As we get through January, I thought I might look at one or two Christmas presents – but this isn’t one of them. This is a sort of buckshee extra. I performed what I might call a trifling kindness for Henfield Museum and the author of a book about the railway through this Sussex village felt I was worthy of a copy of his 2015 published book.

I have to confess, I am absolutely delighted for it is a very good read and as much social as railway history.

The railway line concerned ran from Horsham in North Sussex down to the coast at Shoreham from where trains continued to Brighton. You could say this route suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune for it might have been constructed as the main line from London to Brighton – it was proposed – but a shorter and more direct route…