A bit of a country lad this Driver. Close to retirement he still ferreted rabbits. I remember one trip with him when we struck a pheasant between stations on a Tonbridge to Redhill run. On the way back he stopped the train, picked up the pheasant and put it in his bag.
was with him one day on a BR Standard Tank with a passenger train just entering Eridge Station where we were terminating. The platform was my side, open countryside on his.
“Anyone about on the platform?” he asked.
“Can’t see anyone”, I replied. He pulled out a catapult, loaded it with a pebble and aimed it at a crow sitting on top of an oak tree in the field by his side. It was quite some way away. I can still see the pebble today as it swung side to side on its way towards the crow.
The crow survived, but only just, minus a few feathers. A big squawk as it flew off to safety. At the same time the driver pulled the train to a perfect halt at the station.
He was obviously in a bit of a prankster mood. The shunter had uncoupled us and we were waiting for the signal to clear in order for us to run round the train for the return journey. As you can imagine there is always a bit of noise around on a live steam engine such as steam emissions and burning coal. Ideal for throwing your voice.
“Help” came the thrown voice.
“Help. Let me out”.
The shunter looked out of the cab onto the station.
“Help”. He looked out on the other side.
“Help. Let me out”. The shunter climbed down and looked under the engine and the carriages. I’d heard the Driver do this before. I was in fits and had to lean out of the window to try and hide my laughter and tearful eyes. The Driver stopped throwing his voice and the shunter never found out he had been pranked.
I was with this Driver on another occasion. We were in a Crompton diesel, hooked up and ready to leave with a freight train from Tonbridge West Yard to Maidstone. Time was on our hands. It was 2.0am with another hour before departure time.
“Time for some tea”, the Driver said. Boiling water for the tea was in the Shunters Cabin. There was a coal fired range with a large hotplate with 4 kettles gently boiling on top. The Shunters cabin was in darkness. The Shunter was inside resting his eyes.
“Go on then. Make the tea”, said the Driver again. “And when you’ve finished just pop these onto the hot plate” he added. He handed me a couple of tablets. I had no idea what these tablets were. I was young and, well, just did what my Driver told me to do. I made the tea and as I was leaving placed the tablets onto the hot plate. Back in the cab we were enjoying our cuppa when suddenly I noticed the light come on in the Shunters cabin. He was not a happy bunny. He came over to us shouting and swearing. He was coughing like mad and his eyes were streaming.
The Driver didn’t tell me what those tablets were but I presume they were sulphur.
1 Driver, 1 blog and a few experiences. I still have a few more Motive Power experiences to tell. Some more in the next blog.
Comments ()