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Kory Mc Leod

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R.o.B Railwaymen's stories

On the Railway, MEMORIES OF MY FIRST JOB Pt 2

Connecting the platforms 1 and 2 there were two subways under the line, one with steps and used by passengers and the other formerly used for hauling parcels on the big four-wheeled barrows when the station had been much busier with fruit and vegetable traffic. An electric hoist from both platforms 1 and 2 went down to subway level, one at each end. The younger members of staff had taken to using this subway to play football in, kicking the ball from one end to the other. One of the station inspectors had told them to stop on several occasions without success so he decided on drastic action. One dinner-time when the football match was in full swing he removed the fuses from both hoists and the footballers were trapped in the subway. After a considerable period the Station Master noticed their absence and began enquiries, which eventually led to the subway. The station inspector then surreptitiously re-placed the fuses and the stationmaster descended to find the shamefaced miscreants with their football. There were no excuses possible and the subterranean football matches were never resumed. At Manors there was also the Trafalgar Yard from where the trains running down to the Quayside were worked. Electric locos hauled these trains up the steep gradient on the Quayside branch and a line from Argyle Junction to Manors North linked the two branches of the coastline loop. There was a considerable uphill gradient between Manors and Jesmond and this was sometimes utilised to transfer a parcels van by gravity into the bay platform number 5.

A shunting engine would bring a parcels van up the line beyond platform 1 towards Manors North signal box with the station inspector aboard, and the train would ascend 100 yards up the slope and stop, the van would be uncoupled and the station inspector would release the brake, controlled by turning a wheel on a vertical shaft, allowing the van to run down the gradient, over the points diverting the van into platform 5,and applying the brake just in time to bring it to a halt as near to the buffers as possible. With practice this could be done very accurately, any slip up and the van would either hit the buffers with a crash or stop well away from where it was required preventing any trains from using the platform. I was friendly with one of the station inspectors and was once allowed to try my hand at the brake, performing commendably well, though it was an unnerving experience running a heavy railway van downhill with only a primitive brake between you and disaster. The inspector, Harry Holt, once took me to the signal box at Little Benton where his brother worked after our shift ended, and I was able to see how signalling worked in practice for I was by then going regularly to the evening classes mentioned earlier to study railway signalling, something you had to know for certain routes of advancement on the railway, such as to station master. The box was very busy with electric and goods trains passing frequently and the signal bells were continually ringing. The other station inspector was Jimmy Weir who had at one time been a guard and used to tell me of his experiences on the Border Counties line running up from Hexham to Kielder and over the Scottish border to Riccarton Junction. There were few passengers and Kielder was a remote station with the next station, Deadwater, almost on the border, and where the Station Master was a lady, being even more remote. The line could be very desolate in winter, and even in summer, beyond Bellingham.

I also did evening classes in passenger station work and accounts but they were less interesting. Staff were always encouraged to attend evening classes and many did. Promotion was by interview for the salaried grades. Lists of vacancies in the region came out monthly and you could apply for any job you thought you were qualified for and if selected you went for an interview. I never applied for any jobs, as I didn't consider I had enough experience yet. Harry Holt had a motorcycle combination and he once let me have a ride in the station yard. I found it very strange having to steer a motorcycle with a sidecar after being used to just the two wheeled version. Once when my own bike had been losing power and Harry decided it was the carburettor, one winter evening we had the bike in the booking office, the petrol tank off and all the petrol stored in milk bottles on the parcels office floor next door, a fire hazard if ever there was one. However the bike was repaired and put safely back together. Early one fine summer Sunday when we could expect lots of passengers for the coast, I stepped just outside the office and the wind caught the door, which slammed shut and, being a Yale lock, I couldn't get back in as my keys were inside. I was in a dilemma as in a couple of hours we would be busy, and the only spare key was in a locked glass case in the station master's office. One of the porters however, came to my rescue, telling me to take a walk to the end of the platform. I was mystified, but when I returned the door was open, how he did it I never knew, but I was very grateful and relieved.

At fairly long intervals the station would receive a fresh coat of paint. The colours for the North Eastern region stations were blue and white and the interiors, waiting rooms, staff rooms, etc including the booking office had to be painted too. This would be done during the night to ensure minimum disruption and one of the clerks would work a nightshift, as the painters were not allowed to be left alone in the office. I never stayed overnight myself, but I do remember the strong smell of paint the following morning. Part of Tynemouth Metro station is still painted in the old colours. I had also visited several railway sites of interest including the various signal boxes at other stations where I worked, the locomotive shed at Blaydon, still with many steam locos, and the parcels office at Newcastle Central. This was on Westgate Road and was a cavernous wooden building full of barrows piled high with parcels of all shapes and sizes, and many staff coming and going with more barrows. That is one reason why trains had such large guards vans, and why they often have no vans now, as parcels traffic is relatively small in comparison to 40 years ago. Eventually after 2 years I was again transferred to the Yard Master's office at Heaton but on arriving there was told I had been sent instead to the Central Station at Newcastle, this time to the Station Masters Office. On my first day I was taken on a tour of the station by one of the experienced clerks who was to train me, being shown all the places not open to the public. These included the guards rooms, the areas used by the Post Office to carry parcels going by Royal Mail, the signal box (-the 3 boxes at Newcastle had recently been replaced by a modern new one), the station announcers booth and most interesting of all, the Traffic Control room.

This was a large room up on the first floor in the area above the portico where a labyrinth of offices existed. Here the train movements on all lines within Newcastle's area were controlled. Traffic Control staff were in communication with all stations and signal boxes as required and kept the traffic moving whenever problems occurred, which was quite frequently. For example if a locomotive failed (broke down) at, say Killingworth, it was Control's responsibility to locate a suitable replacement locomotive capable of hauling the train, from one of the many motive power depots and to get it to the breakdown site and remove the failed loco for repairs while keeping the traffic moving meantime, possibly by a diversion via Backworth, Choppington and Morpeth or by means of single line working. Train scheduling would have to be adjusted on affected lines as necessary, everyone kept advised what was happening, and the whole operation would need to be completed in the least possible time to keep disruption to a minimum. It was said that if you worked in train control, whatever problem you were dealing with at the end of your shift would have been resolved by the time you began work again the following day, which must have been nice. Trains are scheduled not according to the public timetable but to the railway's own Working Timetable which details not only arrival and departure times at stations but also to and from engine sheds, with passing times at selected junctions, signal boxes and other locations. These timetables were frequently amended and train crews had to read the amendments when signing on every day, which also detailed any temporary speed restrictions. The times shown in the Working timetable could be slightly different to those shown in the public timetable.

The new Central Station signal box was very impressive with a large illuminated diagram showing all the lines, platforms and sidings it controlled and coloured lights which moved in accordance with a train's progress. The Station Announcers also had their own small booth here and following advice from the signalmen (there were no signalwomen here) would make their announcements about train arrivals and departures. Newcastle Central public address system was reputed to be one of the best in the UK, acoustically, but those who remember the station in those days may not agree. Visits to the Seat Reservation office, the Booking Office and the Telegraph Office completed my tour, which lasted all morning. The 'Central' was a very exciting and fairly noisy place to work and the platforms were often full of barrows piled high with mail sacks and these would be hauled about by small motorised units. There was a particular knack to loading a barrow with those mail sacks containing parcels and the secret was to place them with the tied openings inward, facing the centre of the barrow and they could then be piled very high quite safely. This traffic was usually dealt with at night and loading or unloading a railway mail van was a frenzied operation. Porters got a small addition to their wages for handling the mails. Hoists existed to move the barrows from the platform to a lower level where they would be dealt with by Post Office employees, the Royal Mail sorting offices being behind the station.

There were busy refreshment rooms, a ticket office at each end of the station, with the North Tyneside electrics having the east end booking office, plus a seat reservation office, an enquiry office, a telegraph office, several toilets and a big washroom where you could also get a bath. Then there was a left luggage office, waiting rooms, and a police office. The trains themselves had exciting names like The Queen of Scots Pullman, The Tyne Tees Pullman, The Talisman, The Heart of Midlothian, The Northumbrian and the North Briton and a sleeping car express, The Tynesider. The arrival and departure of the sleeping car trains kept the station busy late at night and early in the morning. Finally the Royal Station Hotel was railway owned, and was one of several hotels serving the big cities. When I worked at Newcastle the ordinary single fare to London was fifty-one shillings 2nd class and seventy-six shillings first or 2.55 pounds and 3.80 pounds respectively. The Cheap day Return fare to Whitley Bay was two and twopence, or 11p.In the centre of the station concourse there was a large indicator showing arrivals and departures which were printed on a roller which was turned by a member of staff as the day progressed so that it showed train times for the next few hours. There was a separate indicator at the east end of the station. At Christmas a big tree, a gift from Norway would be erected with a model railway running round it. Various vending machines were placed around the station selling chocolate and also a printing machine where you could print your name onto a narrow strip of aluminium, one letter at a time, by turning a pointer to face the required letter of the alphabet. There were two Findlay's kiosks selling confectionery and flowers and two W H Smith stalls with all the newspapers, magazines and comics laid out on top of a counter with books on shelves, and two or more assistants would take your money, no queuing at tills like today. A barber operated from the east end of the station and outside under the portico a man sold newspapers just as today. On Sundays-only newspapers would be laid out for sale on the steps of the Revenue Accountants office in Neville Street just across from Marlborough Crescent. Presumably no one worked there on Sundays .The pubs favoured by Central Station staff were generally the Midland for the Parcels Office, and upstairs in the Victoria and Comet for clerical, especially booking office, staff. Pork and saveloy sandwiches for the Station Master's office clerks were got from Kay Hilton's Pork shop on Westgate Road opposite the Essoldo. In the next few months I learned something about guards rosters, correcting and paying out after errors made in the pay of weekly paid staff, and many other aspects of work in the Station Master's Office, but shortly after my transfer there in summer I had decided I wanted to go into the Merchant Navy and I left the Railway immediately after the New Year in 1962 to start the new term at South Shields Marine and Technical College to learn to take a course in radio to enable me to go to sea as a Radio Officer.

Thus I swapped one mode of transport for another and that was the end of my four-year railway career, which had lasted from 19 May 1958 to January 2 1962.

(C) M Makepeace January 2004, 2006.