Moderators: 52D, Tom F, Rlangham, Atlantic 3279, Blink Bonny, Saint Johnstoun, richard
Nice one Geofrancis but not the same EL CID i was thinking about.geofrancis wrote:The only El Cid I Know of is a Bowling Club near Javea Spain
Geofrancis.
When I was at Kings Cross 1971-73 there weren't any staff "on loan" on the area but there were plenty that had transferred to the London area the benefit from other parts of the Eastern Region for better grades and promotional aspects. One, at least, had come from as far as Newcastle but we had plenty from places such as Doncaster, Lincolnshire and East Anglia.Micky wrote:I remember hearing that there was a number of signalmen who were working some of the London boxes around the Finsbury Park area in the early 1970s who were 'on temporary loan' from up north one of the boxes i believe where there was a 'on loan' signalman was at Finsbury Park no.6 so was Sid one of those signalmen from up north?.
I can concur with that John. Some (most?) had relief posts IIRC, and encountered some good such fellows at places as far apart as Woolmer Green and Finsbury Park No.5.thesignalman wrote:When I was at Kings Cross 1971-73 there weren't any staff "on loan" on the area but there were plenty that had transferred to the London area the benefit from other parts of the Eastern Region for better grades and promotional aspects. One, at least, had come from as far as Newcastle but we had plenty from places such as Doncaster, Lincolnshire and East Anglia.Micky wrote:I remember hearing that there was a number of signalmen who were working some of the London boxes around the Finsbury Park area in the early 1970s who were 'on temporary loan' from up north one of the boxes i believe where there was a 'on loan' signalman was at Finsbury Park no.6 so was Sid one of those signalmen from up north?.
By 1973 the London area was seriously crippled with staff owing to non-recruitment in anticipation of resignalling, but I don't think any signalmen were ever brought in from other areas on loan as was done on the Midland some years later.
John
I was thinking more of the year 1974 in particular John because i think i vaguely recall someone saying to me that some of those blokes that were working the London boxes during that year were from up north and were 'on loan' but that may well have been the wrong term to use for those men then?. I use to like Finsbury Park no.6 and visited the box on two occasions around 1972 and as previously posted by me once before on being made redundant at WGC in March 1974 i actually had it in writing in a letter that i had got the vacant 'tele lads' position at no.6 but i never took up the position opting for a secondman's job on the loco at Kings Cross instead for about 18 months.thesignalman wrote:When I was at Kings Cross 1971-73 there weren't any staff "on loan" on the area but there were plenty that had transferred to the London area the benefit from other parts of the Eastern Region for better grades and promotional aspects. One, at least, had come from as far as Newcastle but we had plenty from places such as Doncaster, Lincolnshire and East Anglia.Micky wrote:I remember hearing that there was a number of signalmen who were working some of the London boxes around the Finsbury Park area in the early 1970s who were 'on temporary loan' from up north one of the boxes i believe where there was a 'on loan' signalman was at Finsbury Park no.6 so was Sid one of those signalmen from up north?.
By 1973 the London area was seriously crippled with staff owing to non-recruitment in anticipation of resignalling, but I don't think any signalmen were ever brought in from other areas on loan as was done on the Midland some years later.
I think he and I may have been together at the Signals School in Ilford in 1971. The move to No3 box makes financial sense, that box and Kings Cross were considered busy enough to grant porter's wages rather than boy's. I can't say I remember him being at No3 but do recall him going on the footplate so we are probably talking about the same chap. I have it in the back of my mind he lived in the WGC area, was that where you were schooled?Micky wrote:There was a young fella called Alister who use to go to my old secondary school and who was a year older then me he got a position as a telegraph lad at Finsbury Park no.6 on leaving secondary school and was there during the 1971-72 period before transferring over to Down side of the line at Finsbury Park no.3 sometime during 1972-73 period for about a year before finally transferring on to the loco at Kings Cross as a secondman
Could well have been Alister John?, there was another telegraph lad at Finsbury Park no.6 in the early 1970s and i forgot how it came about now but i was invited up no.6 by him one afternoon back in 1972 and he the telegraph lad i recall was pretty much working the box the signalman on duty didn't seem to bothered although thinking about it again 42 years later i believe i recall the signalman occasionally working on the s/n telegraph instrument strangely enough instead of doing much lever pulling on the frame?. Anyway as posted once before 3 or 4 years ago at one point the 'tele lad' who was working on the frame decides for reasons of his own to 'turn in' off the Up fast line a 'parly' (it may have been either a Royston or a Hitchin to Kings Cross Rolls Royce DMU set i vaguely recall?) and after being 'turned in' off the Up fast line at no.6 the same train was immediately 'turned out' back Up the fast line at the south end of the station at no.4 much to the laughter of all those in no.6 and a remark from the signalman to the telegraph lad of "What did you turn him in for he's just turned him back out at no.4 silly boy?".thesignalman wrote:I think he and I may have been together at the Signals School in Ilford in 1971. The move to No3 box makes financial sense, that box and Kings Cross were considered busy enough to grant porter's wages rather than boy's. I can't say I remember him being at No3 but do recall him going on the footplate so we are probably talking about the same chap. I have it in the back of my mind he lived in the WGC area, was that where you were schooled?.Micky wrote:There was a young fella called Alister who use to go to my old secondary school and who was a year older then me he got a position as a telegraph lad at Finsbury Park no.6 on leaving secondary school and was there during the 1971-72 period before transferring over to Down side of the line at Finsbury Park no.3 sometime during 1972-73 period for about a year before finally transferring on to the loco at Kings Cross as a secondman
Not surprising as it was normal for No4 or Holloway South Up to turn out as much as possible as anything other than for Platforms 1, 2 & 4 (or Moorgate) had to go Relief Line at Belle Isle which meant Main (Fast) Line from South Up.Micky wrote:Anyway as posted once before 3 or 4 years ago at one point the 'tele lad' who was working on the frame decides for reasons of his own to 'turn in' off the Up fast line a 'parly' (it may have been either a Royston or a Hitchin to Kings Cross Rolls Royce DMU set i vaguely recall?) and after being 'turned in' off the Up fast line at no.6 the same train was immediately 'turned out' back Up the fast line at the south end of the station at no.4 much to the laughter of all those in no.6 and a remark from the signalman to the telegraph lad of "What did you turn him in for he's just turned him back out at no.4 silly boy?".
I think I've told the story before but I was sent to No3 one day on overtime without notice and I had never set foot in the place before. I stood at the desk and did my best to record activity but being green I was struggling to figure what was going on and I got no help whatsoever from the signalman who wouldn't even speak to me. I later learnt this hostility was due to my not working 79 and 80 levers. He need only have asked because such a pleasure would have delighted me as a keen youngster.Micky wrote:Getting back to Alister and Finsbury Park no.3 i can't remember how it came about again but i was also invited up no.3 one afternoon by Alister the signalman on duty being a Asian or Indian bloke (Dave Cockle knew him) who didn't seem to mind me being there and hardly spoke at all to either Alister or me, i remember Alister showing me the Down fast line block & levers nos.79 & 80 and telling me that those levers were the telegraph lads levers and the telegraph lad was expected to work those levers by all the signalmen that worked no.3, i think the telegraph lads book & telephones were located at the door end of the box opposite nos.79 & 80 levers i recall and that the 'tele lad' being close to those levers most of the time usually it saved the signalman having to walk down to them from being further up the box just to pull them off.