Cecil White or as he was more commonly known as 'Chalky White' was a resident signalman at Welwyn Garden City possibly from the late 1950s although I don't know exactly when he started at the box but I have a feeling he was at the box at the time of the 1957 crash although I am not totally sure about that but I first met Cecil when I started at the box as a telegraph lad in 1972. Cecil I believe may have come from the Lincolnshire area but again I am not totally sure about that although he did once say that he had started on the railways sometime during the mid 1920s probably on the LNER but He didn't say where it was?. Cecil was partly deaf and the 'in joke' was you had to speak loudly when you was talking with him also he was one of the few signalmen to use a 'lever cloth' all the time (I think Bill Taylor a geordie relief signalman did as well?). Cecil was a LDC man on the local district council but he rarely if ever spoke about it other than saying that he had to attend a LDC meeting every now and then.
From memory I believe Cecil retired from WGC box around 1974 prior to the box closing in 1976 and that he lived somewhere around Woolmer Green. I did bump into him by chance at WGC station one day back in 1980/81 and he remembered me.
Cecil White at Welwyn
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Cecil White at Welwyn
Original start date of 2010 on the LNER forum and previously posted 4500+ posts.