Magic moments

Oh so many memories! I've been a fireman on the GCR &WSR for 30 years off & on, two trips on the Stirling Single when he as at the GCR in 1981 when I was a junior cleaner with the then engineer of the NRM on the reg. John Bellwood.
. Other times like double headed with 'Boscatle' & 'Clan Line' on a cold frosty day when we must have done as least 50! Coldnt see a thing!
Guard Jamie I know what you mean ., those little things will stay with you for the rest of your life, like hearing wagons being shunted as you lay in bed as a youngster , & seeing your first WD 2 10 0 with the leading pony truck wheel with two holes in it & wondering what engine is this!

 

Bit of a thread bump, but some interesting stories in here.

Heritage railways are odd things, there'll be days where you book on and spend the rest of the day cursing and blinding (not in front of the passengers, naturally!) and others where they'll go so effortlessly and enjoyably you'd happily carry on all week if they'd let you.

There's a couple of memories that spring to mind for me, the first was when I was guard on an evening special service in conjunction with a music festival-type event being held locally. Nice easy turn, roll in at half three, check the notices and sign the book, then go and play the "Where's Wally?"-esque game of find your train. DMU service so nice easy prep, nothing defective and a few ticks and a signature on the prep sheet later, I set the blinds to Stalybridge (Nearest as you can get to my home town, it's either that or some other equally random place) and we're ready to go once the driver is. We get underway from the sidings and a few minutes later pull in the station to pick up our punters - where we also hit our first snag of the day.

A somewhat drunk gentlemen staggers into the one unlocked door in the otherwise out of use rear car (it's non-gangwayed) and decides that he's not for moving and not for travelling either. After a few attempts to convince him he feels like moving, I decide it's probably quicker to just leave him be and wait for him to get bored, which after about a quarter of an hour sitting on his own in a cold railway vehicle, he does, stumbling across the platform to his friends bragging about how "he was like, 'get out or I'll throw you out' but I said, nooooo, I'm stayin' here!". We chuckle to ourselves whilst waiting the road, and answer the usual questions of "Is this the right train?" "Where do we get tickets?" "Will there be a train back?" from the last few pax getting on. Eventually, road's set, and we get the nod that noone else is trying to catch the service, so off we bob.

Everyone's in high spirits, and the journey passes without event. We drop our merry band off, and collect a group of people who it had been arranged earlier in the day we'd convey back on what would have been the ECS. Turns out they'd been out on one of their stag do's - and was somewhat disappointed that myself and the ticket inspector who bobbed out of the brake weren't surprise strippers! We had a good chat and on arrival dropped them off where they got a few pictures on the footplate of the nearby kettle steaming away in the other platform. Now the fun bit - dump the DMU in the sidings until the next run (in 3 or 4 hours), and full steam ahead for a pub tea with my ticket inspector - naturally without the alcohol After that, we go and have a chat to our mates who were working the main services that day, before it's time to collect the DMU and do our final run of the night. As it turns out, on arrival, our customers are just a tad more worse for wear than when they left - so throw them on the train as best we can and (with the excellent help of a couple of the festival stewards) make sure everyone's paid their fare and that they manage to stagger into the train rather than underneath it. Despite the train being around 40% proof at this point, we make it back to base without incident, and set about collating the lost property, which on this occasion included umbrellas, gloves, a fedora, and a brand new Hammerite Metal Master - still to this day, I struggle to understand a) why you would be carrying one to a music festival in the first place, and b) how you could possibly forget to take it with you given the size of the box. I'm unsure as to whether it was ever claimed.

The other turn that stands out for me was when we had an excursion train inbound from Norwich. I was afternoon Guard on one of our main trains which had been strengthened to 8 coaches to accommodate the volume of passengers expected. Guarding longer trains is one of the times that I really enjoy what I do - having to take extra care, be at the right point on the platform so you can see the entire length of your train, and dealing with the sheer number of passengers that an 8 coach train entails. All the passengers I spoke to were having a brilliant time, and the feeling from guarding a train of around 500 passengers - and not breaking it, setting it on fire, or having any fall out - was a great one. The cherry on the icing had to be the shunt move to put the set away after play - out of the station, propel into the carriage siding and then split the set. Which, coincidentally, ended up being exactly as the Norwich bound charter was leaving from the adjacent platform. Thus, you ended up with two long trains departing simultaneously in the same direction, one being top and tailed by modern skips, the other propelled by a steamer - a sight which I still haven't come close to beating! (Although to make up for it, I did have to get my hands dirty and wrestle with uncooperative vac bags a few minutes after to get the two bits apart!)

Those are just a couple of my stories - hope they're not too waffle-y and of interest to someone

Jez

 

i was working on th G.C.R. with Nick Tinsley (1986ish) marking up sleepers for replacement between Swithland puddle and Kinchley lane cutting when class40 D306 emerged from the cutting on "full chat". That was a sight and sound, it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up even now!

Dillon