WHILE having a family day out with my wife and my son, we visited the North Yorkshire Moors Railway Station at Goathland.

We stood on the footbridge to get a good view of the trains while they were in the station.

One of the trains began to set off so my three-year-old son started to wave goodbye. As he got more enthusiastic, he lost his hold of his favourite teddy, Pooh Bear, who fell from his arms, bounced off the bridge and on to the moving carriage.

My son was inconsolable as Pooh, wedged under an air vent, disappeared slowly down the track.

Grabbing my sobbing son, we hastily travelled to Pickering Station but Pooh had apparently disembarked from the train somewhere down the line. In a vain hope my wife left a contact number with the lady at the ticket office.

We had to tell my son that Pooh had gone off on an adventure, but we secretly knew he'd probably never see him again.

Two weeks later my wife got a phone call from Pickering Station to say that the rail engineers had found Pooh Bear near the tracks.

Now thanks to the efforts of the people at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, my son has been reunited with his favourite Pooh Bear.

It's a pleasant show of human kindness in a time when all we seem to hear about is terrorism and violence.

Phil Lamond,

Stephenson Close,

Huntington, York.

Updated: 10:19 Friday, July 15, 2005