Footplate crew outfit

Historically speaking the correct dress on the footplate on the K&ESR is a collarless shirt, worn out suit jacket, flat cap, huge boots and trousers with enough room for a manor house in the crutch. The GM is inclined to become rather annoyed if the correct dress is worn though!

 

So is there any sort of dress code for Scottish Region?

 

I want to know where the stupid red neckerchief came from? I have never ever seen a picture of a british engineman wearing one. Only preserved railway footplate crews seem where them.
Dont you think they look just plain stupid? They look so..."hello sailor" its untrue. If i see an engineman/women wearing a neckerchief, i immediately think "incompetent weirdo". This is probably a wrong view, but nether the less i still think it looks stupid and unnecessary.
No one wears one at swanage......to which i am proud lol

 

Think you'll find neckties were more of a Victorian tradition which died out once enclosed cabs became de rigeur. It may have lasted a lot longer around the Severn Tunnel area where crews were forced to wear something to keep choking fumes out of their nostrils during passage of the tunnel which required climbing from the middle with a pilot / banking engine adding to the fume-filled environment.

 

What about industrial railways outfits? Usually im either in overalls or a bib and brace with a red t-shirt depending on what i feel like in the morning!

 

Around the Northeast and perhaps elsewhere, bicycle clips around the overall bottoms and an ex army beret, as headgear, were quite common. I don't remember seeing a leather driver's bag, more usually an army surplus gas mask case was used to carry your bait.

Kevin Gould, part owner of 6619, usually wears the bike clips and beret but the latter carries a cap badge given to him by a train driver in China.

 

As an inveterate neckerchief wearer, not just red, green and blue too, I would point out that I am neither incompetent nor wierd. The neckerchief absorbs sweat and coal dust and keeps it off your shirt collar. You are, of course, welcome to your prejudices and opinions, although your judgement of character, based on them, is questionable, to say the least.

 

Can't work out why you would want the bike clips, was it because a lot of the guys cycled to work and never took them off, or were there lots of rats about, or was it just a fashion statement.

I'm not trying to be funny, I am genuinely interested in the reason for using them. Can you still actually purchase bike clips anymore, or are they going to be the next mega expensive retro item that you have to take a mortgage out to buy a pair on ebay!

 

still think they look weird and stupid all at the same time. That is a feeble excuse for wearing one as well lol :smt005
Think they are totally pointless, there is a bucket on the engine so in my opinion it is easy to keep clean without looking like a cowboy off the wild west.
Im sorry but if i see people with them on, i just think TRAINSPOTTER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!


Trick is to stay well clear so them lol.

My footplate fashion by the way is just BR bib and brace overall/jacket and a BR shirt. Simple, plain but comfortable. Maybe if its cold enough wear my BR firemans donkey jacket. (a kindly donated 1965 original...much appreciated!!) Oh and sometimes wear a good well broken in, non helicopter pad, greasetop. My one is a beesley one which lived in the bottom of my footplate bag for a year. Looking suitable worn, i started wearing it. I have since (by accident) poured a whole can of tea over it and kicked it around an ash wagon lol.........looks perfect now. Sown down sides of course! lol

 

Agreed with portline. Those neckerchief things do look a bit poncy. Whats wrong with a bar of soap in an old tobacco tin and a bucket of water.

Add to portlines list for added smartness a BR, GWR, LMS, SR or LNER tie....

 

Re the cycle clips, they stop your overall legs flapping about if they are a little too long, stop coal dust and ash getting into your boots and prevent the old lampiron up trouser leg arse over tit fling when climbing around t`engine. Any branch of Halfords can supply cycle clips, just peel off the black plastic coating.

 

Quality !! Is there a technical term for this method of "dismounting" !!!

Matt
[smilie=to funny.gif]

 

Now i can see a panic buying of bicycle clips!

 

I'm sure it was one of your colleagues some time last summer who said, 'there's them that look the part, and there's them that can do the job....' Does it really matter that much if people have their own way of doing things?

 

I can't remember the last time I read something on here that made me laugh out loud, but that is very funny =D> =D> =D>

Maybe we should persuade the site owner to stock Bike Clips in the Natpres shop?

 

I'm sure it was one of your colleagues some time last summer who said, 'there's them that look the part, and there's them that can do the job....' Does it really matter that much if people have their own way of doing things?



Well i take pride in the fact that i can A, look authentic and non cowboy and B do the job to a high standard.

Still dont see the point in them and the opinion stands. Like i said before, there are probably some very good enginemen who wear them......just WHY ruin it ! lol

 

I must admit I'm not keen on the neckerchief. They always strike me as an affectation. I find the argument of keeping coal dust off your shirt collar a little spurious because I've never seen a plain black neckerchief - they always seem to be conspicously coluored.

I always polish my cap badge (NER) and boots so I suppose others view me in a similar manner.

Live and let live I suppose.

 

I don't polish the shoes (never wear boots!) regularly but I do wear a shirt and tie! After all, it is an office job so (boiler) suit and tie is appropriate!

 

I've never seen a black one either, Martin. Might look a bit funereal. I bought my neckerchiefs as a packet of three, red, green and blue donkey's years ago. They must be over twenty years old. I haven't actually seen any on sale since.

I also polish my boots and my overalls are pressed too. Must be a generational thing. On the odd occasion when I have done a wedding train, I put on my Police boots, which are highly polished, and I will wear a tie then.

I think you should have pride in your appearance. The public see you, rightly, as a figure of authority and responsibility, so I think you should look the part.