Footplate Memories

[Blink Bonny]

Ay up!

I used to know a Far East POW verteran who could not abide the thought of waste. He would dig down in the bin to rescue the crusts that the more "upppity" office wenches used to throw away. Having had an uncle who was an ex FEPOW meant that I understood him better than most.

Some folks have a reson, others are just tight fisted and greedy!

I also used to work in a place where the Boss was not just a greedy sod but a thief. So I got him nicely. I bought a bag of Diabetic Mints which contain an artificial sweetener that is also a laxative. I left the full bag, (minus 1) on my desktop one evening. Next morning, no mints. No Boss either! We didn't see him for a day or three either.

He did ask me. "Mints?" i replied, innocently. "Dunno, mate. I always lock 'em away!"

[James Brodie]

Are any comments from a loose coupled locoman acceptable-we never worked anything faster than a class A or B incase we got a nosebleed.
Class A became class F....(No7)...lamps top and left and class B became class H...(No8)...lamps up and down......mainly our trains had one lamp over the right buffer. The only time we had a lamp over each buffer was on the dock or hump pilots
I have changed my Christian name so as to remain anonymous.
Ian Brodie or even Steve.

[KX6465]

A memory I have but it does not relate consumption of food but to light engine running on the Main Line.

I had worked a goods train to Peterborough with a passed frieman and we were due to come back on "on the cushions"

If you went to Peterborough in those days it was just inside the distance from where a mileage payment was made, not sure on the next point but to qualify I think the rule was you had to work both ways, in other words not come back "on the cushions"

The procedure then was to go across to the loco shed, seek out the foreman and see if there was anything that had to go back to KX or Clarence Yard ( Finsbury Park Diesel depot), this would generally be some sort of failure that had occurred, could be something as simple as train heating boiler failing in the winter.

On this particular day there was a Deltic that had failed and had to go back to Clarence yard. My mate said ok we'll take it but tell the bobby (signalman) "I only sign Main Line", in other words he wanted to stay on the main line and not be put on the slow or goods roads.

Anyway of we set of with BOTH engines running ( I found out later that all light engine movements on Deltics should be one engine only). It was pretty obvious from the start that this particular passed fireman was in a hurry to get back as we licking along at speeds occasionally touching ninety! Hence the remark he made regarding Main Line only.

All was going well and I was quite enjoying the experience. Two things stick out in my memory, first was going through Offord Curves and casually looking across at my mate and finding he was not in direct line of site but slightly below because of the cant of the track, second thing I remember is the field diversionary circuits coming in especially the one at 60 mph, it actually pushed you back in the seat at 60 mph!

As mentioned we were going along at a fair lick when in the distance we came across a double distant, first my mate applied the air brake and we did begin to slow but approaching us soon was single distant and before we got to this he had also applied full vacuum brake, what he hoped to achieve by this I am not entiely sure as we were light engine, then he shouted across to me to "screw her down" this meant apply the parking brake, once again I did not know what he hoped to achieve as all this does is tighten the chain that is attached to one of the brake cylinders on the bogie whose piston would have already been fully extended!

By now we were approaching the stop board and it was ON! It was obvious that we were not going to be able to stop but lady luck must have been on board that day as it did change and we were diverted slow road.

Needless to say the rest of the trip was conducted at a more sedate pace and it was not untill a good while later that I found out the speed limit then for light engine movements was 60mph.

[strang steel]

Excellent stuff kx6465. I bet the acceleration on a Deltic light engine must have been somewhat "rapid".

And yes Ian or Steve, slow loose coupled goods train stories are just as fascinating if not more so.

I remember reading stories from loco crew whose jobs included trips up and down the Lickey. They were very interesting with the care that had to be taken going downhill, and the attempts to let the banker do most of the work uphill if they could get away with it.

I wonder what stories the Worsborough steam crews could tell, before the wires went up?

[hq1hitchin]

Great story 6465, I was just thinking about Stushy Goddard, do you remember him? Hope you've got many more to tell us as, and I've said this to others recently, you're now living history - like it or not

[KX6465]

Hi hq1hitchin,

Can't say that I remember the name, was he on the footplate at this time?

[Mickey]

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[hq1hitchin]

Hi hq1hitchin,

Can't say that I remember the name, was he on the footplate at this time?

Might have been made up to outside foreman when the diesels came in, was Engine Controller in GN House on my turn late 1960s. A fund of stories, most of which were true!

[JeffB]

Hi hq1hitchin, I was at Topshed from 1958, but cannot remember hearing the name of Stushy Goddard niether. The only Goddard I remember was Laurie Goddard, who was my mate in the York lodge gang. He lived out at Rayleigh, and his other half owned a cafe just outside Kings Cross near York Way, Whether she kept it up till tha African Village was built I dont know. I can rember all the names micky mentioned, I believe Angry Silences name was a Jim Allen, also Arther Side, a little guy, about all 5 foot of him, Ernie Groom, Len Lacey, Arnold Shonk, Charlie Tarry, to name a few. KX6465, milage started at 140 miles, and after that you got an hours pay for every 15 miles, so a one way Peterborough would just get you 8 hours pay but a return would result in 9 hours. Milage really came into effect when we where on York and Leeds returns. A week on them really paid well, Short milage for local met trains started at 120 miles, but not many local Met Link drivers qualified for much on that because a couple of Welwyns and a Hertford hardly reached the milage.

[Mickey]

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[John C]

You probably remember this driver Jeff who use to be at 'the Cross' in the early/mid 1970s called-

CODSMOUTH

I only knew him by sight but i believe the story went that he wound the codsmouth open on an A4 in Top shed one day then he couldn't shut it!!.

PLUS i believe he could never stop talking as well!!.

Of all the tales on this forum, it's the ones concerning the antics of footplate crews that I love best.

Although I missed out on steam at KX, I did know Codsmouth in the diesel days. I seem to recall that the reason he got his nickname was because anybody could open the codsmouth on the loco shed, but he, apparently, opened it in the passenger station and couldn't close it. He then had to go to the Passenger Loco or Top Shed (not sure which), with the thing still open!

Didn't the poor feller die on Finsbury Park platform?

[manna]

G'day Gents

I recall some of the names that are being trotted out, poor old 'Codsmouth' if that's what happened to him, heard him going on one day, next to the roster sheets, about how he fell in for a 'Buckshee' Donny return, and on a Sunday, happy wallet time !

A lot of KX crew lived out at Rayleigh, often traveled to work with my own driver, and then we'd pick up more at Ilford, if the train stopped for any reason all these heads used to pop out to see what was going on

manna

[StevieG]

JeffB's mention of a driver "Arther Side" reminds me of one of the many tales related in KX Control office in the early '70s (perhaps hq1 will also have heard this one), and which presumably involved the same Mr. Side.

It went something like - 'Control' received a report that a diesel (a '2000' I think [EE Type 4, or Class 40, according to your preference]) on a Down train south of Peterborough somehow suffered one cracked windscreen pane on the fireman's side, and would need to come off at P'boro'.
The Traction controller must have asked for the driver to come to the telephone on arrival, to get definite details of the damage/confirm which pane/what happened etc.

When the driver came on the 'phone, you can imagine the confusion and potential for argument when the conversation, allowing for part-syllables being mis-heard, must've gone something like :

'Hello, Driver Side'
'Driver's side! Oh, we were told the secondman's side'
'No, the driver's Side'
'Sure?'
'Of course I'm sure who I am.'
'What?!'
'I'm Driver Side'! ....

[hq1hitchin]

and don't forget Siderod Sid, aka Sid Booth, so called because he bent the siderods on an A4 once. Think he moved it with the cylinder drain cocks closed?

[Mickey]

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