by P J Shannon
Ascot, in those days, was a big station and very busy with five platforms, two goods yards - one with a turntable, an engine shed, a goods shed and office, two signal boxes and an extra platform to the country side of the station called the race platform. On race days passengers would be detrained here and the stock berthed to await their return. At the country end of each main platform was a water column fed from a huge tank located at the top of platform 1, and on summer Saturdays we used to have a quick dip in it. There was also a lamp-room well away from the rest of the buildings at the country end of platform 1. Many a happy hour I spent in there cleaning, trimming, and filling the lamps. On No 1 platform there was also a W. H. Smith’s, toilets, offices for the Foreman, Station Master and Area Inspector, a waiting-room, booking and parcels offices, cycle store and a staff-room. The only way of gaining access to the other four platforms was via the subway below the station. This situation was not ideal but it remained this way for a number of years until it was decided to build a bridge across from platform 1 to platform 2.
I settled in very quickly and seemed to have plenty of time on my hands. I soon discovered that there was a basement under the floor of the parcels office and I would disappear down there for a while to explore. There was nothing much under there except rubbish, but for a young lad it was exciting! Saturdays afternoon were the best, for after I had mopped and scrubbed the parcels and booking office floors, Stan Sharman, the Booking Clerk, would allow me to serve the passengers with tickets and later in the day he would allow me to book up, under his supervision of course. This experience would be a great asset to me in the years to come. There were all manner of tickets; Platform, Single valid for 3 days, Cheap Day Return, Period Return, valid for 3 months, Privilege valid for one month, 1st and 2nd class, Excursion tickets to the coast. You name it; there was usually a ticket for it. Then there were season tickets; monthly, 3 monthly, blank, weekly, five day workman and several others such as those for Railway Officials who were issued with Passes and Medals.
On most Saturdays two young sisters, Marjorie and June Mossman, used to travel to Reading on a shopping trip. Stan and I became very friendly with them. June was the younger one and she worked in the Chemist’s shop in Sunningdale, and on my late shift I would meet up with her on her lunch break and cycle with her to Ascot where she lived. We would natter and chatter about all topics until we got to the road where she lived and I would continue on to the station. I think that I even arranged a date for her with some lad that she was keen on.
Royal Ascot Races, June 1956
I had been in the job for just a few months when the preparations started for my first experience of Ascot Races. This was one of the social highlights of the flat racing season. Around fifty thousand people would generally go to Ascot during the four days of the Royal Meeting. The races date back to 1771 and were founded by Queen Anne who was a race horse owner and the occasion has always enjoyed Royal patronage. The Royal meeting always opens with the Queen Anne stakes and among other valuable races is the Ascot Gold Cup. The Queen is usually resident in Windsor Castle for Ascot week. One of the most spectacular moments is when Her Majesty the Queen drives up the course from Swinley Bottom to the royal box in an open coach pulled by a team of matched grey horses.
This meant that the platform edges had to be re-whitened, bushes between the platforms trimmed and a lot of painting took place. The old First Aid room in the station forecourt was fitted out with racks to hold left luggage.
I was approached by Mr Davidge and asked if I would come off my roster and look after the luggage, and to this I readily agreed.
Ascot Races were usually held from Tuesday to Saturday and my birthday fell on 16th June which was generally on one of the days of the race week. The date soon came round and I found myself in charge of the left luggage office. The procedure for leaving items was very simple, with three or four different set of charges depending on the size of the items and how long they were required to stay in the office.
It all started at about 9 o’clock with the arrival of British Transport Police, Ticket Inspectors, extra porters and cleaners and their respective chiefs. They would generally be allocated a room on No 5 platform to work from. The next influx was the arrival of the bookies, course workers, tipsters etc. who would generally call into the Ascot Hotel for breakfast and a drink. One of the tipsters was a very flamboyant character and went by the name of Prince Monolulu. He was of African descent and wore a complete outfit of feathers and a head dress. His pet phrase was “I’ve got a horse…” and he would use it to try and sell his tips to passers-by.
The race goers would arrive from about 10 o’clock onwards, with packed trains arriving every 10 minutes or so. Special trains ran from Shrewsbury, Birmingham, Gloucester, Leominster and various other places across England. This was all so exciting, with crowds of people who had saved up their money all year for this one week of racing at Ascot. It was, of course, not without some incidents such as ticket fraud, stolen wallets, drunkenness and some fighting, but there were always plenty of British Transport Police to deal with them.
Passengers and bookies would generally leave some of their cases or brief cases in the Left Luggage Office until they were ready to go to the race course then retrieve them, generally at a cost of sixpence or a shilling. The crowds, once estimated at about 50,000 people, would continue to pour off the trains until about 1 o’clock when it would start to go quiet. This signalled the opportunity for the staff to have their lunch before starting to get ready for the exodus.
This was very well organised; Q Boards would be exhibited at the front of the station for all the special trains, giving the platform number and the time of departure. This operation was well oiled and most of the passengers were sent on their way successfully, but as the public is very fickle, the odd passenger would end up on the wrong train or miss it altogether and would have to be sent to London or Reading to catch a train home. It generally took several hours to disperse all the homeward bound passengers, often until 10 o’clock at night.
Thursday was the best day by far because it was Ladies’ Day and it has a hint of glamour about it. All the ladies would arrive in their finery and were a spectacle to behold; hats, dresses and shoes from the best Paris and London makers. It must have cost the earth, but I didn’t begrudge them their day out.
The week was now going rapidly and it seemed no time at all before it was Saturday. This was the day when the ordinary race goer would attend, but this again had its moments. Although it lacked the glamour of the other days, there was nevertheless a good crowd. At the beginning of the day’s racing, the bookies, who had left their boards and cases in the Luggage Office overnight, would pick them up for the last time and give me a shilling or two for looking after them so well during the week.
The end of race week saw me back in the parcels office. I had really enjoyed the experience, but it was now back to the mundane task of dealing with parcels until the next race meeting.
My Education Continues
My education in the Booking Office continued under Stan’s guidance and I became very proficient in accountancy work. He and I became good friends and although he was a little older than I, this did not seem to matter. He owned a motor scooter and we used to go out for an occasional ride. Stan was greatly interested in photography and used to like to take photos of flora and other things of interest, and we had some great times.
On Saturdays when I was on early turn I used to play football for Sunningdale in the afternoon, and would go out with my other non-railway friends during the evenings. However, one of my friends, John (Razor) Hamblin, worked as a train driver, and was also from a railway family. His father was the ganger of the permanent way department at Ascot. Razor used to ride a BSA Bantam and I had a 1932 Morris 10. During the summer, because the engine would over-heat, we used to take the bonnet off and tie it on the rack at the back. This, as you can imagine, was some sight to see! I remember one particular occasion when I was r
eturning from a dance with my then girl friend, Ellen from Finchamstead, my friend Jim Teague, and his girl, Nessa. Jim was driving. When we stopped at a crossroads, we felt a bump and heard a bang. On investigating, we found Razor lying on the road, his bike in the ditch; he had run into the back of us. On seeing that he and the bike were all right, we bundled him into the car and I rode the motor cycle home for him.
Another time we all went to Hammersmith Palais in London, which featured Joe Loss and his band. We warned Razor that he would have to behave himself, but as sure as eggs are eggs and knowing him as we did, we were not surprised to find him standing on the pavement outside when it finished. He had been thrown out for making a nuisance of himself. Needless to say, we dropped him off before going on to another friend’s house, that of John and Mike Poulton, for a last drink before going home. Mike was deaf and dumb and a really nice lad. I learned some sign language and was able to communicate with him and we had some great times with them.
Approximately 3 miles to the country side of the main station was Ascot West, the winter quarters of Bertram Mills’ circus. It had several sidings and its own signal box, and all their stock used to be berthed there over the winter months. The usual procedure was for the train to arrive at the main station and some of the animals would be unloaded and walked to their quarters.
One particular late autumn day a circus train arrived and parked up in the dock road at the main station where the elephants were unloaded. This caused a great deal of excitement because the elephants were usually painted different colours. On this occasion it was said that when they passed the pub in the station forecourt, a fellow well known to the landlord for taking a little more drink that he should, was looking out of the window and saw pink elephants passing by and, so it was rumoured, gave up the drink on the spot.
This was not the only incident involving these elephants. A couple of years later, a certain signalman named Cyril Gould entered the Parcels Office with a parcel addressed to our new Station Master, Mr Powell, which I duly entered in the Inwards Counter Book and I proceeded to his office to inform him of the said parcel’s arrival. Within a short space of time he collected and signed for the parcel and took it to his flat above the station. It was not long before he was back in the parcels office demanding to know who had sent him an elephant’s droppings. I was at a loss to explain this and could only say that it had arrived in the office without me having any knowledge of it. Unfortunately this explanation was not really good enough for him and Cyril and I spent the next day cleaning out the toilets.
Another time, the big cat tamer, Alex Kerr, came to the station to weigh his tigers. He had both of them on leads and asked if he could use our scales to weigh them. I wheeled out our Pooley scales into the small secluded yard at the back of the office for him to do the weighing. Alex was wearing his usual jungle safari clothing with a pistol and holster slung around his waist and a whip. I must admit that when I had closed both the gates to the yard I had an uninterrupted view of the proceedings from the safety of the other side of the wall. I had no intention of getting too near to those big cats!
That year on the railway passed quickly and I was taught a great deal, not only by Stan, but also by Mr Bryant, the Chief Clerk. He must have spotted some potential in me, as I was allowed to do other Booking Office duties such as ordering ticket stock, ink for the date presses and new counter books from the General Stores. When everything arrived it had to be checked and signed for and a copy sent back to the stores. I quite enjoyed doing something different and was keen to learn more.
Christmas was now approaching rapidly. I had now been on the railway for 10 months and it seemed that I had been there all my life. I had got used to the shifts of 06.00am to 2.00pm and 2.00pm until 10.00pm. At that time, Junior Porters were not allowed to work after 10.00pm and I often wondered what it was like to work late.
Christmas was a very busy time in the Parcels Office what with school trunks traffic (PLA, CL and DL), inward perishable traffic, and catalogue traffic. Probably the best thing was the perks that we used to get from it. Also many of the travelling public, often well known passengers, would put some money into a kitty for all the station staff to be shared out among us at Christmas. Our Christmas box depended on rank and where you worked on the station. We were generally requested to go to the Station Master’s Office and given an envelope with our share in it. This generosity of the public was very much appreciated by all the staff whose wages at that time were sparse to say the least.
The Junior Porters in the parcels office were generally booked on duty until Christmas Eve and we made sure, under the guidance of the Clerical Officer, that every parcel was delivered or dispatched in good time, which was generally about 4.00pm. Then it was time to close the office until the end of the shift. Sometimes there were parcels left for collection and telephone calls would be made to try and ensure that contact was made with whomever the parcel was for so that it could be collected before Christmas day.
Late 1950s
The New Year of 1957 was to be the turning point of my railway career because I would be 18 years old and entitled to work after 10.00pm and could be promoted to Porter, so whenever I got the chance, or when Mr Davidge wanted anybody to do some overtime - generally ticket collecting or cleaning and filling signal lamps - I would volunteer.
It was during this year that I had my first brush with a fatality, when the local coalman was hit by an up fast freight train at the London end of platform one. He seemed to come from behind the fence and walked straight in front of the train, and the train came screeching to a halt some way beyond the spot where the incident occurred. The train and platform staff rushed to the spot to see if they could render assistance. I was not allowed to go anywhere near the scene, but observed from a distance that there was nothing anybody could do but cover the body and wait for the ambulance to arrive. All the safety procedures were either carried out by the train crew or the Station Foreman. After the ambulance had taken the body away, it suddenly occurred to me what a dangerous place the railway could be to work on if you did not comply with its rules and regulations.
I began to get on very well with Mr Davidge and I think that he had me earmarked for a Porter’s job as soon as one became available after my eighteenth birthday. He was also a football supporter and his team was Aldershot as he lived nearby at Ash and as he was aware that I played football for my local team, he arranged a trial for me at Aldershot. Unfortunately, I was not good enough so I did not become a professional footballer but I enjoyed many years playing for my local teams.
I was not surprised when, just after Ascot races in June that year, I was called to Mr Child’s Office and was asked by him and Mr Davidge what my ambitions were and what job I would like to do. I said that I had learned about the booking office and ticket collecting, but that I should like to work on the platform or to do some train coupling or shunting. Mr Childs consulted Mr Davidge as to the possibility and suitability of this. Mr Davidge was of the opinion that although I had a lot to learn he was prepared to have me on his shift and teach me all about the railway beyond the parcels office. So I was given the Acting Porter’s job and told to start training on Monday.
It was not long after this that Mr Childs was promoted to Station Master at Raynes Park and a new Station Master was appointed to Ascot, Richard Powell. He was quite a young man and had his own ideas on how the station should be run. Under his regime, my advancement was extremely slow and I did jobs like Platform Porter and Ticket Collector, which really meant cleaning out and doing the brasses in the gentlemen’s toilets and mopping out the waiting rooms. I tried to do a good job on all of these tasks, but you have to remember that I was not considered grown up enough to work without supervision. I vividly remember one particular day when Mr Powell inspected the waiting room just after I had cleaned it out. He told me that in his opinion I had not put enough water on the floor and that I should mop it again and that he would return to see that I had done it prope
rly. Without hesitation or argument, I said “Yes sir, anything you, say sir”, and off he went. Needless to say, I thought that I had completed the task perfectly, but as the man said more water was needed, more water it should be. I did not complain about my treatment to anybody but went to the shed where we kept the old fire fighting equipment which consisted of a sort of barrel on wheels and a stirrup pump. This I filled to the brim and took to the waiting room door, where I proceeded to pump the contents into the Waiting Room which had a nice parquet floor. This treatment did not do it a lot of good! When Mr Powell returned to inspect the result of my handiwork he was not too pleased and I was ordered to clean it up properly, so it was jankers for me.
Despite all these trials and tribulations, we were awarded First prize in the best kept station competition in 1958 and a Second in 1959.
I was eventually officially promoted to Porter Coupler on my twentieth birthday on 16th June 1959.
I was issued with the Company’s Rule Book by Mr Davidge, which he told me would be my bible containing everything I needed to know. He then read out some of its contents to me:
Every employee must assist in carrying out the Rules and Regulations, and must report immediately to his Supervisor any infringement thereof, or any occurrence which may come under his notice affecting the safe and proper working of the railway.
An employee may from time to time be required to undergo medical, eyesight, practical or educational examinations in accordance with the Regulations in force.
Must not waste or wantonly destroy stationery stores or other property of the Railway Executive.
Must not consume intoxicating liquor whilst on duty. It must also be understood the Railway Executive may at any time, dismiss without notice, suspend from duty and, after inquiry dismiss without notice, or suspend from duty, as a disciplinary measure for any one of the following offences.
