by P J Shannon
Thursday, Ladies’ Day, saw the arrival of the Area Manager, Mr Smith, and a couple of his team as it was usual for them to attend sometime during the week. There was lots of action during the morning dealing with the racegoers, some in a merry state not wanting to leave the train, but we were hardened veterans and knew just how to jolly them along. We told them that we would be shunting the train into the sidings and they would have to spend the afternoon there if they did not disembark from the train. We always needed to be mindful that there were trains standing outside or approaching the station and we had to get passengers off as soon as possible and get the train out of the platform. Remember, we had only two platforms in the up direction to accommodate these trains, so it was all go until lunch time when it slowed down to normal service which was easily controlled by the regular staff. The problem of where we should go for lunch was soon overcome with me agreeing that we should go to my home, and I made a quick phone call to Jenny requesting her to prepare snacks for several members of the team. She made sandwiches and numerous pots of tea which were very much appreciated by all. The best part of the meal was when Jenny asked for volunteers to wash up, so it was nice to see the Area Manager in an apron washing up and the others drying up. They took it all in good part, and with the washing and drying done and dishes put away, it was time to return to Ascot for the build up of passengers wanting to return home. As usual, we put out our Q boards for the excursions and loaded up the Reading to Waterloo trains to capacity and sent them on their way, this process continuing until late evening when we could dispense with some of the staff. Old-timers like me generally stayed until the finish of the service just to make sure that all was well before we finally called it a night. The rest of the week went without any hitches and this saw us at the end of another Ascot week.
Later that summer we saw some changes, with Ross Lees leaving us for pastures new as ASM at Waterloo. The MOM vacancy went on the list and we were inundated with applications for the job. With our selection panel we whittled them down to a short list of three applicants. Interviews were arranged and after long and serious discussion, the job was offered to John Loveridge. He had started as a Railman at Wokingham, advancing to Signalman and on to Supervisor at Ascot. This was all achieved within about 5 years, so we believed that we had picked the most suitable candidate, and this was to be proven true at a later date.
A period of training followed for him under the guidance of our other MOM, Les Chapman. Within a couple of months we felt that John was competent enough to take over the position so we let him loose by himself on the area. He proved a success and learned very quickly, keeping up to date with his audits. When speaking to him, I learned that he had a good knowledge of computers which were the new thing and I requested one for the office so that he could record data and keep systems up to date. Previously this had all been done by hand. I am not averse to progress and thought that this was a good idea. One would have thought that if I felt the need to update my systems, they would jump at the idea, but this was not the case. The answer came back that there was not one available, so he was authorised to use his own personal one. I was not happy about this as he had just purchased it, so I asked Jim Turner, our Movements Manager, if I produced a receipt for it, would he refund John so that the computer could be used for the office’s business. This was agreed and now the computer was officially Network SouthEast’s property.
Virtual Railways
By January 1993, the big talk was the new reorganisation with a movement from NWSE to Railtrack PLC. We all wondered if this was this going to improve our lot, but we would have to wait and see. Meantime, we carried on as usual with rugby, races, depot inspections, monitoring train services, Tii and Tiii checks and all the other things that make up the running of a railway. It was natural for us to be concerned, would we have a job in the future?
The privatisation of British Rail was set in motion by the Conservative Government on 19 January 1993; this enabled the Secretary of State to issue directions (as to the disposal of holdings) to the relevant Board. This was necessary since in the case of the British Railways Board they had to act, at all times, within the rules established by various Transport and Railways Acts – none of which would have allowed the Board to sell-off any of its assets. The subsequent direction from the Secretary of State forced the creation of Railtrack PLC. This then paved the way, later that year, for the Railways Act of 1993 introduced by John Major's Conservative government. The operations of the British Railways Board (BRB) were broken up and sold off. This process was very controversial at the time, and the Labour opposition announced its intention to re-nationalise the railways, although this was not implemented by the subsequent Labour government. The manner in which privatisation was carried out has also received criticism for its complexity.
In June 1993 it was back to Ascot for the races with the elite; namely Dave Harcombe, Cathy Trefora, Jaquie Clark, Tony Jackson, Jane Wallace, Syd Monday, Bob Harman, Terry Talbot, Alan Gill, Andy Wallace, Gordon Jones, Bill Harman, Steve Orchard, Les Chapman, John Loveridge and last, but not least, me. Unbeknown to me, this was to be my last appearance at Ascot races. I had had the privilege to have worked with some great people.
In July 1993 I was summoned once again to the ivory tower at Waterloo for my annual Performance Review, again taken by David Gould. I had been in the job for 2 years and 3 months. Apparently over that time, I had achieved all of my objectives, although some were still ongoing. I sometimes took on things I should have delegated, which meant I put in a lot of hours which could affect my domestic life if not careful, but apparently this was not all bad, as I lead by example. I did not always demonstrate my true ability and knowledge because I tended to be quiet at meetings, but was a rock solid manager continually striving to improve my own and my team’s performance.
The Objective schedule was:
To show a 3% improvement on cost budget for all cost under your control.
Achieve Hidden 18 fully by December 1993
Ensure a system is in place so that the operating vacancies are filled immediately where pending retirements are due.
Set up a system to achieve signalman’s training at minimum cost by using the best qualified resident signalmen as trainers.
Through monitoring in times of disruption, ensure greater use is made of the general call facility on cab secure radio system.
Ensure that all failures to report ‘Summary of arrivals’ are investigated immediately and action taken to ultimately achieve a ‘Nil’ return.
Another Performance Review was over, but there was still room for improvement as I was rated 3 on the scale.
Holiday time had come round again, and in July 1993 we went back to my home town of Bray, for my daughter, Nicola’s, wedding, but before I was allowed to go I would have to find a replacement to cover my job. I had just the man already in my team - John Loveridge. I saw him as the most likely person to train as my replacement should I want to move on, so with all in agreement, off we went off to Ireland. We stayed with Mary and Andy Walsh, who ran a Bed and Breakfast in Bray.
In the week after the wedding, we had a most enjoyable time as we were treated as friends and were involved in most of their activities, such as playing golf, a visit to the Guinness lake and a meal in Greystones. They even went so far as to look after our two boys while we had an overnight stay in Limerick, which as you probably know is the home of the river Shannon. We even stayed in a hotel with a suite named after us! It was very nice to see the river as I had never been down that way before, so sightseeing was the norm for the day. On our return that evening, our last day with them, they staged a party for us which was great fun. When we were packed to leave the next morning Andy drove us to Dun Laoghaire to catch the boat to Holyhead.
On the Monday of my return, I was told by John that there had been a fatality at Waterloo Crossing (AHBs) on the previous Saturday. It seemed that a young local woman had driven her car past the barriers while they were in the
down position and she ran into the down Waterloo to Reading train and sustained fatal injuries. That part of the railway had been shutdown for some considerable number of hours, and a bus service had had to be introduced between Bracknell and Wokingham until the incident was resolved. Unfortunately for John this had been a baptism of fire, dealing with the incident, police, ambulance service, permanent way, reports, paper work etc., but this is all part of the job. After going through all the reports and paperwork my appraisal was that they had carried out the control of the incident very well and had nothing to add.
So I went back to the daily routine of looking after the area, monitoring the train service, dealing with barrier and points failures, depot departures, disruptions, auditing and any other eventuality. Monitoring the tapes from the cab secure radio system was one of the jobs that we had some fun with. The procedure was for Stan and me to get the S/T technician to withdraw the tape from the signal box and for us to make ourselves a cup of tea, put on the tape recorder and listen to the drivers and signalmen conversing over the air. There was a set pattern that they were supposed to follow, of course. The driver was to contact the Panel giving his or her call sign, give the train number, the location of the train and the message to be conveyed, followed by the word ‘over’ which was used to convey that the message was complete. If, when received by the signalman, it was not understood properly then the signalman would be asked to repeat the message so that there was a clear understanding of what was required. Probably the best communicator was Driver Ray Beebey (The Beeb). I always liked listening to him especially when he was on the test train out of Strawberry Hill, as he had a good voice and everything he said was precise and to the letter, so much so that we used to use him as our training voice for other drivers. I vividly remember Stan bringing one driver in and getting him to listen to one of the recordings, which was about the worst that you could get. When he had finished listening to it we asked him what he thought of it, and he declared that it was rubbish then asked who was speaking. He was horrified to find that it was he himself! We introduced him to one of the Beeb’s recordings and the transmissions from him improved dramatically.
The next time that I had holidays in October 1993, I was more than happy to hand over the reins to John. I thought that he would not be due for another mishap, so off I went in the hope that everything would go smoothly for him this time. On my return it was evident that something was amiss, because as I entered the office I was greeted by LC, who said that he was glad to see me back as they had had a few problems. Off I went to my office to be updated by John. He explained that he and a shunter named Chris Miles had been doing some points training at Strawberry Hill, at the Teddington end of the depot. All had gone well, and when they had finished they made for the depot. He was walking in the cess on the left side of the track and Chris was walking in the four foot, which was a huge mistake as a train approaching them suddenly gave several shrills on the whistle. They acknowledged it by raising their arms, but unfortunately for Chris, the driver was trying to warn them that a train was approaching them from the other end. Not until they realised that the driver was trying to warn them did they look back and saw the train approaching them, whistle blowing loudly. Chris moved swiftly out of its way but received a glancing blow from the train and was knocked down into the cess. An ambulance was called immediately and he was taken to hospital. A medical examination revealed quite a lot of bruising to his ribs and other parts of his body, so he was kept in hospital for a couple of day before being released home. This incident had taken place a couple of days into my holidays, so when I visited him at his home the next day, he was still very sore and appeared to suffered from a loss of confidence in his ability to cope with going back on the track. I realised that his return to the fold was going to take some time - I was right; he never did return to his shunter’s job at Strawberry Hill, but accepted the Senior Railman’s job in Barnes Signal Box.
By the end of the year I was asked if I would go to the Movements Manager’s Office at Waterloo to have a little chat with Jim Turner and Jim Morgan, who was the Director South West. The usual questions came from the rest of my staff as to what I had done wrong. To be honest, I could not remember doing anything that would require a visit, so off I went on the up Reading to Waterloo service wondering what lay in store for me. When I arrived at the office I was shown into MMs office without much ceremony and was asked to sit down in front of JT and JM, who asked me if I had any plans for the future. I replied that I was not sure what they were asking me, and I asked them to be more precise.
The reply came as something of a shock. They wanted me to join their team as Assistant Zone Control Manager at Friars Bridge, London. They needed a person with my experience within the Control Centre to beef up the team. They suggested that with my knowledge of rules and regulations, this would be the ideal opportunity to put them to useful purpose. I would obviously have to give this sort of move some serious consideration, so I asked what the job entailed; the reply was I would be required to learn to be a controller on the Main and Windsor line, do delay causation and Contracts Manager and cover for the Zone Control Manager. It would be quite a large undertaking, and I asked what I would gain financially if I decided to take this on. My basic salary would be over £20,000 plus other enhancements such as night duties, weekend working and rostered Sundays. I agreed to give their proposal some serious consideration and would let them to know in a week or so.
I then left to catch a train back to Feltham. On my return my lads asked me if I had got the sack or been demoted to leading railman somewhere, so when I told them what had been offered to me, they really sat up and listened. They advised me to take it, as opportunities as good as this didn’t come along very often, and they said they knew that I could do it, probably with my hands tied behind my back. I thanked them for their confidence in me, but knew I would have to discuss it with Jenny first.
On my way home that evening, I can’t honestly say that I was overjoyed with the prospect of spending the rest of my career enclosed in an office. I would certainly miss the hustle and bustle of the railway outside, but I was not getting any younger and maybe it would not turn out too badly for me. So after discussing it with Jenny and giving it the consideration that was necessary, I finally agreed to take the job.
After saying a sad farewell to my colleagues at Feltham, I took up my new post on 23rd February 1994. So now I was in Control, the hub of the railway, with a couple of people that I known on the outside such as Chris Harper, Zone Control Manager, and Mike Smith, Main Line Controller, with a sprinkling of older and younger staff. I soon settled in and learned the fundamental parts of the job, but my computer skills were lacking, so it was arranged for me to attend the next course in computers which was scheduled for April so I had to struggle on with the knowledge that I had.
In mid April 1994 I was duly sent on a computer training course for Windows and Words for Windows as it was now a priority for me to learn how this new-fangled machine worked. I remember my first day when I was asked how much I knew about computers, and my reply was that I knew how to switch it on and off, much to the amusement of my colleagues, but I soon learned a great deal more than the on/off switch.
With my brand new enlightenment and feeling computer literate, it was off to show them back at Control what I could do. This took all of five minutes, but I had to persevere and became quite adept at it which was just as well for I would need to be able to understand it if I was to progress. I was now a fully fledged computer operator and the jobs became easier and soon as I was on top of them and should have been happy with everything, but I still missed the action of the real railway. I can only describe it as being like playing with a virtual railway set all on the screen with no real involvement. A lot of my turns were controller on the Windsor Line. As I knew it so well, I could visualise where the trains were if something was amiss. The only real action I saw was when I diverted some train up the Hounslow Loop or ordered a train to be st
epped up or taken out of service, but that’s what the job was about: controlling the traffic flow.
The office was one of these new air conditioned buildings with lots of railway departments on each floor, so every member of staff was required to have a pass to gain entry via a security desk at the bottom. We were on the third floor and the office was an open type with rows of screens and desks, with everybody on view, with a mixture of RT and NSE staff trying to work together. This had its own difficulties.
The night shift as Contracts Manager was so boring that I used to play games on the computer after arranging for the Permanent-way Manager to be called out on some job or other.
Delay Causation was just as boring, except when someone at Waterloo would enter into the computer that the train was delayed due to awaiting signal, when we knew it was waiting because the driver was late from the previous service. So there was a lot of misinformation passed back to the Control which we had to sort out and rectify. This was very tedious, but no one was going to admit ownership of any delays because every minute late cost money.
Probably the best day was Saturday morning on early turn, when someone would look after several areas while one of us cooked breakfast. This was something that I did not mind as I had been a cook in the army. Probably the worst duty was late shift, because quite a lot of the staff were smokers and had to take a break outside the office, so they were covered by the non-smokers like me. This caused a bit of friction as the non-smokers did not get a break away from their desks.