the track into lengths.

We then began to lay the quarter mile of track 10ft at a time. I also provided the locomotives and carriages.

Along with my children, I had help from some of other people, the late Tom Kane, his son Robert and retired journalist Tony Richards.

After 18 hard months we had got the railway ready to accept its first passengers in 2009.

Sadly the motorboats have gone but the railway looks like it is here to stay. I am so pleased to have preserved a little bit of Barking’s history for future generations.