Footplate Ride in the 1950s

Nice memory.

I suspect there's a fair few have been granted some kind of access as kids. Many of us will have been connected in some way (my father was signalman at Spalding No. 1 in 1958 - 63 and there's a family legend that I learned to walk on the lever frame there... the first of many railway misdemeanours). But some manage it just by hanging around and becoming known. My husband used to 'visit' Valley box (part of the North Wales Coast sim) before the station was Beechingised; he also would get involved in shunting the yard and once drove the loco for a few yards. Unfortunately the visits ended when the station closed and he fell into bad company; he now hangs around on the Crosville (buses!!!) Facebook group and rides on 1950s buses like I visit signalboxes.

Technically, the crew might have been in (fairly serious) trouble had they been caught. But in those days, the movements of inspectors were noted and passed from box to box as rigorously as train movements, so a surprise visit was unlikely (no railway vans in those days). And many inspectors, in any case, were content to close their eyes to the occasional 'visitor' - after all, that kid playing with the train today was likely to become one of the better railwaymen of the next generation. (Having said which, they also knew what the limits were and would enforce them pretty fiercely if needs be. But rarely unfairly. There was a story of an adult 'visitor' somewhere towards Bristol who was caught out by his signature on the block bell. The District Inspector gave him a choice: two weeks to learn and pass out in the rules, or be prosecuted. Two weeks later, having successfully passed a full rules exam, said visitor was given the DI's go-ahead to visit any box in the district...)