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My Railway
I started work on the Railway in 1952 as a Signal Box Lad (a sort of Signalman's assistant) but the Railways influence on me goes back much further. My Father started in much the same way in 1924. I think he was some sort of messenger boy. My first recollection of him working was as a passenger shunter at Wakefield Westgate towards the end of the War. In those days the Leeds and Bradford portions of the London trains used to join up at Wakefield and I, as a small boy, used to watch as my Father climbed down to do his stuff. I was terrified seeing him underneath the train but I remember him telling me not to worry because if this pipe was apart (vacuum pipe) the train couldn't move. All the LNER famous locos were used to work this service and I remember seeing them all. Believe me the Mallard and the Flying Scotsman didn't look anything like they do now. They were just very dirty unremarkable locos in those days. It was almost impossible to tell what the livery should have been because they just looked very dirty and black!
My next recollection was of my Father working as a passenger guard out of the old Leeds Central to Kings Cross. I used to often ride up to London with him, sometimes on the Yorkshire Pullman. He used to buy me a piece of Madera Cake at the Kings Cross refreshment room and that was the best part of the trip to me! He went on to become at Station Inspector at Bradford, Huddersfield and Leeds.
I went on to become a Signalman after National Service and worked in dozens of different boxes throughout West Yorkshire. In 1969 I was promoted into the Control and worked in York, Wakefield and Leeds. Even after I retired in 1993 I got a job in Revenue Protection Office (Penalty Fares) in Cambridge. So the Railway is ingrained in me but Railwaymen tend not to be Train Spotters.
The saddest thing to me is the way the old stations have bee destroyed and replaced by what appears to be chrome and plastic.. I remember climbing up the old clock tower at Westgate Station with my Dad to wind up the old clock. Pulling that down along with the rest of the Station was a crime. And that is just one of many wonderful stations buildings that have been lost forever. Am I just a grumpy old man? John
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