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| Footplate Ride in the 1950s 21/03/2016 at 21:04 #81297 | |
bugsy
1766 posts |
Has anybody else had an experience like this? After recently watching a recording of the return of 'The Flying Scotsman' a distant memory stirred. My father's parents used to live in an end of terrace house a few metres from the railway tracks and just stone's throw from the signal box at Branksome Station, which is on the main line between Bournemouth and Poole. I remember that the house used to shake every time a train went past! I used to watch the steam hauled trains a lot and could see quite a number of signals and points from a vantage point in the garden. I actually made myself a sort of 'lever frame' with two rows of sticks, one for the signals and the other for the points. (Sad isn't it?) Anyway, one day an engine arrived with quite a few wagons attached and it started to shunt the wagons onto various tracks in a nearby goods yard (now a car park according to Google Maps). I was sitting at my lever frame 'operating' the signals and points, mimicking what the signal man was doing, whilst eating apples picked from a tree in the garden. The engine crew could see that I was very interested in what they were doing and could also see that I was picking and eating apples. At this point my sister joined me and they asked us to throw a couple of apples to them which we did. Then, to our amazement, they asked us if we would like a ride whilst they did some shunting. We had to get our dad to give his permission, which was granted  We then climbed through the garden fence and they hauled us up onto the footplate. Apart from shovelling some coal and sounding the whistle I don't remember much more, but what an experience! I Doubt if many other people would have had such a privilege would they? I'd be very interested to know if any of you guys have. I have since wondered. Would the engine crew have got into trouble if found out? The signal box, which was at the Bournemouth end of the Branksome station Up platform, has now gone as have the goods yard and the tracks which formed the link between Bournemouth Central (as it was once known) and the no-longer-existing Bournemouth West station. The spur to the old Bournemouth West has been re-modelled and is now used to stable the modern day electrics. Just in case anyone is interested, I have attached a picture of the area concerned showing the positions of the old signal box, the Goods Yard, the house and my 'lever frame' in the garden. I've also added a link (see below) which shows the current UK rail network and where the old tracks were that have since been lifted. I hope it makes sense. www.railmaponline.com/ULIEMap.php Happy days. Bugsy Post has attachments. Log in to view them. Everything that you make will be useful - providing it's made of chocolate. Log in to reply The following user said thank you: kbarber |
| Footplate Ride in the 1950s 22/03/2016 at 10:10 #81302 | |
kbarber
1742 posts |
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...) Log in to reply |
| Footplate Ride in the 1950s 23/03/2016 at 22:18 #81328 | |
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Foulounoux
26 posts |
More recent 1976 and the introduction of the 313 GN Electrics Mum and aunties off to the sales met a guard/inspector coming up to retirement. I wasnt with them Somehow my interest in trains was mentioned and he made an offer to mum to get me a cab ride in both a 313 and a 312. Unfortunately for me they didn't get the full contact details. Spent several weeks trying to find him I guess today not only would H&S have a fit but child protection would also be on red alert Colin Log in to reply |
| Footplate Ride in the 1950s 24/03/2016 at 07:47 #81329 | |
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simmybear
58 posts |
My dad and I wangled one on a shunting engine at Bude on the 'Withered Arm' in the 60's not long before the Bude branch closed - I think the smell of steam got in my blood then - not the modern preserved in aspic, rose tinted spectacles preserved steam but proper dirty honest doing an everyday job sort of steam, without a fuss or a fanfare as it had for donkeys years.
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| Footplate Ride in the 1950s 24/03/2016 at 13:36 #81330 | |
postal
5264 posts |
" said:Nice memory.Keith Please just write the book and put us all out of our misery. “In life, there is always someone out there, who won’t like you, for whatever reason, don’t let the insecurities in their lives affect yours.” – Rashida Rowe Log in to reply The following users said thank you: BarryM, TimTamToe, Westrail, AndyG, JamesN, headshot119, Forest Pines, Steamer, KymriskaDraken |
| Footplate Ride in the 1950s 24/03/2016 at 16:16 #81332 | |
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Westrail
26 posts |
I agree just write the book 
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