GN footplate tales cd

[Mickey]

I bought a cd last Friday entitled An Engineman's Life For Me.

Life on the footplate between 1914 and 1966 related by a former Great Northern Railway driver.

The recording was made in 1979 and the total recording time is 55 minutes.

Written on the back of the cd-

"Footplate recollections from an age when railways served the nation. An age of movement, commerce and job security, when service mattered, when people cared. All this was a way of life for 'Alan Driver' as he recalls a working life of over fifty years. From cleaner to a top link driver serving the Great Northern Railway, the London North Eastern Railway and finally British Railways".


Alan recounts his 52 years of railway service starting as a 14 year old cleaner at Copley Hill shed on the GNR in April 1914 and then as a passed cleaner at the same shed and then after the Great War in 1921 Alan moved to Ardsley shed still as a passed cleaner before moving to Doncaster as a fireman at the time of the Grouping and the formation of the LNER. Then later on during the 1920s & 1930s Alan went as a fireman at Grantham shed for a number of years before progressing to a passed fireman and moving to Hull for a year on the former NER during the 1930s. Alan then passed out for driving full-time and returned to Doncaster during the later 1930s and then after WW2 Alan moved to New England shed (Peterborough) during the time of railway nationalisation and the formation of the early British Railways and stayed at New England shed through the 1950s and into the 1960s before finally retiring in 1966.

All in all a interesting listen from Alan who passed away in 1992.

This cd is an OK ROLLEM Production. Copyright 2010
For information on our other spoken word titles, please go to oldcenturysounds.co.uk

okrollem@gmail.com

[Mickey]

A comment by Alan regarding Nigel Gresley.

"GN men were happy that Mr.Gresley was in charge of the locomotive department after the end of the Great Northern at the time of the formation of the LNE."

An observation by Alan on Nigel Gresley.

"Mr.Gresley was a stern man but was a fair man and he was well liked by GN men and in turn he had a high regard for his engine men."

A personal observation of Nigel Gresley.

Alan recorded that we rolled into no.1 platform at Doncaster from Hull one day right time on a LNER D49 4-4-0 (Shire class) and Mr.Gresley was on the platform as he so often was with his assistant anyway the spectacle glass was smudged with water from a leaking nut from a water pipe that ran along the boiler casing so I got down to wipe the glass and Mr.Gresley came over to me and asked me was there a problem and I told him that the nut had been spraying water onto the spectacle glass so he looked at the nut and said yes he could see the problem and got his assistant to make a note of an alteration but anyway in the meantime I noticed him looking intently at the motion and I thought had I forgot to replace a oil cap?. Alan said every part of the locos motion was stamped with the locos running number on it anyway one piece of the motion had a different number stamped on it so Mr.Gresley turned to his assistant and told him to find out why this loco had another locos part fitted to it and why was it so?. Alan observed that at the time the D49 'Shire class' locos were being maintained by Darlington and not Doncaster.

[Mickey]

Alan's experience as a Grantham fireman in 1934 and being given a turn at driving by his driver.

"This particular day I was with a driver an old timer who had come up on Mr.Stirling's single wheelers who didn't speak to his mate unless it was important not because he was to proud to talk but a loco footplate isn't the place for chatting you both had a job to do and you trusted each other anyway we were both on the 'standby engine' at Grantham which usually meant standing on shed all shift but you had to keep a good fire because the loco could be called up at a moments notice anyway we were told a Up turn was in trouble and had stopped at Balderton (north of Claypole) and wanted to come off at Grantham and our loco no.2548 (a A1/A3) was to take over as the train engine. Anyway we heard this loco coming long before we saw it because it took 20 minutes to get from Peasecliffe tunnel but eventually it arrived in Grantham after blowing a cylinder cover and losing steam badly so it was taken off the front and we hooked on and when my mate got the 'right away' from the guard this old driver turned to me and gave me a big wink and that was the first time I had seen his expression change as he pulled the regulator out and we were away!. Anyway after passing through Peterborough my driver picked up the shovel and pointed to me to 'get in the chair' and take over the driving this was somewhere around Connington and I had the loco to just through Knebworth when my driver took over the driving again. There happen to be some badly sighted signals around the tunnels at Welwyn and you really had to know the road from there on up to Kings Cross."

Anyway after bringing the train into Kings Cross and the engine was released we then ran light engine to Top shed where we coaled and watered the loco and turned it before running light engine back to Grantham where he let me drive again for some of the way anyway this old timer must have thought I'd done good because when we got back to Grantham he bought me a pint of ale. They were good days at Grantham.

[Mickey]

Alan's observations of Edward Thompson and his locos.

"Mr.Thompson wasn't popular with GN men and we didn't like his locos much either."

[Mickey]

Alan talking about the D49 'Shire class' locos.

"I didn't like them they were rough riders and I remember one day I was on a Hull-Doncaster working and the loco bucked just as we were passing over the swing bridge at Goole as the fireman was putting a round in the fire and the shovel went in the fire as well!. When we stopped at Goole my mate had to find a shovel quick but could only find a ordinary workman's shovel so he had to use that to get us back to Doncaster. They said the D49s were alright on pilot duties but I never liked them".

[Mickey]

Alan references Mallards 126mph record breaking run down Stoke bank on July 3rd 1938.

"It was GN men on the front of her on the run down the bank at Essendine and they could have got a bit more out of her but driving isn't about breaking records and running at high speed it's about running right time and in safety."

[Mickey]

Alan observations of the Kings Cross loco crews in 1914.

"We had the small Ivatt Atlantics (at Copley Hill shed) that the cockney men called 'Klondykes' and I think that came about with the cockney men on the lodging turns to Leeds and to them that was like the 'frozen north' and they were never keen on the lodging turns maybe they couldn't buy jelled eels and winkles and it was an education for a 14 year old cleaner to see two cockney men eating winkles out of a shell with a pin but then again there were things that we eat that couldn't be got in the Caledonian road."

Alan's first encounter at seeing Kings Cross station.

"It was a grand sight the first time coming out of Gasworks tunnel and seeing Kings Cross."

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Interesting to hear what happened back in the 30's.

manna

[Mickey]

Alan referring to the GN way of driving locos.

"The way I was brought up on driving was the GN way of driving with a full regulator and a short cut off. Some men on the flyers would if the 'back board' (distant signal) was at caution they would look back (along the train) to see if it would come off (after they had passed it?) because (if it did) it could save three or four minutes."

[Mickey]

"Towards the end at New England shed we still had some of Mr.Gresley's pacifics on the shed. We still had a number of steam workings at New England during 1962-63. I remember we had no.8 & no.21 I could never get on with the long numbers and no.47 no.48 no.50 no.54 and no.62. In fact my last steam turn was with no.54 on a parcels. Diesel training started and the older drivers were chosen first to train on them and it was just cab riding up and down the line in the cab of a Brush type 2. It way funny seeing the whole of the railway for the first time ahead of you instead of seeing just half of a bridge or a signal at the last minute also you didn't feel the breeze but there was a speedometer on the loco. My first attempt at driving a diesel wasn't very good we arrived 80 minutes down at York after delays at Bawtry and Selby. Maybe if the diesels had come in before the war it mite have been different but by then to many years had passed by and to many memories to. By then I had completed over fifty one years. All good years and I mite say all Great Northern years..."

Alan started on the Great Northern Railway in 1914 and retired in 1966...

Alan Driver 1900-1992