The author was born at Cowes, Isle of Wight in 1898. During his childhood his father acquired - almost by accident, as this book tells - a steam engine and sawbench which led to the growth of a large haulage business employing steam traction engines and steam wagons. The author, in spite of his youth, was actively associated with the early years of the family business and, on leaving school entered into an apprenticeship in steam engineering in order to provide his father with some expert assistance. His normal employment with the firm was interrupted by a spell in the Navy as a steam engineers from 1917 to 1919, but then he worked with father and brother until 1922. The book recounts his early years as an apprentice in the family business.