30th July 1962. This was the starting day of my career on the railway. I started at the age of just 14 years old. Well it was the day before my 15th birthday. I had to go to Brighton for my medical and started work as a junior porter at Redhill, Surrey, the following day on my birthday.
I wanted to become a signalman, but as there were no vacancies for a box boy I had to start as a junior porter. I was based in the parcels office and my job involved internal mail sorting, collecting and sending mail via guards on passing trains and assisting the unloading of GPO mailbags from guards vans. This could be quite hard work and pressure was on to unload these bags ASAP to keep the trains running on time. I remember once throwing a mailbag from the guards van onto the platform and almost hit a passing passenger. In a very posh and threatening way he responded with “If that had hit me I would have sued you”. I was a bit more careful from then on.
Some of the trains were long, especially in the rush hour, up to 12 coach EMUs. You didn’t know which compartment the guard would be in and so on many occasions I would have to dodge in and out of waiting passengers to reach the guard. One trick I caught onto was if the train was moving into the station slowly, and the guard was in the front of the train I could jump onto the footboard and travel along the platform hanging onto the hand guards. I could even chat to the guard until the train came to a halt. On one occasion though I got caught out. I had jumped onto the footboard and was talking to the guard. There was another train though, visible through the windows, on the through line which must have been travelling at the same speed as us. It gave the impression that we had stopped. We hadn’t and when I put my feet down onto the platform I was dragged along until we came to a halt. Oooops. Another near miss I suppose. Missed that on the last blog. Any way I stopped doing that. I was about 4 months into my junior porter role. I worked 2 shifts, 1 week early shift (7m to 3pm) and 1 week late shift (2pm to 10pm). One late shift I had finished and was waiting for my train to take me home. In it came, 3 coaches being drawn by a BR Standard Locomotive. Before I got onto the train the fireman got of the engine and came over to me. I’d never met him before but he knew me. He was courting the elder sister of a school friend of mine. He invited me onto the footplate for my journey home. It was only 3 stops. But even today, nearly 55 years later, I can recollect the senses of smell (oil, coal, smoke and sweat), noise (steam, shovel, whistle and rail joints) and movement (rocking and lurching). 3 stops and 20 minutes. Completely hooked. I’ll never forget those 20 minutes. The next day I handed my letter in requesting a transfer to the Motive Power department. After 6 months service I transferred from junior porter and started as an engine cleaner at the depot at Redhill. One other change: NUR to ASLEF.
Well that’s it for this blog. In the next blog I’ll tell you about my engine cleaning at Redhill, in particular in relation to pre Health and Safety at Works Act and my near dismissal (the sack).
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