Has anybody got any interesting stories about there time on the railway or have any stories about the railway?
The more obscure the better.
Or even better any claim to fames?
Well, a couple of minor claims to fame... I'm on the cover of the old Ian Allan Colour Portfolio book on the 50s, sat in the secondmans seat of 50 039shortly after I'd transferred to Old Oak from Stonebridge Park in August 1983. I'm also in one of the shots in John Vaughan's "Diesels In The Duchy" on a railtour back in 1979, aged 14.
Not so much a 'story', more an anecdote really... Wednesday 23rd November 1983... I was travelling from Hammersmith to Paddington on the first Met Line train of the morning, heading for the Old Oak staff bus for an early shed turn, as the LT train approached Padd I could see the derailed coaches of the Up Sleeper and 50 041 on it's side under Bishops Road Bridge.... it was eerily silent but there was still a lot of dust hanging in the air. I got off and proceeded to the country end of the platform to have a look, there weren't many people around but those I saw were all in railway uniforms so I left and headed to the Praed St entrance and the staff van. Along with the bus driver, there was just me, an old hand driver and a guard travelling to Old Oak that morning, and the discussion soon turned to who the driver might be aboard Bulwark. We knew it was an Old Oak man as the diagram was an out and back turn to Bristol, taking the 02.15 papers down and bringing the Sleeper back up. Arriving at Old Oak we went into the lobby to find a large number of other drivers, secondmen and the office staff milling around, talking about the accident. With nothing moving in or out of Padd we all had nowhere to go and spent most of the morning chatting and supping tea. The shed turn kept three of us busy for a while though as the night shift had left some locos for us to fuel and berth around the table, and the ones booked out to morning trains still had to be shifted out of the way, despite not being able to go past the shed exit signal.
Not a day I shall forget in a hurry.
