My 50 Years as a Southern Railwayman

by P J Shannon

  I am still none the wiser if it really worked or was just a waste of money. I suppose if we had continued to carry on without so many changes, it probably would have worked but there was so much movement of personnel it was not really possible to get to know people before they were off to pastures new.

  I covered Ascot in early March, then from 12th March until 23rd March, I covered Howard at Richmond. Then he was promoted, so I continued to cover the patch from 24th March 1990 until 15th June 1990. On 28th March I also covered Ascot and Richmond, 22nd April was rugby at Twickenham, I had my full loads examination on 23rd and my Health & Safety examination at Watford on 3rdMay, both of which I passed. On 5th and 12th May I was at Twickenham again for the rugby.

  On 15th May, my Health & Safety tour of the area with Syd Monday, the LDC Rep, turned out to be quite amusing. I was sitting in the Station Manager’s Office when Syd knocked on the door and I told him to come on in and sit down. I asked him how he was, to which he replied. ”Oh Mr Shannon, I do feel queer”, then grinned, quickly realising what he had just said. “What am I talking about, I am queer.” Yes, Syd was gay and always happy to laugh at himself. I offered him a cup of tea which he gratefully accepted and as soon as we had finished off we went on our tour of inspection.

  In the meantime a young woman named Becci Croft-Griggs, who was the Red Star Manager at Feltham, had applied for the vacant position at Richmond and got the job so I was given the task of training her. Fortunately she was a very different kettle of fish from the last young girl that I had trained. She had a little more flair and would prove in time to be a very good station manager. On our first day I explained that with the job you always needed to be ready for the unexpected and to have the right gear, high visibility coat, emergency keys and equipment, close at hand at all times. So for the first few days she would wear her HV coat as we made our visits to out-stations and signal boxes such as Richmond, Barnes and Point Pleasant.

  However, on one occasion when I was training her we met up at Richmond for our usual start to the day, but that day she was meeting someone later, so she was not wearing her usual protective HV coat, just a waistcoat type. Our first task was to check on the booking office then head up to Putney booking office and on to Wandsworth Town, and then to Point Pleasant box, which was a ten minute walk along the track. On our arrival at the box the weather was fine but I noticed that there was a lot of black cloud forming over London and coming our way, so I wanted to get in and out of the box as quickly as possible. Becci was so involved that she overstayed our regular time allowance and by the time we left it was beginning to rain, and during our walk back to Wandsworth Town it tipped it down and by the time we got there she was drenched. She learned her lesson, but to be fair to her she did not complain but she got a change of clothing and we carried on. The next stop was Ascot where we did some points winding, then around to Camberley for some local control of the CCTV controlled barriers. By this time, it was well into the afternoon, so we stopped off at Bagshot and called in at home. Jenny was glad to see us and offered us the usual cup of tea and asked Becci if we had stopped for lunch. On hearing the negative reply, Jenny was furious with me and made Becci sit down while she made her something to eat, but the only mouthful that I got was the words out of her mouth.

  Becci had a couple of sessions out on the track doing engineering work and signal box training with Barry and she passed all her tasks with flying colours and was deemed to be competent to take over Richmond area as Station Manager.

  One Saturday I was called to Barnes engineering works, as an H.M.R.I. Inspector passing the site was not happy with mechanical equipment movements on the down local platform. I arrived at Barnes to find that the possession was as per the Weekly Notice and protection was as it should be and that all trains were routed down the through platform, so I reported my findings to the Movements Manager who was satisfied with my observations.

  On 26th May 1990 I had my appraisal with our Customer Service Manager, David Gould, who set my objectives for the next year as:

  Set an “Improvement Team” to improve the performance of the Revenue Collection Protection Supervisors in the area.

  Formulate an evacuation plan for Wimbledon Station in association with the London Transport and Emergency Services.

  Devise a system for all Station Managers to eliminate the duplication of work when the position is relieved.

  Co–ordinate the installation of Safety signs for the area.

  Of course all this was in addition to my own job as RSM.

  Late in May we held interviews for the posts of Revenue Protection Inspectors for the Hounslow Loop and selected Shah, one of my old guards, and Danny Duncan Jnr for the posts.

  2nd June 1990 saw a possession of the platforms at Richmond for track clearance from 01.00am until 04.00am. The staff did a good job on them, finishing ready for Monday morning.

  As we had nobody on holiday and I had no other commitment, I continued at Richmond until Friday 15th June when Becci had settled in.

  From 2nd until 6th July 1990 I was covering Becci at Richmond, and whilst doing an out-of-hours visit to Twickenham on 4th July I was contacted by the Regulator of Feltham Panel to tell me that there had been an incident at Barnes and that the Signalman, D. Duncan, wished to speak to me. I phoned Barnes signal box and spoke to him and he explained that the passing grain train was on the down through platform. I expressed surprise and suggested that he meant in the down through platform. The signalman replied that he only wished that was true, but that the train was indeed on the platform. I swiftly made my way there. On my arrival at the box, the signalman explained how the incident had happened. He had had a barrier failure on the crossing towards Hounslow and had allowed the train to proceed towards it, but was unable to lower the barriers. Consequently, the up and down main lines from Reading to Waterloo and Waterloo to Reading had failed, bringing most trains to a standstill. He advised the driver of the grain train to reverse back into the down main platform, forgetting that he had routed the down Waterloo to Windsor from the through line to the down local and had forgotten to normalise the points at the London end of the station, causing the grain train to run through them. To make matters worse, when the barrier failure was rectified, he authorised the grain train to proceed on its way, not realising that it had run through the points, causing the front of the third last wagon to carry on down the through line and the rear wheels and the last two wagons to progress down the local line, causing the split line wagon to travel sideways until it ran out of space, thus causing the buffers to mount the platform removing some of the coping-stones.

  He admitted that it was his fault. I then signed the TRB and made my way down to the platform to take stock of the situation. Sure enough the train was where he said it was, with the buffers on the DT platform and some of the coping-stones were dislodged. Fortunately there was nothing derailed, but as the station had complete canopy cover it would be impossible to lift anything, so somehow we would have to get the wagon buffers off and the wheels back to their right lines. After about 5 or 6 minutes of intense study, I was able to telephone Traffic Control and update them on the situation and advise them to alert building, breakdown, permanent way and signalling departments to rectify the situation. I also explained that I would need an extra engine, hopefully from Clapham Junction, which would be needed to haul the two wagons and the damaged one back there. This done, I realised that I would need some extra help, so I asked the signalman to advise Steve McColl, and the Area Movements Inspector, Frank Wynn, who had taken over from Barry Cornick.

  By this time, Traffic Control had diverted most of the train services out of Waterloo via Twickenham and the only trains that we had to worry about were coming up the local from Hounslow. There was only about an hour before the service closed down for the night, and there was very little I could do until the other departments arrived, so I just had to be patient. Finally Frank and Steve arrived and I was able to put them in the picture, and it was a
greed that Steve would go to the Signal box and speak to Control and when the engine arrived from Clapham, Frank and I would deal with it. Soon the other departments arrived and after a confab it was decided that the only option was for the breakdown crew to torch the buffers off so that we could move the wagon. In the meantime, the building department were assessing the platform and coping-stones. Within about an hour the buffers were off and this allowed us to move the train carefully along the line to the set of points at the country end which were in the normal position. With the front wheel of the damaged train past the points, we stopped and reversed them to allow the rear set of wheels to pass over. Now we had the train where we wanted and we could uncouple the front wagons from the damaged ones, do a brake test and allow the train to continue its journey with four less wagons. While we were doing this, the engine from Clapham had arrived on the down local line and was standing on the home signal waiting for me to bring it into the platform. Throughout all this, we were keeping Control informed and giving estimates of the time we thought we would finish, as they were already concerned about the morning service.

  Finally it was time for me to go to the home signal and bring the engine into the platform, warning everybody to cease work while I was bringing it in. Reaching the signal, I spoke to the signalman and asked for permission to pass the signal at danger and proceed into the DL platform where the three wagons were. Then I coupled up the train, did a brake test and all was ready for the train to depart on the wrong line back to Clapham. Within the next few minutes, the train departed, so it was now down to the other departments to clear up. The building department were busy replacing coping-stones and making the platform safe, and the S/T were securing the points in the normal position. Control were concerned about their service starting time as it was now getting on for 08.00am. With minutes to spare, everybody was clear and we were ready to roll. I spent a last half hour with Steve up in the signal box to complete the paperwork and then we went off to find a café for breakfast and have a chat about the night’s work, which I think we had handled well.

  While still covering Richmond, I was to experience one of the saddest occasions in my whole railway career. I was in the SMs Office when I received a call from the Panel Regulator to tell me that there had been an incident on the Hounslow Loop just on the country side of Brentford station. The driver of a freightliner travelling towards the London Midland via Kew Bridge had stopped at a signal phone and had reported a small body lying on the down line which appeared to be across the juice rail. Emergency services had been called and the current discharged on both lines. Services up and down the loop had been diverted, and I was asked to get over there as soon as possible. Without further delay, I enlisted the help of Eddie Hilton who was the Station Supervisor on duty at the time and had his car parked in the staff car park. He drove us to Brentford as I explained the situation to him. By the time we arrived there the ambulance and police were already there waiting for us. I then had to call the Panel advising them of our arrival, and got their assurance that the current was still off.

  We made our way down the track until we came across the body of a small boy aged about 7 or 8 years old lying across the juice rail. On giving the ambulance men and police my assurance that the current was off, they examined him for any sign of life. But unfortunately there was none, there was nothing that they could do and he was declared dead at the scene; he had suffered a massive electric shock. They then gently lifted his little body from the track and put it on a stretcher and covered it over with a blanket and we all returned to the station, where the body was put into the ambulance and sped off. It was now my job to get the current restored and the service up and running again. In the meantime, the police, Eddie and I went back to the place where we found the boy to try and discover where and how he got onto the line, but there was no tell-tale sign of entry. All along the line on the down side was a solid wall about 10 foot high protecting a playing field, all of which was intact and all the fencing further along was also intact. There appeared to be no means of entry, so, satisfied with the fact that there seemed no reasonable way for others to gain entry to the track, we returned to the station, informing the Panel of our findings, and I insisted that the Permanent Way should be called to make a close inspection of all the line-side fencing between Brentford and Syon Lane to be sure that we had not missed anything. As there was nothing further that we could do, the police officer went off to make some local enquiries, and Eddie and I made our way back to Richmond in complete silence. It was so upsetting that a young lad had lost his life in such bizarre circumstances. I was sure that this tragedy would remain with Eddie and me for a long time to come, and so it proved.

  It was not for some days that we discovered what had happened. It appeared that a gang of kids used to use the line as a short cut from one side to the other and they got on to BR property by climbing a tree on the other side of the wall, down the tree on BR land, then crossing the line. On the day in question, the gang crossed the line and the youngster tripped and fell on the live rail electrocuting himself, and all the other kids fled the scene in panic. Needless to say the tree was cut down immediately.

  From the 9th until 13th July 1990 I was covering Charlie at Surbiton and was given a couple of complimentary tickets for the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show which I enjoyed very much.

  I covered for Brian at Kingston and Les at Staines until 17th August, and then returned to Richmond for another couple of weeks. From 11th September until 21st September I covered Surbiton. From the 24th September until the 19th October I was covering Brian at Wimbledon as he had been seconded to the Safety Department at the Area Manager’s Office, Feltham. The station was undergoing refurbishment so it was in quite a state with workmen laying terrazzo tiles in the concourse, putting up new signs and new doors. It was a mess but it was something for me to sort out, so I got on with it, and by the time he returned, nearly everything was shipshape and I think that he was fairly pleased with my contribution. On Sunday 30th September I dealt with engineering work between Wimbledon and Raynes Park, so at least one of my days was dealing with something I really liked doing.

  In late October, I was at Crewe on another course for which I have got a certificate.

  Early November saw me covering Ascot, which included an out-of-ours visit to Wokingham at 05.45am. Then I was down on the patch until 08.00am, then to Waterloo for a ‘Driver Only Operating’ meeting which resulted in being able to move empty stock under these conditions, I think. The following week, I was covering Epsom and attending drivers’ long service awards at Feltham.

  On 18th November I carried out an inspection on Absolute Possession of the Line according to Rule Book Section Tiii. I had to check on an engineering possession at Blackwater which involved quite a lot of paper work, starting with the name of the person carrying out the inspections. All the following information was required: date, start time, finish time, location, name of PICOP and do they have track safety certificate, taking the possession and track current isolation, Train Register Book etc.

  Although these checks were satisfactorily carried out there was no numerical audit so that if each item checked was given a number for compliance you could by totalling your sheet give an honest result of pass or fail for the check.

  I was not very happy about this arrangement and always insisted that the traffic men doing this sort of check should have a Permanent way Manager or Supervisor with them whilst they are doing it and any discrepancies could be dealt with on the spot, instead of a report on their desk the next morning, something that I would rectify at a later date.

  So I was back to my usual routine from 19th November until 23rd, covering Epsom and Wimbledon with no major problems. From 26th until 30th I was covering Richmond, then Wimbledon, Surbiton and Richmond again until the end of the year.

  Promotion to Operations Manager

  1991 started much the same as the previous year, covering most of the areas for leave, except for the first week w
hen I was required to cover the Supervisor at Richmond, Eddie Hilton.

  Just about this time Steve McColl was promoted from Area Operations Manager to AOPM Watford, and a young Management Trainee, Crispian Jezard, was appointed to Steve’s job. This was a sharp learning curve for Chris, working a suburban area. I vividly remember one day out on the patch with him when we called in to my home for something to eat and as Chris was a vegetarian, my wife made him a vegetarian lasagne which he thought was brilliant. For the next week or so he kept complimenting her on it, as I think that he generally lived out of tins and enjoyed this home-made fare.

  I think it was around this time, when Brian Aynsley was seconded full time to the Safety Department at the AMO Feltham, and I was to cover his patch for the next month or so, that I was tasked with developing a general evacuation plan for Wimbledon in association with London Transport and the emergency services as part of my Performance Review. This was no mean feat. I had to arrange meetings with the various services which was a nightmare, but persistence prevailed and the meetings were arranged and problems thrashed out. Basically as I saw it, a system was needed to alert the services of the reason for evacuating the station or stopping the train service. This would usually be a bomb threat, which was in the ascendancy in those days or some other major threat. This would require a coded message to be transmitted across the station broadcasting system by the Panel box. On receiving such a broadcast, the supervisor or SM was to contact the Panel and arrange what action was to be taken, to contact LT for their trains to be stopped short and emergency services called to deal with the problem. A member of staff would be detailed to attend at the front of the station to inform emergency services what the problem was and the location, then phone down to the SM or Supervisor and inform that emergency services had arrived so that he could meet them.