KX train diagrams in the 1970s.

[elydock]

G'Day Gents
Talking about Brush 2's and 60mph, you get a Brush 2 on a Cambridge express and you struggled at near 60mph all the way to Hatfield, nearly always late into Cambridge, bit different coming back though.
manna

Was Dave Impy ever in charge of it Manna??

( See my Apr 19 2010 post of 23:05 p.m., at - viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3510&p=28550&hilit=impey#p28550, and Micky's Apr 06 2010 08:19 a.m. post not far above it, to which it refers. )

Thanks StevieG, good story. The modern railway is a poorer place without all the characters. The out and back 8P01 Whitemoor jobs from Hitchin were ran at class 1+ timings in order to make last orders. I pity the poor guard at the rear!

[manna]

G'Day Gents

The name rings a dim bell, but I'm sorry can't remember, if I worked with Dave Impy,worked with so many drivers on so many Cambridge turns.

One thing that stands out about Cambridge was, Kings Cross secondmen had to couple/uncouple there locos, it was the only place we had to do it, no big problem, but as we were not issued with a torch (Bardic) it could be a bit awkward seeing what you were doing at night unless you were close to a platform light or the driver held his bardic in the right place for you, you could often tell who had been to Cambridge at night, as they had a lovely black eye, from the screw coupling !!!!!!

manna

[StevieG]

.... In the '70s, Dave I. was a Hitchin driver, had been so in the '60s as well, and my impression, then at least, was that he may have been based there from even earlier (always?).

Would you have worked with HC drivers, manna?

[hq1hitchin]

.... In the '70s, Dave I. was a Hitchin driver, had been so in the '60s as well, and my impression, then at least, was that he may have been based there from even earlier (always?).

Would you have worked with HC drivers, manna?

Dave used to talk about firing Ivatt Atlantics during the war when he was at Hitchin and to my knowledge he stayed there throughout his career, finishing up on EMUs. As has been said, he was quite a character with what might be termed a distinctive style when it came to train handling. He was also extremely kind and obliging, when came to it helping out the railway, fellow staff or passengers. Perhaps it might be wise not to list some of the things he did...
RIP old mate.

[Mickey]

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[elydock]

.... In the '70s, Dave I. was a Hitchin driver, had been so in the '60s as well, and my impression, then at least, was that he may have been based there from even earlier (always?).

Would you have worked with HC drivers, manna?

Dave used to talk about firing Ivatt Atlantics during the war when he was at Hitchin and to my knowledge he stayed there throughout his career, finishing up on EMUs. As has been said, he was quite a character with what might be termed a distinctive style when it came to train handling. He was also extremely kind and obliging, when came to it helping out the railway, fellow staff or passengers. Perhaps it might be wise not to list some of the things he did...
RIP old mate.

Well said.

Dave was a very good friend to me when I was younger. I met him when I was 4 years old on Royston platform and he gave me a cab ride in a class 31. My mum had to come too, naturally... That kind gesture and the friendship that followed later on was more or less responsible for me getting a job on the railway. RIP

[elydock]

Dave Impy use to have his own 'signature' way of sounding the loco or DMU horn i seem to recall so you would know straight away it was Dave Impy also there was a well known Hitchin goods guard around in the 1960s & 70s who was a 'character' but i can't recall his name?.

Could it be Jack Jay? There was another guard called Derek who originated from Wigan but I can't place his surname.

[manna]

G'Day Gents

I do'n't think crews were swooped around like that we stayed with our own depot crews, but saying that we did use each others mess rooms, I've spent a fair bit of time sitting in Hitchins mess room, waiting for trains, could be where I've heard Dave's name.

manna

[StevieG]

Yes, Dave Impy certainly made it on to EMUs ; the 312s, and still doing so when I was well esconced in KX PSB, so that must have been at least 1981-ish : When going to work, if I was about to board one he was driving, he made out that he took it personally if you didn't want to accompany him in the cab.

We can think of members of each 'modern' rolling stock as being of uniform performance, but I was quite amused one day when we left Stevenage in a single 312 on the Up Fast, his comment on passing Langley Relay Room was something very much like "This un's not very good, we've only got to 74mph; most of 'em would be at 76 or 77 by now."

Queried Hitchin Guard ; - the name Ernie Cooper relevant by any chance?

[elydock]

http://gregdash.fotopic.net/p36356596.html Mr Impey himself.

[Andy W]

Dave I. made it to the 317 era on the GN before he left the footplate and, with his health not what it was, finally went onto station duties on the Cambridge branch, I believe.

In one of his many unrepeatable tales he was driving an L1 out of the Cross so he had a very long career as a driver.

I found Dave very approachable and always willing. A lot of the Hitchin drivers were but Dave was quite simply a legend on the GN in my era. He would do anything to help the job along, sometimes not quite in the way that management expected!

One simple tale of how he approached the job I can share. On my very last week on the GN, before leaving for "fame and fortune" on the Western, I was standing at Hornsey waiting to go north on a Hertford. In rolls a 313 with Dave on the handle. A women rushes down the stairs and (Dave having waited for her) asks him, "Are you a Hertford?". Dave, with his customary smile, replies, "no madam, I'm an Impy and I'm going to Welwyn - the one behind will be a Hertford!"

I thought, "I'm going to miss this!". It was the last time I saw him and it was a sad day when, a few years later, I heard on the old GN M&EE lags grapevine that he had gone. RIP, mate.

[Mickey]

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[hq1hitchin]

http://gregdash.fotopic.net/p36356596.html Mr Impey himself.

Excellent! Don't have any photos of Dave but here's one of Hitchin driver Ron Saunders and another well known Hitchin character, Archie Lawrence, Relaying Inspector (extreme right). Notice the ambivalent approach to h.v. clothing - Archie has one in his jacket pocket, just in case...

[hq1hitchin]

Yes, Dave Impy certainly made it on to EMUs ; the 312s, and still doing so when I was well esconced in KX PSB, so that must have been at least 1981-ish : When going to work, if I was about to board one he was driving, he made out that he took it personally if you didn't want to accompany him in the cab.

We can think of members of each 'modern' rolling stock as being of uniform performance, but I was quite amused one day when we left Stevenage in a single 312 on the Up Fast, his comment on passing Langley Relay Room was something very much like "This un's not very good, we've only got to 74mph; most of 'em would be at 76 or 77 by now."

Queried Hitchin Guard ; - the name Ernie Cooper relevant by any chance?

Thats him Stevie ERNIE COOPER i havan't heard his name in 40 years!. I believe Ernie was well known 'character' around the Hitchin area and up the London end of the G.N. around the 1960s and into the 1970s.

Ernie 'Duff' Cooper was a star turn, without a doubt. A Peterborough driver was passing the Up Yard in Hitchin one day when he saw Ernie (who was covering the shunters job) driving the 350hp shunter. Ernie had gone to the Cambridge end of the yard to pull a pair of handpoints in order to allow a train in off the branch. Not having a driver to hand, not wishing to ask for one and not wishing to walk the length of the yard and back, Ernie had driven the engine down there and was on his way back when spotted. No doubt he talked his way out of it, he was certainly a good talker

[Mickey]

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