Arriva Train Wales unit 150230 runs into Platform 7 at Cardiff Central with a ‘Valleys’ service heading for Barry Island.
Cover illustration: A scene of locomotive neglect typical of many places with the coming of the end of steam.
First published in 2017
The History Press
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© Geoff and Ian Body, 2017
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CONTENTS
Introduction, Sources and Acknowledgements
Glossary
A Couple of Near Misses (Bill Parker)
What’s on Next Week? (Jim Dorward)
Course Fare (Geoff Body)
Drama at Chester (Peter Whittaker)
Tattenhall Junction, 1971
Chester Station, 1972
Reprieve (Philip Benham)
Strike Service (Philip Benham)
Off the Road – Again (Bryan Stone)
Nocturne at Haymarket (Harry Knox)
Less than Grand Openings (Ian Body)
Not for the First Time
A Rather Soggy Event
Train ‘Gapped’ (Jim Gibbons)
The Show Must Go On (Mike Lamport)
False Start (Geoff Body)
North of Shaftholme Junction (Donald Heath)
A Right Regular Royal Train (Bill Parker)
Reward? (Geoff Body)
The BR Representative – for Rabbits! (Jim Dorward)
Knowing One’s Place (Ian Body)
Polmont 1984 (Peter Whittaker)
Joint Road and Rail Office (Geoff Body)
Anglia Region Control Office (Chris Blackman)
Honestly, I Want to Pay for a Train (Ian Body)
Happy Birthday (Don Love)
No. 1 Pump House, Sudbrook (Geoff Body)
The Railway Inspectorate (Bill Parker)
Railway Inspectorate Inquiries (Bill Parker)
Lodgings and Digs (Geoff Body)
Britannia Bridge Drama (Brian Arbon)
Anglia Train Planners (Chris Blackman)
A Lesson to be Remembered (Jim Dorward)
One Way Only (Jim Dorward and Bill Parker)
Putting on a Show (Mike Lamport)
A Lonely Funeral (Colin Driver)
In the Bleak Midwinter (David Barraclough)
Back to Normal (David Barraclough)
Seaside Summer (Geoff Body)
Reservation Challenges (Ian Body)
The Scottish Television Train (Jim Dorward)
US Railroad Stations and Buildings (Theo Steel)
New Stationmaster (Fernley Maker)
On from Northfield (Fernley Maker)
The Loco (Geoff Body)
The Great East Midlands Storm (Chris Blackman)
Scientific Services (Brian Arbon)
Filming Gaffer (Chris Blackman)
Quick Thinkers and Slow Thinkers (Ian Body)
Yesterday’s Tools, Yesterday’s Skills (Bryan Stone)
North American Interlude (Jim White)
The Return (Jim White)
Derailments (David Barraclough)
Wath Yard
Doncaster Division
More Derailments (David Barraclough)
It Can Now Be Revealed (Philip Benham)
The Pay Run (Ian Body)
Winteringham and Frodingham (Bill Parker)
Royal Moments (Philip Benham)
Merseyside Reflections (Jan Glasscock)
Dangerous Goods (Philip Benham)
Sometimes Almost Fiction (David Barraclough)
INTRODUCTION, SOURCES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Transport is a highly complex business, nowhere more so than in its railway arm. Paradoxically, it is an industry that seeks constantly and earnestly to be routine and orderly but stands no chance of total and consistent achievement of that objective. There is no certainty in the day-to-day operation and the plan, however carefully organised, is always liable to interruption: an unexpected influx of passengers, mechanical breakdown, the vagaries of weather, the acts of trespassers and vandals – the possibilities are endless.
A great dividend from this uncertainty is that railwaymen are permanently schooled and ready to deal with the unexpected and challenging. Indeed, they have been doing so since the birth of the railway. It follows that significant incidents in a railwayman’s career tend to be etched deeply in his memory and the aim of False Starts, Near Misses and Dangerous Goods has been to unearth a range of these recollections and put them together in a readable and entertaining form that also reveals something of the complexities of the railway business and how the industry is organised to manage them.
The writers between them have a good few, strong memories of their own, but this book could not have been prepared without the huge input from its contributors. Most of them are names that have appeared in the acknowledgements in previous books, and to everyone mentioned in the heading for each entry we are extremely grateful. To single out anyone would be an invidious task but, once again, Bryan Stone has done us proud from his photographic library, recalling in his present home in Switzerland the years when his wisdom resulted in a record of the detail of railway working that others had overlooked. New contributor David Barraclough has poured out a wealth of material from his time at Boston, Wath and Glasgow, and this book would not have happened without the efforts of long-term colleague and good friend Bill Parker. For inspiring contributions, his ideas, checking and much other help, thank you Bill.
As so often before, Amy Rigg and the editorial staff at The History Press have combined efficiency with unending helpfulness. Our thanks to them and the promotion, sales and other folk at The History Press.
Except where otherwise credited, the illustrations used in the book are all from the authors’ collections.
The departure board at Basingstoke gives echoes of the past: Burford, Itchen Abbas, Torrington, Bideford, Lynton – stations long gone.
GLOSSARY
absolute block
standard railway signalling arrangement, ensuring only one train can be in a designated track section at a time
ASLEF
Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen
bay platform
dead-end station platform
BG
Brake Gangwayed (guard’s brake van/parcels van with bogie wheels)
bogie
the framework carrying wheels which, in turn, is fixed to the railway vehicle
bogie bolster wagon
long wheelbase flatbed freight vehicle
BR
British Rail
BRB
British Railways Board
BRSA
British Railways Staff Association
B
SK
Brake Standard Corridor (second-class corridor passenger coach with brake section)
BT
British Transport
BTP
British Transport Police
catch points
a safety turnout designed to derail vehicles running back out of control
CIÉ
Córas Iompair Éireann (Irish Railways)
clamping/clipping and scotching
a clip and a wedge used to immobilise a set of points (often for engineering work)
conductor rail in direct current, third-rail electrified systems
CP
Canadian Pacific
demurrage
charge made to freight customers when wagons were not released within the stipulated period
DI
District Inspector, often seen as the key local ‘rules and operations’ expert
DOO
Driver Only Operation (no assistant in the driving cab)
DMU
diesel multiple unit
DTM
Divisional Traffic Manager
ECS
empty coaching stock (passenger vehicles running out of service)
EMU
electric multiple unit
facing and trailing points
facing points are divergent and allow a change of a train’s direction, while trailing points are convergent
four foot
space between the two running rails
fully fitted
the existence of braking operated by the locomotive on all the vehicles in the train
GWR
Great Western Railway
hot axle-box
lack of lubricant on the axle-box, which can cause the metal to overheat and possibly fracture
hump
an incline from which shunted vehicles have a free run down into a marshalling yard or sidings
Hyfit
traditional open merchandise wagon with train-operated brakes
IO
Inspecting Officer
LDC
Local Departmental Committee (the basic unit of local staff representation)
lengthman
an engineer with responsibility for a specific ‘length’ of track
light engine
engine operating without any attached vehicles
Lowmac
a flat bogie freight vehicle with a lowered centre for extra height clearance
merry-go-round
freight service which unloads automatically while on the move
MoT
Ministry of Transport
off the road
a colloquial term for a derailment
out and home
a staff driving/guard shift involving out and back in the same day – relates to the days when overnight lodgings were not uncommon
partially fitted
includes some vehicles that only have handbrakes available
permanent way/p-way
traditional railway term for the track and supporting structure
permissive block
signalling system allowing for more than one train in a single section
pilotman
member of staff acting as the authority for a train to enter a signalling section
PNB
Physical Needs Break (guaranteed break in a turn of duty, initially between the third and fifth hour of work)
Public Relations Officer
right away
signal given to a driver to start the train
second man
additional assistant driver
seven bells
‘stop and examine’ signal sent from a signal box to the one ahead to stop the train because of a defect on it
slide chairs
the unit for holding a rail to a sleeper with the additional facility of accommodating movement where points are involved
SLW
Single-Line Working (two-directional train operation over a single set of rails)
SNCF
Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (France’s national state-owned railway company)
Special Traffic Notice
list of services that have been planned outside the standard regular timetable
sprag
a piece of wood put through the wheel spokes to prevent movement
switch and stock rails
stock rails are fixed while switches move to facilitate a change of direction
TA
Traffic Apprentice (long-running training scheme to fast-track individuals to senior management)
tail traffic
freight vehicles attached to a booked passenger service
ten foot
the central space on a four-track railway (which may not actually be 10ft)
Tipfit
fitted brake wagon designed to be unloaded by tipping
TOPS
Total Operations Processing System (a national system for managing the use of freight vehicles)
TPO
Travelling Post Office
track circuit
simple electrical device to detect the existence of a train on a particular stretch of track
trap points
similar to catch points but usually designed to divert vehicles into a sand trap
TSO
Tourist Standard Open (open second-class coach (non-corridor))
Up line and Down line
used to differentiate lines by the direction of travel and not related to inclines
vacuum brake
vehicle-braking system where the maintenance of a vacuum keeps the brakes off
Vanfit
brake-fitted box wagon
Weekly Traffic Notice
temporary advice of amendments to operations
wrong side failure
failure of a piece of equipment that compromises safety
A COUPLE OF NEAR MISSES
Bill Parker was to encounter some new and rather unexpected experiences at one of his relief stationmaster postings
As a young, summer-relief stationmaster I spent most of one summer in the early 1950s covering the stationmaster’s vacancy at Claypole, a small station in a rural area on the East Coast Main Line just south of Newark. Despite the few passenger trains stopping there, the passenger activity could be fairly busy, particularly in the mornings and evenings and on market days at Grantham and Newark. There were three sidings in the goods yard together with a cattle dock and a goods shed. Quite a few parcels were dealt with and there was some freight traffic, mainly agricultural and coal. It was a good station for gaining all-round experience.
I had visits from the district passenger manager and the assistant district operating superintendent, both of whom had been on the selection panel that had appointed me, and both giving me a thorough but encouraging grilling. The district inspector (DI) also made several visits and tested my signalling abilities by watching me work the signal box and the heavy, wheel-operated level-crossing gates. The district wagon inspector checked my daily wagon returns and the demurrage position in connection with the raising of charges for wagons not emptied within the stipulated free period.
One morning I was less than pleasantly surprised by a knock on my office door and the appearance of a tall, barrel-shaped, red-faced man in uniform who entered and announced, rather aggressively, ‘I’m the sack inspector from Lincoln sack headquarters.’ I was aware of letters I had received demanding ‘sack returns’, but the whole sack business was a mystery to me. At the time, the railway companies provided free grain sacks for the conveyance of corn by rail, but these were supposed to be accounted for and charges should have been raised for loss, damage or non-return within the free period allowed.
In my defence, I had eventually found and sent off some of the completed earlier returns when prompted by the third letter, but could find no book of regulations about sacks –
most unusual, as there were regulations about everything on the railway – and my neighbouring stationmasters were less than helpful about what they considered a matter of minor importance. The more recent returns I had compiled using my mathematical skills, along with a measure of inventiveness. Now, however, nemesis had arrived and the inspector’s visit was clearly to chastise me for the delays and check my recent submissions.
The gods must have been with me that day, for just before the serious interrogation started I had a telephone call from the signalman saying that there was a hot axle-box on one of the wagons of an up freight approaching Claypole. I had been ‘saved by the bell’ – in fact, the seven bells ‘stop and examine’ train signal. My inquisitor accepted that my priority now had to be dealing with the emergency on the main line.
I was soon occupied with the business of detaching the defective Vanfit wagon into our goods sidings and arranging for its freight sundries contents to be reloaded into an empty van that happened to be in the goods shed. By the time I returned to my office the sack inspector had gone, leaving a note saying that he ‘would be back’. Fortunately by that time I had moved on to another appointment!
My time in this job involved an on-call responsibility, which required me to lodge locally on alternate weeks. My landlady was typical of her calling, with the house impeccably clean and myself hugely overfed, necessitating the lengthy bike rides to and from the station to help control my weight. Although I spent long hours at the station, especially working the signal box in the evenings, I needed other interesting activities.