Helen Jackson, believed to be the last widow of a US Civil War veteran died on December 16 last year (2020). Yes, you read that correctly.
At privatisation the grade required for First Class had already risen beyond MS1, and I am fairly sure beyond MS2 also, as I know to my cost as each time I got promotion I was about six months behind the date at which my new grade would have qualified First Class. I can't recall exact dates of subsequent promotions other than was appointed to my first MS1 post in 1991, I am pretty sure I had reached MS2 before privatisation but despite then fairly soon advancing to MS3 I never reached the threshold for First Class.
I recall a tale of a Guard who on encountering a metal fob pass said 'I want to see your ticket not your jewellery'. I cannot vouch for the truth of this tale!
I attained first class travel as an MS1 in 1973 in my early 20s. The sight of a scruffy rock climber who had not seen soap for several days often had the "chef de train" or "Schaffner" dashing for his mates before tackling me for a ticket check!
By privatisation first class entitlement had risen to MS4.
As most in our section were sufficiently up the ladder to hold Status passes, we minions providing support to them had the use of 'Bearer' duty passes endorsed something along the lines of 'Valid in First Class when accompanying the holder of a First Class pass'. The only occasion I was able to avail myself of this facility was a return trip from Watford Jn to Hemel, first class in 2 + 2 seating!, not even 'proper' first class to me.
In the Computer Bureau at Crewe it seemed even the tea lady was MS1 ! There were some very young staff who qualified for both First Class and the unlimited regional pass.
I also recall waiting for a train immediately post privatisation with a group of colleagues all in reasonably smart attire as we were on a business trip when one of our number disappeared. As we boarded the second class portion of the train we spied him emerging from the gents, having changed into casual attire, so that he could pretend he was off duty and use his First Class Status Pass which was not allowed for Duty journeys post privatisation although often abused.
This "tea lady" built the bridges and track you "proper" railwaymen swanned about on!In the Computer Bureau at Crewe it seemed even the tea lady was MS1 ! There were some very young staff who qualified for both First Class and the unlimited regional pass.
Mildly irritated us "proper" railwaymen!
Were there some "grandfather rights" whereby, say, somebody who'd got first class as an MS1 got a regional pass in accordance with the rules when they became an MS1?
There may well have been, that would make sense, but many years have passed since I saw that in print. Probably something like 'accompanying the holder of a First Class Duty Pass' - use of a duty pass implied being on duty and they were endorsed 'for duty purposes only' or similar.
That is correct - I worked with someone who at Privatisation was an MS1 and he had a Blue Scottish Regional Pass which he kept during his employment in the privatised sector (but had to have unbroken service to keep it until he retired) - I had to achieve MS4 equivalence before I got a Silver Status from the "pool" the company had (and what a fight to get it - as the HR in the company that took us over didn't understand it - but got it in the end.)
Switching that first story around completely I once struggled to get through the barrier with my PT dated box at Kentish Town as the guy claimed he'd never seen one before !
I recall getting my annual pensions summary, probably around the late 1980s and - on reading the small print on page n - discovering that the LB & SCR Pension Fund was still in existence!At 222 there were two adjacent lavatory doors, one labelled 'OFFICERS' and one 'GENTLEMEN'. Grades above MS5 were Senior Officer (?or Senior Manager?) and Senior Executive grades. Presumably only these grades could use the Officers lavatory. And by inference you couldn't be both
There were several different messes by grade; the more senior ones had waitress service and wine (later withdrawn). In my early days there as a lowly MS I enquired of a rather short man whether I was in the right queue and mentioned my grade. I'm 6' + tall, but, when explaining I wasn't senior enough for that mess, he still stooped when addressing me to make sure I know I was inferior.
I worked with several ex G.W. men. One of them was a CO4 with first class travel on the ex GW; he was also in the GWR Pension Fund, which had been closed to new entrants long before. However, the surpluses were mounting up, and this was redistributed to the shrinking number of members.
Were these funds not merged into one large general railway pension fund on nationalisation then? Presumably not (would that be because they had to finance differing benefits that dated back to the private companies?).
I suspect the pension funds would only have been for senior, white-collar roles. I think the difficulties with rolling them into one pot would be different benefit levels and different levels of assets.
Indeed. There was also an organisation called" The British Railwaymen's Touring Club"( or something very similar) which organised foreign holidays
Yes, I used all those agents at various times. You just couldn't find the hotels any cheaper than they could, including on one occasion a 4 star hotel in Davos for peanuts.
Such a thing still exists, though it's now known as a Galaxy Pass. For GB Domestic purposes they're treated as being equivalent to a Gold Status Pass.
Thanks - that does sound plausible!
The Touring Club features in this very enjoyable book:
www.waterstones.com