DIARY OF A TEENAGE RAILWAYMAN
Introduction
In 1957 at the age of nine, my interest in railways began and I became a trainspotter. Over the years that followed, I travelled to many locations watching engines at every opportunity as well as spending many hours at local vantage points at Gloucester Eastgate station and also closer to my Wellesley Street home on a cinder path known locally as the 'Stile'. At this location you could watch trains on the ex Great Western and ex Midland lines out of the city before they met at Tuffley Junction just beyond the'Black Bridge' over which Stroud Road crossed. I went to the local Secondary Modern school on Linden Road, Gloucester and did not have much interest in a formal education. I had decided that I would pursue my interests to try to become a top link engine driver and follow my dad’s brother Stanley Davis. He was a top link driver at Gloucester Barnwood shed in the 1950s/60s having worked his way up through the links from the bottom to driving express passenger trains. He would work the ex Midland main line routes in and out of the City as far north as Derby and Bristol in the south. He did in fact join me at Gloucester Horton Road, the ex Great Western shed in May 1964 when Barnwood closed. However, we were never rostered together despite working at the same shed for a number of years.
What follows is my career on the railway the detail of which comes from my handwritten diary records and documents of the day. This was a period of great change following the 1955 Railway Modernisation Plan and the implementation of the Beeching Era plan of line cuts and station closures.
Glossary of common used terms in the diary
To avoid duplication this section explains some of the common terms and activities which took place on a daily basis.
Locos prepared for serviceThis process was different depending on whether the engine was steam or diesel. The shed steam raiser of which there was one for each eight-hour shift started the steam engine preparation for service and they were responsible for lighting the engine fires and keeping the boilers filled with water. The practice was to get the boiler pressure on each engine due to go off shed to 50/60 psi (pound force per square inch of pressure) so that the engine crew, a driver and fireman, could complete the preparation within an hour of taking over on their rostered engine. The crew would need to increase the boiler pressure to at least 100/150 psi to move the engine, which also had affects on the efficiency of the braking of the engine; the more pressure the better... The engine crew would fill to maximum capacity the side tanks or tender with water from a nearby water column. They would also check that all the tools were in place on the engine, which included-
Fireman’s Shovel
Fire irons long shovel and L shaped pricker, stored in the tender
Spare gauge glass (showing the water level in the boiler)
Hand Brush
Two Oil Bottles
Paraffin Bottle
Pick Axe
Flare paraffin lamp
Two flags, one red and one green
Twelve Detonators
Two Red shades for the head/tail lights
A bucket
An oil can with spout for oiling the bearings on the side rods, valve gear and similar.
Boiler gauge glass paraffin lamp
To prepare a diesel engine for service was far simpler, the driver would check that the sand boxes were full and that the engine had a full tank of fuel. When the diesel was ready to start a check that the battery was engaged to the engine and then a simple push on the green start button at which point the engine would normally start and tick over similar to a car. The safety kit carried on diesel engines consisted of a flare lamp, warning flags, detonators at least three, two red shades for lamps and a bucket. The fireman would act as a second man on diesel engines and included in the responsibilities would be working the manual hand pull points to clear a path to allow the engine to go off shed. When ready to leave Horton Road shed you would use the signal telephone to call the signalman in Mileage Yard Ground Frame and he was responsible for setting points and signals for your path off the shed and onto the running lines.
Disposal
When engines came on shed for fire disposal, the engine crew would leave the engine close to the Coaling Stage at an area known by enginemen as the run. When working on steam engines that were shortly due to be worked to the engine shed it was procedure to keep the fire on the engine as thin as possible prior to arrival to make it easier to dispose of the fire. This was because the job of the fire cleaner was to throw the hot coals and ash from the engine firebox onto the floor next to the track, known as 'dropping' the fire. Some of the more modern design of steam engines had a rocking grate, which would allow the fire to fall out of the engine into the ash pit in between the track. This residue was loaded into mineral wagons for further use using the shed crane. During this process a shed crew, a driver and a fireman would keep the engines boiler full of water and the boiler pressure would be reducing as the engine cooled. The art was to get the engine coaled with the fire dropped as described before a lack of boiler pressure prevented the engine from moving under its own power and for that matter also stopping! The engine would then be ready to start another day’s work when required unless there were any issues with the engine, which included mechanical problems and boiler washouts. It was obvious to railwaymen, as an engine requiring attention would have a “Not To Be Moved” red metal rod label sticking out at a 45-degree angle. When an engine needed attention, any work required was undertaken at its base shed, so Horton Road shed would undertake boiler washouts and routine maintenance for 85B allocated engines only. It was usual practise for an old engines boiler, usually located at the back to shed to be utilised to create hot water and steam to carry out this activity. The hot water ran through pipes into the shed and the pipes attached to engines that required a washout of the boiler with the water passed through the engines tubes.
With the steam age coming to an end it was likely that any serious mechanical faults to an engine would have resulted in the engine being withdrawn from service, a decision made by the home shed with such engines towed to their home sheds if necessary.
Shed Codes and names
In the diary content we cross referenced shed codes and names against the Ian Allen loco shed books of the time with 85B being the code for Gloucester Horton Road shed and is referred to in the diary as 85B only. These codes were on oval plates that bolted onto the front of steam engine boilers and normally onto diesels frames depending on class of diesel. The Diesel shed codes were in later years painted on the engine near the cab doors, diesel only purpose built depots used the same coding system, and diesels allocated to steam sheds adopting the steam shed code.
Booking on and off duty
On arrival for work you always booked on and off duty at Horton Road shed, manually with the booking on clerks of which there were three to cover approximate each 8 hour shift without overtime. Additionally the roster clerk listed the jobs/duties on sheets of paper, and he would forecast about two days in advance under guidance from the local Area Traffic Control. The hand written rosters would be located behind a glass cabinet and the shed foreman would allocate an engine for each specific job/duty that required an engine from the shed. Therefore, each railwayman could see roughly what their duties would be, subject to change up to two hours each way. Therefore, it was prudent when booking on duty to check that your rostered job had not changed, likewise when booking off it was useful to check the next day’s work schedule
Driver and fireman links
This was a grading system to represent seniority and experience amongst drivers and fireman. As a fireman, you would normally work with a driver from your own link, so in descending order:-
Link 1 - Top Link - Express passenger work only and in later days green uniforms were worn for diesel work as steam engines disappeared from these duties in the main.
Link 2 - Express & local passenger
Link 3 - Local passenger
Link 4 - Express freight
Link 5 - Local Freight
Link 6 - Local Freight
Link 7 - Relief Link
Link 8 - Relief Link - the Foreman who managed the shed provided guidance in terms of jobs and it involved waiting in the shed enginemen’s mess room if spare, to be assigned work as relief. However, there were rostered jobs, which were mainly freight trains.
In my case, I started in Link 8 and got promoted to Link 7. This system also enabled a crew to transfer to a different link particularly where ill heath became an issue for common sense reasons. For example, a driver may become unable to undertake main line duties due to either sight or hearing impairments that could have resulted in serious consequences and periodic medicals were a feature of railway life.
The daily cycle of a steam engine from preparation for service to disposal
When required to prepare an engine for service this job involved getting an engine ready to go off shed normally within one hour as explained above. Likewise, disposal was the procedure to stable an engine in preparation for further work or maintenance if required.
Freight train classification terminology
Freight trains ran in various forms during the period of the diary and the terms explain the braking system of the wagons in the freight or in some cases a mixture. The main systems used on engines and wagons at the time were vacuum braked and in the case of steam engines boiler pressure affected braking capacity.
A loose-coupled freight is a train where braking is provided solely by the engine and the hand brake in the guard's van. These were often the slowest form of wagonload movements and needed great care particularly when descending inclines. In these cases, at least ten loose-coupled wagons would have their brakes pinned down with their brakes locked on to try to avoid the weight of the train gaining momentum down the gradient. It was common for these trains to run away on the downgrade and in the case of the Lickey Incline, a four-mile section of track was kept clear from Bromsgrove to Stoke Works signal box to regain control of the train.
The Semi fitted freight is a train with about ten wagons connected by vacuum pipes and the rest being loose-coupled. This type of freight had more braking power and therefore was able to run faster than a loose-coupled freight due to the improved braking provided.
An Express fully fitted freight is a train where the whole train of wagons would have individual brakes including the guard's van; all of these wagons were under the control of the train engine. All the wagons would be connected by vacuum pipes to achieve this control and the pressure required to operate the brakes was 25 inches of vacuum on all ex GWR originated engines and 21 inches on all other engines and diesels. As result, these were the fastest freights on the rail network.
Rule 55- Safety of the Train
This rule covered the reason why there were two people in charge of an engine as per Union agreements and for railway safety. This was before the days of mass colour light signalling and each section of line was under the control of signal boxes and signalmen. In the event of your train being stopped on the mainline at a stop signal the fireman or second man on a diesel would contact the signalman. Usually the signal had either a signal plunger or a telephone close by, if there was no form of communication he would simply walk to the signal box and talk to the signalman face to face. The engine always had an engineman on board and the fireman/second man would wait until the signal was dropped or raised depending on the signal thereby allowing the train to proceed before climbing back on board the engine. It was protocol to keep ringing every 5 minutes or stay at the signal box until the signalman agreed to drop the signal and allow the train to move. In the event of an engine failure, the rule required the setting of donators and a red flag behind the train ¼ mile back down the line to warn any oncoming trains of your presence on the track ahead.
Driver's Names
I have used initials and full surnames only for all drivers, as this was how they appeared on the roster sheets referred to earlier in this section. Clearly there were a number of characters in and around the shed who had nicknames along with railway jargon , for example a fireman Peter Davis who was known as 'Ringo' due to his Beatle haircut during the era of Beatlemania. There was only one engine crew based at Ross on Wye who were known as 'Pinky and Perky' after a children’s TV show of the time. In addition drivers such as J.Thwaite who was known as 'Mr Treacle' and another driver P.Jenkins who was known as 'Pongo'. A couple of drivers called me 'Billie'............. I did not really know why!
Preferred Coal
Ex GWR type of engines preferred good quality Welsh coal, which was generally bigger lumps, and a softer coal, and therefore took longer to burn. All ex GWR engines tended to have larger and deeper fireboxes and were supplied with a wide and long bladed shovel with a short handle as these engines steamed and performed better with a deep fire of Welsh coal. Whereas the design of other engines was with a smaller firebox to run with a 'thinner' fire and the standard shovel had a long handle but a smaller blade and held about 50% less coal per shovelful. Railway banter amongst fireman particularly at the Honeybourne footplate changeovers between Gloucester men and Woodford Halse men meant we swapped shovels as well as engines! Woodford men called the ex GWR shovel a 'banjo' and Horton Road men called their shovel the 'egg spoon', this practise was limited to this one route and with the Woodford shed crews. Northern coal was generally harder, it burnt very easily and was preferred for all the other types of engine with the possible exception of a BR Standard 9F.
Steam Engine Cab/Footplate Layouts
Ex GWR originated engines were different to the majority of other engines including BR Standard designs in that the fireman was located on the left hand side of the engine footplate and the driver on the right hand side with the engine controls, which seemed logical, as most firemen, like most people, are right handed. Therefore, when working on other engines the driver and fireman were often both on the left hand side of the footplate, which caused comments on frequent occasions particularly after the ex Midland shed, Gloucester Barnwood closed.
Diesel Boilers
Main line diesel locos had a steam heating boiler which required a working knowledge to operate and I was trained in 1965 how to operate the boilers on diesels that were appearing in the Gloucester area. The basic principle was to provide steam heating for the passenger coaches in absence of a steam engine and therefore they needed filling with water and kept topped up by depots and operated as part of the engine. The majority of the boilers were temperamental but I was in the main successful at getting them started and shutting them down. In general, they were complex to start and it took 15 minutes to shut them down which was a requirement prior to an engine being uncoupled from a train.
Acting As Second Man on Diesel Engines
The responsibilities were observation, Rule 55 as explained above and operating the boilers on passenger and parcels trains. During the summer months, the boilers were not in operation very often and other duties included some coupling up and uncoupling, normally on short haul passenger trains and of course making the tea on the cab stove.
Area Traffic Control
The role of Area Traffic Control was to assign jobs to enginemen and guards to ensure each train had a crew and the general smooth running of trains. Each Control had a given geographical area including liaising with shed and depot foremen to ensure engines were available for duty as required. I believe Gloucester Area Traffic Control covered the same area as the Horton Road engine crews so as far north as Bromsgrove, Worcester and Honeybourne, east to Swindon, south to Bristol and south west to Newport /Cardiff where other Area Traffic Controls would pick up responsibility.
CONTINUED ON '1963' PAGE