Steam age will never be forgotten by railmen

Jump to: navigation, search

Former railway fireman and driver John Weston, of Breedon on the Hill, recalls the two most important days in his working life - when he passed his teat to become a locomotive driver with flying colours.

John Weston, when he was a fireman in 1948, with driver Reggie Hirons

In my time as a footplateman, almost every fireman looked forward to the most important two days in his working life – when he would be tested on his knowledge of the steam locomotive and his competence to work goods and passenger trains.

The other requirement was a thorough knowledge of the rules and regulations. If he passed this, the driving test, his first days as a driver would follow.

My two days were November 11 and 13, 1955. It had taken 18 years from the day I started cleaning engines for the LMS Railway. It was a completely normal rate of progress back then.

My inquisitor for those two days was Reg Haynes, the running inspector, always called “Mac”.

His older brother, Arthur Haynes, was “Old Mac”, so Reg was “Young Mac” and also “Mechanical Mac”, due to his comprehensive knowledge of the steam engine.

He turned up at 9am on the 11th with his bowler hat – the inspector’s badge of office in those days – tilted towards the back of his head.

We both knew it would be a good day because I had served my time, just as he had done. And I had also been a regular attender, shift workings permitting, at mutual improvement classes – all completely voluntary and unpaid, of course.

We would each make one mistake that day, because nobody’s perfect.

Mine was on the very first question. Mac put his hand on a part of the engine tender and said: “What’s this, Johnny?”

Me: “Left-hand tender trailing buffer beam pad.”

Mac: “I’ll kick your b... a... Which side of the engine are we standing on?”

Me: “The right-hand side”.

Mac: “So what is it then?”

Me: “Right-hand tender trailing buffer beam pad.”

You might think I had got off to the worst possible start. It was not so. He would want to say that at least once during the day. It was done with and I settled down for the day.

The rest of the morning passed quickly. It was more of a discussion between two like minds than anything else. I had put the work in.

After the mid-day break, we started out on rules and regulations.

Mac: “How many wrong line orders are there?”

Me: “Four”.

Without pausing I went on to tell him who they were issued to, who they were issued by and the colour of the paper they were printed on. A comprehensive answer.

The next question had nothing to do with wrong line orders. We had done and dusted that very important subject. It was about what to do when something goes wrong.

A little later, he posed another question:

Mac: “What is the speed of a passenger train when working over a goods line?

Me: “Twenty-five miles per hour”.

Mac: “Are you sure?”

Me (after a slight pause): “Yes”.

Mac: “Well, look it up then.”

So I found the relevant instruction in the general appendix and read it out to him. It was as I said.

Mac: “Well, you will find in the weekly notice that trains can run at 50mph, in some places. ”

Me: “Yes, on the goods lines between Wellingborough and London.”

He should have known that something published in the weekly notice is a variation of a general procedure. That is what it’s there for.

Those were the highlights of a very good test.

Soon afterwards, I was called in to see the district superintendent, who said: “You’ve done very well, Weston. You’ve got about as many marks as it is possible to get.

Me: “How many would that be, sir?”

District superintendent: “81.”

The recognised top mark was 82 and, in all my time with the railway, only one driver ever claimed to have got 82. We were the last set of men to be passed for driving on that points system. So many changes were coming in as the steam engine was going out but not before I reached the top rate of pay for a driver after 21 years’ service.

I swapped 18 years of hard work and dedication for another 26 years of hard work and dedication.

I went on to give lectures myself at mutual improvement classes.

But by the early 1960s, a new age of the train was coming in. Part of the working day was studying diesel engines in classes.

As you can still see today, the steam age will never be forgotten.

[edit]

FEEDBACK

Did you enjoy this article? If so, why not comment on it? Perhaps you disagree with something in it, or you know something the writer doesn't and can add some extra facts. You may want to ask a question about this article. Making a contribution is easy - either click 'edit' to insert more information or 'discussion' and then 'add comment.' This is your site. Please feel free to use it to the full and share your memories, thoughts and knowledge about Derbyshire with others.

If there is no 'edit' link showing it means the article has either previously been published in the Derby Evening Telegraph, or it has been protected by the site administrator and cannot be edited.'

Other tags that are relevant to Steam age will never be forgotten by railmen

Help us to improve You&Yesterday by adding more tags to this article. Simply edit this page, find this area and add the words in a list separated by commas next to the *.

To find out more about tagging please click here.

County: Derbyshire

Return to You_and_Yesterday

Retrieved from "http://www.youandyesterday.co.uk/articles/Steam_age_will_never_be_forgotten_by_railmen"

You can edit or add to this article.