My 50 Years as a Southern Railwayman

by P J Shannon

  At half term in October we had a holiday in Minehead in Somerset where we visited the West Somerset Railway which was a nice change from the hustle and bustle that I am used to. Getting away to the seaside and country was a tonic for me.

  I remember the Clapham rail crash on 13th December 1988. I was talking to Stan in the office at Feltham when the news of the pile-up came. Although we offered our help there was nothing really that we could do. Everything that needed to be done was being done. An excerpt from the rail news described what had happened stating that:

  ‘A technical signalling fault was identified by British Rail last night as the probable cause of Britain's worst rail accident for more than 20 years which killed at least 36 people and injured more than 100. Accident investigators from BR were concentrating their inquiries last night on the temporary signalling arrangements installed during modernisation work at Clapham Junction where a packed express train from Bournemouth ran into the back of a stationary commuter service from Basingstoke. Mr Paul Channon, the Transport Secretary, ordered a full independent inquiry into the crash which would, among other aspects, examine the possible relevance of the level of government investment in railway network and wide-spread concern about overcrowded trains,’

  The inquiry was held by Sir Anthony Hidden QC, who then published a report containing 91 recommendations for the railway.

  Regraded as Salaried Staff

  In 1989 Alex Foulds, SM at Ascot, was promoted out of the area, leaving a vacancy, so the usual process was put into motion. It was advertised on the vacancy list and people in the area were invited to apply. This was a nice little post and a very good career step for somebody, but as the applications came in they were whittled down to about four candidates, one being a very young woman with little or no railway experience, and to everybody’s surprise she got the job.

  A lot was happening in January 1989 - our area manager, Charles Nicholls, was promoted out of the area and Steve Smith was appointed to the AM’S position, and my job was regraded to Station Manager (Area Relief) M.S.1. Feltham (Inner Suburban Area) at a rate of £12,462 plus £946 London Allowance. This meant that I was now salaried staff and would not be paid for overtime, so I would do no more little jobs for Barry. I had been doing quite well from my extra work but this was to be the end of it, so I would have to make do with my salary now. At that time I had an all stations duty pass, but I was now also entitled to an all stations Southern Region leisure pass, so losing my overtime was not all doom and gloom. I could now travel all around the Southern on my days off which were few.

  This was a historical year for the Feltham Area with the appointment of the first young female Station Manager, Nicki McDougal, when she was assigned to my old hunting ground, Ascot. Because of my knowledge of the area I was given the job of looking after her and seeing that she did not get into any trouble, to keep her safe and out of danger. When I say young, I mean young for she could not have been much over 19 years old. So we went through the usual procedure of flagging, points winding, walking the track, monitoring the train service and most of all learning to listen to her station supervisors. On completion of her training I was asked by the AM if I thought she would be all right in the job. I asked if he wanted a straight answer or if he wanted me to incriminate myself, and he replied that he wanted my honest answer. I said that I didn’t think she was suitable for the job and that I would not be surprised if she left within a few weeks. I kept a close eye on her patch until the station supervisor, Adrian Hopgood, left for pastures new and a young signalman, John Loveridge, from Wokingham signal box was appointed to the supervisor’s job. This at least gave some traffic cover to the station and quite often I would visit and have a long chat with John on her progress so I was able to keep an eye on the patch from a distance.

  In February of that year we decided that we would visit the Old Royal Observatory at Greenwich, so we had a trip to London and then went by boat up the Thames to Greenwich to cross the Meridian Line and were issued with a certificate to commemorate the occasion. The certificate states that:

  ‘By international agreement the line through the transit telescope at Greenwich defines the world’s prime meridian which separates the eastern and western hemispheres. Since 1884 this has been the line by which the World measures both longitude and time.’

  It was back to Kingston for me next, which coincided with the opening of Shepperton station on the completion of its rebuilding, which was mainly funded by Ian Allan. It was a great improvement on the old station, but it would retain some of its old character with the old Pullman coach Malaga which stands along the railway. An excerpt from the paper on the day related to:

  ‘Transport boss Ian Allan opening a new £400,000 station building at Shepperton, the town made famous for its film studios. The new station replaced a building which was more than 100 years old. It was made possible by a land deal between BR Property Board and the developer, Sheridan estates.

  ‘In return for the development of a three storey office block, to be known as Clock House, on the site of the former steam days coal yard, the developers agreed to provide the new station facilities. And part of Ian Allan publishing empire will be moving in to the new offices from their present HQ at nearby Terminal House. Mr Allan marked the opening of the new facilities by unveiling a plaque in the station booking hall. He congratulated the parties involved in the scheme, reminding guests that the railway first came to Shepperton in 1864.

  ‘Feltham Area Manager Steve Smith said that BR was highly delighted with the new facilities which include a modern booking hall, improved lighting, new Network SouthEast signs and a new canopy. Mr Smith said that NSE was spending £160 millions over the next seven years on station improvements. The station building was welcomed by staff, Relief clerk Keith Evans and Leading Railman Steve Smith (no relation). “The old building has seen better days and was looking very tired,” said Steve who has worked at Shepperton for the past two years. “It has brought us into the eighties and is one of the best stations in the area now.”’

  My job done at Kingston, it was time to move on again, this time back to Ascot. Unfortunately it was not long before I was in the thick of it again. I had a telephone call late at night from the Panel to tell me that there had been a fatality at Frimley. A man trying to catch the last train to Ash Vale, which was on the move, missed his footing and fell under the train which probably killed him instantly. The train crew were unaware of the incident and carried on regardless. The incident had been reported by a person via the signal phone on the platform. They had called my old friend Barry because he lived nearby and would be on site in a couple of minutes, emergency services had been called, and I was asked to get there as soon as possible. Luckily I had a tendency not to go to bed until the last train had passed out of my territory so I was still up, and I made a quick change into my high visibility clothing and went down to Frimley.

  By the time I got there, Barry and the ambulance had already arrived and had it well under control. Barry revelled in this sort of situation and as the person had already been certified dead, he was helping the Ambulance crew to remove the body and asked if I wanted to help. I replied that he was doing a wonderful job and I could see no reason why I should interfere. There was not much that I could do except phone the Panel and get the crew to wait at Woking for us to take statements from them. While I was doing this, the body was removed from the track and off to Frimley Park Hospital which is just down the road from the station. As Barry had his car handy we made our way to Woking where the crew were waiting for us. After a series of questions, it became clear that they had no idea that anything untoward had happened, so with their statements in hand we returned to Frimley where I had left my motor cycle and said goodnight to Barry and made my way home.

  Next day all our reports were submitted to the Area Manager’s Office for further investigation, which later resulted in a verdict of accidental death.

  By October of that year I was again ordered to t
ake some leave as I had accumulated more than I should, so we decided to have a week at Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight. Here there was plenty for us and the children to do. So off we went on a nice little journey from Bagshot to Lymington changing at Ash Vale and Woking, then by boat to Yarmouth and found that the camp was just a short walk away. Once booking in had been completed, we had enough time for a quick swim before going to the restaurant for dinner. Then we went off to see one of the shows until bed time for the children. So our routine became breakfast, followed by taking the children to their clubs, then we would have a round of golf or a game of bowls, or a swim, then pick up the children and all go for lunch. After lunch we would all engage in whatever the children wanted to do until dinner time, and then perhaps we would watch another show or have a walk by the sea until their bedtime. As usual, it seemed like no time at all before we were packing up and heading for home again.

  Near the end of the year, I started a Foundation Course in Safety Management which covered Health & Safety responsibilities, requirements for meeting that responsibility, principles of Health & Safety management, workplace inspections, HAZARD surveys and identification, job safety analysis, document checks, safety systems audits, accident investigation, critical incident techniques, job management, standards, common law, statutory law, matching standards, risk assessments, controlling risks, machinery and plant use, chemical use, fire and evacuation provisions, personal protection equipment and first aid provisions. A formidable list! All this had to be done in my own time, so to study this and cover my job took a lot of organising. I had to set down some home rules as this was going to take me 6 months to achieve. So a set period of time was put aside for study and any spare time revolved around this project.

  From my Diary for 1990

  January of 1990 started off quietly enough. For the first week and a half, there was nothing for me, so I was spare and could catch up with some studying. On 10th January I was on a course called P4P, Partnership for Progress, for one day. The higher Management were becoming increasingly concerned that they had lost contact with the personnel on the ground floor, which was to some extent true, but in my own area we tried to keep in contact by regular meetings and functions. However on the whole I think that they were probably right. The course was designed to attempt to put that situation right, so all the hierarchy turned up to give their support. It was an interesting day with a get-to-know-you feel with different people giving some presentations on their particular job in the company. The idea seemed to be to try to gain some lost ground. Did they win the battle? You will be able to judge for yourself later.

  The next week I attended a huge P4P course on the Isle of Wight at the Clifftops Hotel. This was very intense, with everybody giving presentations, and a lot of money had been spent on it. Then I went back home for the weekend, and was off call so I was able to relax.

  By the middle of January, Nicki McDougal at Ascot had decided that the job was not for her and resigned. So it was down to me to cover Ascot and other areas for about seven weeks.

  The following gives a flavour of how my days were spent. 22/23 January I worked from 07.00am until 6.00pm at Ascot, and was also on call for the area. Wednesday I went to Paddington for clean trains demonstration, then back to AMO Feltham for APTIS training (All purpose ticket issuing system). On Thursday I was at Hampton Court monitoring the train service from 7.00am until 10.00am, then went back to AMO for swipe training, then on to Ascot until 9.00pm. Friday was a routine day at Ascot, followed by a weekend off. The following week I was at Ascot on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday I was at Effingham Junction from 06.00am until 6.00pm monitoring trains from the depot and covering the area. I included out-of-hours visits to various stations and to Wokingham signal box. The next week included covering Ascot and Surbiton areas, with a signal failure at Surbiton, and another at Blackwater, both of which I had to attend.

  By the beginning of February, the Ascot job had been re-advertised, and Bill Harwood was appointed. He was the chief clerk at Staines when I was Guards Inspector there, so would require traffic training from me. This was a baptism of fire for him. It all started on the Monday morning when an up Guildford to London service via Ascot ran into a tree on the line in the Bagshot area, so our emergency plan was activated: the current on the lines was discharged, and the Operations Manager, Steve McColl, was called to the site to act as Rail Incident Officer. Communications from the stranded train revealed that luckily there were no injuries to passengers or crew, so it was then just a case of rescuing the stranded passengers. The up trains in the area had to be turned back at Camberley and routed up the main line to Waterloo. One down train was used to rescue the stranded passengers. The transfer was achieved by using the train ladders across the gap from one train to the other; this was done within an hour of the incident. The other down trains were not uncoupled and ran to Reading so there was no service across the Guildford branch line, so a bus service was organised from Ascot to Camberley. This all went like clockwork and by midday the tree had been removed by the P/W, the train removed and the service returned to normal with only slight delays. Bill commented that he hoped it was not like that all the time, to which I replied drily that it was all in a day’s work.

  A couple of days later we were back in trouble again. We were told by the signalman that the points on the up Guildford branch had failed and he asked us to attend, so we picked up our emergency equipment and set off round the branch. It was quite a walk and in about 15 minutes we arrived at the home signal where the branch train was standing. I opened the emergency equipment box while Bill spoke to the signalman, who requested him to reverse the points by winding them with the emergency handle. This done, the signalman was able to assure Bill that the points were in reverse and asked him to instruct the driver of the situation and exhibit a green flag for the train to proceed into the platform. Bill advised the driver and showed the flag as instructed and the train went into the platform. This situation continued for a couple of trains until the Signal & Telegraph technician arrived and rectified the failure. “I hope it is not going to be like this all the time,” grumbled Bill. Once again, I reiterated that it was all part of the job.

  For the next couple of weeks, things quietened down and we were back to normal, just monitoring the services, visiting the out-stations and Wokingham signal-box, which was one of my favourite pastimes. Spending time with signalmen like John Johnson, Bernard Walsh or John Scraggs was a delight, as many a yarn was spun over a cup of tea. It was now time to say goodbye to Bill as he was now on his own.

  On Saturday 17th February I was Duty Manager for Twickenham rugby from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. There was lots of action, with rugby fans coming off the trains in droves, right from early morning; train load after train load. We had no real problems as they wanted to get off the station as quickly as possible and into the Cabbage Patch, the local pub. These big occasions involved a lot of planning from weeks before. Local platforms, booking office and ticket collection staff, barriers in the car park and gates to control the crowds all had to be arranged. Passengers were regulated either over the footbridge and into the car park or up the ramp to the main exit, all of which needed careful handling. Most people didn’t realise that they were being manoeuvred to where we wanted them. The train service for one of these occasions involved 10 trains an hour each way with some specials, so it was pretty busy from early until about 1.00pm when it died down. Everybody used this time to have some lunch or to wander down the town; unfortunately Twickenham did not have the same perks as Ascot; there were no free tickets for the match. I used to have something to eat and do some studying until it was time to start it all up again. Before we started I would ring up the TCS at Strawberry Hill to make sure that he had got a few trains and crews on hand should I need them. Generally there was no problem, so as soon as the fans started to arrive on the station, they were crammed into the trains, generally getting a train full every few minutes until late in the evening. That was when any trouble u
sually started with some idiot trying to cross the track to the other platform. Luckily, all the time I covered it, nobody was killed or injured. Another silly thing that they liked to do was pull the communication cord, usually just outside the station across the junction, which in turn stopped any other train approaching until the guard or I sorted it out. That happened on numerous occasions. It was a minor inconvenience to me as I was going nowhere until most of the fans have departed, so with the help of the BT police we just carried on and usually I was away at about 10.00pm.

  All the next week from the 19th until 23rd February, I was back covering Ascot and Staines, which was a fairly quiet time. The following week and a half from 26th Feb until 6th March I was back on the Isle of Wight, giving my presentation at another P4P. I was asked if I thought it was all working and was given time to contemplate my answer. I was in front of all the big guns giving these words of wisdom.

  “Did it work? Judge for yourself. I would go to my Area Manager’s Office on very rare occasions, probably with some problem that really needed his attention; to get past his secretary was something of a miracle, to get an audience with him was another. If one was lucky enough to get to his door and had the audacity to knock, one was told to make an appointment to see him, and to get on yourself with whatever it was that you wanted to see him about. Would that change after P4P? Only last week I was bold enough to make a visit to his office with some problems that I would like him to sort out. To my surprise the warning notice had gone from his door and a new sign had been erected in its place giving his name and title. The secretary was charming and asked me if I would like a cup of tea which I declined; I was ushered into the AM who invited me to sit down. I wondered if I was in the right place! In a very friendly manner he asked what he could do for me. Having got his attention, I whipped out my sheet of complaints and went through them one at a time. I even got the impression that he was listening to me by nodding his head at intervals. When I had completed my list, he regarded me thoughtfully for a few moments and said, ‘Is that all, Pat?’ When I replied that it was, he said ‘What do I pay you for? Now get back out there and sort the bloody mess out yourself.’ On leaving his office I realised that at least he did listen to me, so it is down to you to consider whether P4P works or not.”