I had a bright blue plastic stagecoach hauled by a team of four pure-white plastic horses. My little brother's stagecoach was red and hauled by a team of black horses. Goodness, they were handsome!
When they weren't part of our game (in which the plastic US Cavalry would fight off the plastic Apache warriors) these fine examples of the transportation of the Wild West took pride of place on the mantlepiece in our room.
Of course, when we were little boys, cowboy films were still big box office draws, and the Empire cinema in Shrewsbury would attract crowds to see the mighty John Wayne in movies like McClintock, The Sons of Katie Elder, El Dorado, The War Wagon, True Grit, The Undefeated, Rio Lobo; and of course there were also the spaghetti westerns like The Good The Bad and the Ugly.
Meanwhile, a gun-slinging Milky Bar Kid would appear on our television set urging us to eat white chocolate.
So naturally all of our earliest references to stagecoaches revolved around cowboys and indians, the Wells Fargo company, scorching deserts and vast plains.
It was only later in life that we came to appreciate that stagecoaches were an important part of our own history here in England, and especially here in Shrewsbury.
And it is this heritage that will be celebrated tomorrow (October 12) when a Shrewsbury street will be closed to modern-day traffic so that, just for a while, the colourful age of the stagecoach might return to the town.
Wyle Cop will be shut off to vehicles as two replica stagecoaches are due to arrive at the Lion Hotel at about 3.30pm.
Some 24 guests plus six support staff will be travelling on The Monarch and The Nimrod, which both used to come to the county town regularly during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
The party has been following the original stagecoach route from Meriden in the West Midlands, calling at historic inns in Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Shropshire along the way.
Having also visited the Wroxeter Hotel at Wroxeter and the Mytton and Mermaid at Atcham, the coaches will make their way to Shrewsbury where, it is expected, crowds (but not Apaches!) will line Wyle Cop to greet their arrival.
I'm reminded of the tales of another famous stagecoach with Shrewsbury connections - The Wonder.
The Wonder, whose service began in 1825, would set out from Shrewsbury on its journey to London, and would change horses at The Haygate, Wellington, and The Jerningham Arms, Shifnal.
It must have been a real spectacle to have seen The Wonder, nicknamed the Yellow Belly because of its bright yellow paintwork, as it set off from the Lion Hotel at five o'clock in the morning, en route for London. The fare was £1 to sit inside the coach, ten shillings on top.
Surely the most celebrated of all the Lion Hotel's coach drivers was one Samuel 'Sam' Hayward who drove the Shrewsbury Wonder for 16 years without mishap.
Sam became something of a legend.
In an account from those days, it is recorded during a stop at Shifnal:
'The horses were piloted in splendid style by the celebrated Sam Hayward, whose stolid-looking face was scarcely ever lit up by a smile, except of the grimmest, while the well-known 'Dicky' Ash, the sententious guard, gave a very feeble imitation of a popular air upon his many-keyed bugle. In an instant the narrow street opposite the Jerningham Arms was full of life and commotion; the horses were out and in again in the twinkling of an eye. The imperturbable coachman was in his place . . . and away sped the Wonder.'
Meanwhile, back to those two stagecoaches coming to Shrewsbury tomorrow.
The party will be greeted in Shrewsbury by town mayor Councillor Keith Roberts, aided by the town crier Martin Wood, and Councillor Mike Owen, Shropshire Council portfolio holder for economic growth and prosperity. What a scene that should be!
The party will then be joined by another 30 guests for an end-of-tour dinner at our historic Lion Hotel Ballroom.
Former Shrewsbury Chronicle editor John Butterworth will give a talk about the hotel and its stagecoach connection.
All in all, it sounds like a rather splendid occasion.
Still can't get those cowboys and indians out of my head, though.
Oh, the Deadwood Stage is comin' on over the hills . . .
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