Footplate Reminisces Books Perhaps The Best Ever

I wanted to Share with you all what I consider to be perhaps the best books ever I have read regarding Life on the Footplate.
The Books are Called "Through The Links At Crewe" by "Piccolo Pete Johnson".
They tell the tales of the above working on the footplate his trials and tribulations written in such a way that you can imagine yourself in the authors position.
I would be interested in hearing if anyone else has read these books and what there thoughts are or if they know of a better book than the one I mention.
The other I have read include "Saltley Firing Days" by Terry Esery which was Ok but the author of this never made mistakes which I find hard to believe and "Blowing Off Steam" By "Jack Backen" which tells the tales of some fantastic characters.
Can anyone out there suggest some book better than Through the Links of Crewe or do you agree with me. Would be interested to hear your thoughts.

 

Have read "Through the links at Crewe" several times and thoroughly enjoyed the book. Not sure that it is in print anymore as I looked a while ago when i could not find my copy. There are also a couple of books in a similar vein and I think by similar publishers at Slough and Old Oak with a gent by the name of A'bear if memory serves me correctly and also one at Tysley. At moment I cannot remember the publishers but will see if I can find the books out during the week.

My other favourite I think has to be Peter Smith's books about his footplate experiences across the Mendips on the S & D

DH

 

Yes,a good read.
I do enjoy Peter Smiths book as well.
Harold Gassons books on his days at Didcot are worth a read also.

 

My personal favourite is '55 Years on the Footplate' by Stan Symes, gives a warts and all view of life on the footplate both on the Southern (and Southern Region) and also during his time in Canada, along with some preservation stories of his time driving at Swanage.

Got to admit I quite like Terry Essery's books, they're written in a particularly entertaining style and some of the tales in them have you chuckling away a bit!

 

"A Journey in Time" by James Barry. Not written by an engineman as such but one of the most readable and fascinating accounts of footplate and railway work I have come across.
(The author was a technical journalist who had a footplate pass on a Castle over the North and West route, with a very heavily loaded train ). Printed recently so should be currently available.

 

The Tyseley one referred to was probably Drawn by Steam by L C Jack. A good read but my copy is suffering from too many re-reads when I was a kid (I think it was second hand when I got it!)

 

Through The Links at Southall and Old Oak Common (Operating History BR No. 6) (Abear A E)
Xpress Publishing 2001. 96pp ills.track plans, operating details.


THROUGH THE LINKS AT TYSELEY (JACKS L C)
Book Description: XPRESS PUBLISHING, 1999. The Author's footplate memories of the former GWR Tyseley Shed under BR in the 1950s & 60s.

 

I have four volumes on my bookshelves: -

55 years on the footplate - Stan Symes (See Rumpole's note above). Smashing read from a very kind and competant footplate man.

Black clouds & white feathers - Robert C Turner. This is an interesting book from a Bricklayers Arms man who recounts some very interesting stories about the different characters you meet when working.

Small coal and smoke rings - Derek Brook. This is also a good read and I have re-read a couple of times.

Lastly an historic book that is interesting, but I feel might have been embellished in parts: I drove the Cheltenham Flyer - J W Street. I read this first when I was 12 (1968 ) and decided that I must get on the footplate in my lifetime!!

 

My "most read" of this type of book would be the Terry Essery "Firing Days at Saltley" and the sequel. So much so that my original copies fell apart and I had to purchase further copies hunting around on the Severn Valley. The two "Through the Links at Crewe" by Johnson give a good insight into working out of Crewe.

For GW fans I agree the Gasson books are good, and there is also "Drawn by Steam" by Jacks,a Tyseley man, and "On the Footplate" by Drayton, South Wales based.

For the Somerset & Dorset, the Pete Smith books are good, and a more unusual one for our Scottish members is "The Plug Dropper" by Hilton. Mainly Wartime experiences working out of Ardrossan shed. (About £6 plus p &p on Amazon marketplace)

Agree about the Stan Symes book as well for the Southern.

With the SVR being my "local" line, I would also recommend the two Tony Barfield books about working out of Kidderminster shed. Very readable. Love the story about a run with a very exuberant Welsh driver working a troop train to Bridgnorth, only to be told the following day by a rather irate shedmaster that they had worked to Bridgnorth with a "Grange", a class officially banned from the line! Such is life...

 

Not "footplate" memories as such, but still very interesting reads are: "Bill Harvey's 60 Years in Steam" and Gerald Fiennes' "Fiennes on Rails", together with "Steam in the Blood" by Dick Hardy.
Sorry, not wishing to take you off-topic....

 

I,m here under a new name, used to be jimbo, but something went wrong with the site!
I've got most of these books, about 30! & I enjoy reading them all, gives an insight into working days by the men who actually did it.

 

try "from castles to warships" by Jack Gardner....enioyed that a lot. ive read most of the others too, very enjoyable.

 

Yes, I just got his 'Cleaner to controller' at our gala.

 

"Didcot Steam Apprentice" by Patrick Kelly is very interesting reading, even more so as Didcot is still with us. A good account of the WR in the early 60's.
Two memorable events are mentioned, conditions during the 1963 winter & the oil train fire at Didcot North Junc. in 1964 destroying an 8F.
Have also read "Castles to Warships" mentioned above, basically covers the same period on the WR.

 

I just picked up " 'LBSC' Footplate Experiences: Reminiscences at New Cross" by Curly Lawrence and Klaus Marx. Got it for about £5 in the carriage shop at Horsted Keynes, very good read. Maybe wish it was a bit longer, but I think it was only written as individual articles then compiled later.

Also, "Yesterday Once More" by Fred Rich is a great read. It follows the railway career of a chap called I think George Washington from Brighton Works to driver. Really interesting, especially if you're interested in LBSC days.

 

Don't forget "Nine Elms Engineman" by Bert Hooker, which includes a couple of facinating chapters about the 1948 loco exchanges. It's in the same series as the Terry Esserly books mentioned above, published by Bradford Barton. They published many railwaymen's reminicences, though they seem to be out of print now.

I'd also recommend Signalman's Morning and Signalman's Twilight by Adrian Vaughn, telling his own story and also those of the older generation of railwaymen that he worked with on the GWR mainline between Swindon and Didcot in the 1950s and 60s.