by P J Shannon
Back to Civvy Street
On my return, I had an interview with the Station Master, Mr Powell, with the result that he offered me the position of Senior Railman at Bagshot. This was a promotion from Porter Coupler and as I had a good knowledge of the Booking Office procedures, he thought this would be a good challenge for me. The turns of duty would be 06.00am until 2.00pm and 4.00pm until 12.00pm, which would mean that I would have to cycle to Bagshot on early turn and back to Sunningdale at the end of late turn, which to be honest I didn’t mind.
On the 23rd October 1961, I arrived at Bagshot with Mr Powell and was introduced to the staff. They were Peter Coles, goods porter and shunter, Tom Dexter and Bill Johnston, the porter signalmen and Taffy Welsh the other senior railman who was to teach me the booking office.
Bagshot was a little station on the fringes of Surrey and Berkshire with an up and a down platform and a half hourly train passenger service. On the downside platform was a small open waiting room and at the London end was a signal-box with a small lamp-room attached. To get to the downside platform there was an over-bridge, a foot-crossing in the middle of the platform used by the staff and a foot-crossing at the country end of the station. On the upside there was a toilet, the booking-hall, a waiting room, the booking office, a staff room and a cycle store. The platform was covered halfway by a canopy; there were also long gardens on both platforms and both the platforms were lit by gas lamps that needed to be pulled on before darkness fell. I used to use a shunting pole to do this. Can you imagine how spooky this was at night time when it was very dark with very low glowing lights? There were no bright electric lights there in those days. The railway in the Ascot direction went under the A30 roadway and across the countryside, curving into Ascot Station. The other way led to Camberley, across the viaduct and into the Jolly Farmer tunnel, over the level crossing into Camberley.
There was also a station house some distance away from the station on Station Road, and a pathway next to the viaduct led from the station down to the main road. Occupying the houses on Station Road were some retired and some active staff, including Joe Wild, Mr Burns, retired, John Ketchell the signalman at Woking, and Nick Nicolas S/T technician at Ascot. The coal and freight yard extended from right and left of the station and had a small goods shed containing a small crane, and there was an outside crane at the London end.
With my previous knowledge of booking office procedures, it was not long before I was passed out as proficient to take over. I settled down very quickly and soon learned that there was much more to the senior railman’s work than just selling tickets. It also involved sheeting the parcels and helping Peter load the goods trains. The booking system in those days was the same all over the region - it consisted of gravitation fill racks of numbered ticket stock, each number taken off each day and recorded in the classic book. Multiplying the number sold by the price gave a total which was entered in the book. Over the course of the month, a running total was calculated which could be checked against ticket numbers and cash held. If there was too little or too much cash this had to be entered as a surplus or loss.
Later in the 60s, the booking offices were converted to NCR cash registers which took away the need to add every penny up. The price was entered on the cash register, and then the ticket was inserted into the machine, resulting in the date, price and the number of the machine being printed on it. To get a daily total, all one had to do was to insert a total read ticket into the machine.
The two main customers in the goods and parcels departments were Waterers and Fromows, both horticulturists. They dispatched trees from the station on a daily basis, both by passenger and freight trains. There was also mail order traffic and funeral coffins for the funeral directors. What with all this and looking after the two gardens, it was quite a busy little station and not the backwater that I thought it would be. However, on late shift it could be an eerie place what with coffins in the booking-hall awaiting collection, disappearing women and murders. Generally, I suppose the spookiest times were when there was a coffin in the booking-hall awaiting collection by Cyril Rickett the local undertaker.
With regard to the disappearing woman, it was about 10.25pm one dark evening, and the up train was arriving in the platform. I was a little late in getting to the ticket collection point and as the train drew out of the platform I could hear the distinct click of a woman’s high heeled shoes making their way towards me. Suddenly the clicking stopped. I waited for a few seconds for them to restart but there was no sound, so I went out on to the platform to see where she had gone, but there was no sign of a living soul. I checked and ascertained that the only other exit gate from the platform was closed. I made a full and thorough search of the surrounding area but there was nobody there. I decided that the most appropriate action was to check with the guard of the next down train, so when the train arrived I explained what had happened and asked him if anybody had alighted from the up train. To this he replied that nobody had done or at least he had not seen anybody. To this day I have still no idea what really happened that night, but I am sure in my own mind that something spooky was going on.
During my time at Bagshot a murder took place on the station footpath. A young woman was travelling home one night when she was attacked and murdered. I was not on duty that night but the next morning the place was overrun with police officers questioning passengers and staff, asking if they had seen anything suspicious or if they could help them with their enquiries. This continued for some considerable time until they had finished their enquiries when they charged a local man with murder. For quite a period after this crime was committed a police officer would make a customary night call at the station for a cup of tea and a chat. This call was very reassuring and I think that all the members of staff were grateful to them for it.
Unfortunately Mr Burns who lived in the station house had died and the house now became vacant. It was not long after this that we were informed that Mr Powell would be moving in. This was not the news we wanted! We really didn’t want him in our back yard. However, in he moved and we settled into a routine of seeing him every morning, noon and evening. Usually he would go to Ascot in the morning and return to visit us after lunch, then go on to Camberley.
He was an enterprising man. He would purchase eggs, potatoes or other items from the local farmer and sell them on to his friends for a profit. Eggs were sent to the Area Inspector at Woking every Saturday, and my job was to ensure that they were sent on the straight through service from Ascot to Woking without any of them being broken. Of course this never happened as most times two or three were cracked on arrival. Another time we were requested to send some potatoes by freight train to Bracknell which ended up some time later at the Bricklayers Arms. How this happened is a mystery to me.
I recall another occasion when a certain relief signalman who shall remain nameless, but who featured in another escapade when I was a nipper at Ascot, was covering our signalman’s annual leave. A certain label from an exotic bundle of trees was found on the floor of the goods shed and a suggestion was made by that person that we should dig up a small poplar tree and attach the label to it and leave it in a conspicuous place for Mr P. to find. I must say that my feeble protests were futile and I reluctantly went along with it. Sure enough, long before the day was out, the tree had disappeared and we waited for the backlash. However, it was several days before it was discovered that the plant was not of an exotic variety but that of a common poplar! As a result of this, our lives were made very uncomfortable for the next week or two.
On one occasion I turned up for duty only to find that the Booking Office had been broken into, and because the thieves were unable to open the safe they had emptied the ticket racks all over the floor. Not content with doing that, they covered the tickets with our coffee and milk. My first job on that morning was to call the police and then the Station Master for him to arrange some ticket issuing cover which happened to be our local TTIs. I, of course, was told by the police no
t to touch or disturb anything, an order which I duly obeyed and I set myself up in the staff room and waited for them to arrive. I had to tell our passengers what had happened and direct them through the side gate. It seemed to take hours for the police and my backup to arrive, but it was probably only an hour or so. The police soon got to grips in the Booking Office whilst the TTIs set about issuing ordinary travel tickets and asked passengers wanting anything complicated to book the other end. Probably in about an hour the police had finished their work and told me that it would be all right for me to clear up the mess. It took three of us all day to sort out the tickets and put them back in numerical order. When we had finally finished cleaning some of them and putting them back in the racks there was only one ticket missing - a single to Camberley. This was quite a result, as when this sort of crime happens there are usually many tickets missing and this has to be advertised to all ticket collecting staff in case some are used inappropriately, but the missing ticket was never found.
It was during this time that Taffy decided that he would be much better off applying for another post and decided to try his luck and apply for the Senior Railman’s vacancy at Frimley. I did not really understand the logic in this, as he lived right on the doorstep in Bagshot. However, he was successful and was transferred to Frimley. The post at Bagshot was taken up by a young Graham Gould, Cyril’s son. Graham’s older brother, David, was also on the railway, so it was a real railway family. Under my tuition Graham soon learned the ropes and was able to take over the position.
Changes in my Life
One evening in late 1962, a couple of girls alighted from the train and I got talking to them, and the result of this was that I got a date with Josephine Liggins who was later to become my wife.
The winter of 1962-63 started with a dusting of snow in November. In early December temperatures fell below freezing all day, despite sunshine, followed by thick, freezing fog. Then on Boxing Day, heavy snow began to fall. It snowed every day until the 29th December when blizzards were forecast. Local council drivers were kept busy salting the roads and, overnight, snow drifts of up to three feet accumulated. Car travel was beginning to be difficult and people postponed longer journeys in the hope that the weather would clear. Snow clearing of the platforms and approach roads was the order of the day. The train service suffered greatly and the only way that we could get the train up the incline was to shunt it back into the Ascot section and get a good run at it. Generally we were successful, but a lot of damage was done to the motors and there was a lot of flashing from the live rail. The snow and ice train was a regular feature spraying anti-freeze liquid on the rails. Although this practice seemed to have little effect, we succeeded in maintaining a service - maybe not a very good one, but a service nonetheless.
The New Year was even worse, with snow drifts up to six foot deep. How we managed to run a service at all was beyond belief, but we battled on against all the odds, with reports coming in of school and road closures, fuel shortages, and bus cancellations. After some time, even the river Thames gave up the unequal struggle and froze over, but still the railway battled on trying to retain a service wherever it could. Then it was inevitable that food and fuel prices were affected and increased. The weather still remained cold with bitter winds and bouts of freezing fog. Although there was a small respite during January, the cold weather returned with a vengeance. The priority now was getting coal, petrol and oil to the public and steam locos were used to perform this task. It was during February that militant unions from power stations decided that this was the best time to disrupt the country with a work to rule, resulting in some venues being closed and street lighting turned off, but you can’t beat the Great British Public - they just soldiered on. By March of that year the big freeze was over, bringing an end to probably the worst weather we had lived through since 1947.
In early 1963, Mr Powell was transferred to Aldershot and his replacement was James Ogg.
I became restless and began to apply for jobs outside the booking office which would hopefully add to my knowledge of how the company operated, and on 3rd July 1963 I was successful in getting the Senior Checker’s job at Addlestone. This would mean that I would be on permanent day shift. Unfortunately for me, the railway had other ideas and started to concentrate the smaller depots into much larger ones and Addlestone was amalgamated with Staines and I remained at Bagshot. Around this time I applied for some leave and because there was a surplus of relief staff it was not a problem so I was granted leave and took my future wife to Bournemouth for a holiday.
When I returned from holiday on the Saturday, I managed to catch up with Graham who gave me the low-down on what had happened and who the relief man had been. I must admit that I felt uneasy about the person covering me in our booking office, as I had heard from various sources that when he covered some of their booking offices there were often a lot of losses. Therefore on the Monday when I returned to work, I did a complete stock check. Not entirely to my surprise, I found a ticket missing in the middle of the rack and immediately informed the Station Master and requested him to attend. When he arrived I pointed out to him the irregularity in the accountancy. He took immediate action and informed the British Transport Police, who located the relief man through the relief staff section and confronted him with their findings. He admitted the theft immediately and was suspended from duty pending further enquires. Within a couple of weeks the perpetrator of this deed was sacked from the company and eventually I was awarded a £2 commendation for my observation and diligence.
1964 was a good year for me. In March I married Jo Liggins and we moved into a little cottage up by the Jolly Farmer in Bagshot. Aptly named Blue Cottage, this had just one bedroom, but I believe that we were happy there. I remember one day while we were living there, when I was on late turn, the British Transport Police arrived at the door and demanded entrance to the cottage informing me that some parcels for the Bagshot area were reported missing and they were checking on all employees who could have had any dealings with these. Needless to say I did not have anything to do with this, and they soon left.
In 1967 my daughter Nicola was born at Windlesham Maternity Hospital which was a stone’s throw from where we lived. This was a very good time for me and before long I was able to take her over to Sunningdale to see her grandma and grandpa, my parents.
I carried on as normal at Bagshot, but now that we had a child it was imperative that I got a better paid job, so I was back to scrutinising the vacancy lists. Unfortunately there was nothing suitable, but with a little overtime we were able to manage.
All through this period I was able to continue to play football and in 1967 while I was playing football for the railway team I won my first medal, followed by another one the next year.
In 1968 we had another child on the way, but by now the cottage was too small for us, so we decided to invest in our own home. We had to look for something within our severely limited price range, but at least it would be our own. We found an old two bedroom house we could afford which was situated in the middle of Bagshot village next to a car showroom. This was not ideal but it was a start. It needed plenty of redecorating, but it was ours.
Now that we were paying a mortgage I really needed a better paid job so I continued to scrutinize the vacancy list and I needed to press on with my ambitions so I continued to apply for jobs. Later that year I was finally successful in securing the job of Working Foreman in Staines which I was finally able to take up on 26th August 1968. Although this work came under National Carriers Limited, we were employed by British Railways and were under contract to NCL. This suited us fine as we could apply for any other jobs within the BR network and not be reliant on NCL for vacancies.
This was a whole new ball game for me as I didn’t know anything about full loads, so I spent a couple of months learning the job at Feltham under the guidance of Jock Ross, the full loads Foreman. I had to get to grips with the working Manual for Railway Staff (Loading and Conveyance of
Freight Traffic). The book contained the General Principles of Loading and using lifting equipment such as chains or bonds, the use of securing equipment etc. The Distribution of Weight stated that the most suitable wagon must be selected according to the nature of the traffic, and must also be distributed evenly.
Then there were loads for which special conditions may have to be applied. Certain loads could only be accepted for conveyance after examination by a “certificated” member of staff; so this was a certificate that I had to study for. Loading and unloading of pipes, tubes and steel girders, and anything to do with full load traffic I mostly had to learn on the hoof. With determination and study I managed to acquire a good knowledge of full load working.
After a couple of months, I was let loose at Staines. This yard was mainly concerned with steel girders and sheets of metal for a local firm, Graham Woods at Hounslow. Although there were a lot of “A” and “B” type containers which required craning off their conflats and bogie bolsters, these had to be secured to our lorries with chains and ratchet tensioners. Staines West Yard, as it was known, has two main steel roads and a half middle road which was generally used for containers. The staff consisted of me as Foreman, Ronnie Drew as slinger and Arthur in the crane. The lorry drivers were Lennie Leopard and Frank Adey who drove 40 foot pole trailers on which the steel was delivered. These two were backed up by Bert Weeks who delivered the containers. Both this yard and the East yard were controlled by NCL. The East Yard was under the control of an NCL Manager, Mr Holliday; Bert Page was the Foreman, John and Tommy Dexter were the drivers. Another staff member was Peter Coles, the ex-shunter from Bagshot, so I had a lot of old friends at Staines.