19 September 2024 – Railwayman – Man and Boy (A Southern Engineman’s Memories) by Jim Lester

Jim was born in Chertsey in 1942 within the Surrey Branch area, and has always been very interested in railways, from trainspotting in his early days particularly covering Weybridge, Guildford and Woking, right up to the present day.  One early incident that sticks in his mind was an accident at Chertsey when an early morning passenger train was hit by a freight.  Apparently the freight driver fell asleep but, luckily, there were no major injuries.  There was still a depot at Chertsey at that time with a wide variety of locomotives passing and Jim got to know quite a number of people by showing an interest and talking to them.  He used the popular ABC spotting books and was fascinated by the names of many of the passenger locomotives such as the Nelsons, Schools and King Arthur series.

This led to a career in railways starting in 1957 as a 15 year old.  He was quite determined to become an engine driver with a choice of Feltham or Guildford but there were no vacancies at that time so he went slightly further afield with a job at Nine Elms.  When asked at interview why he wanted to work in railways, and what did he know about them, his early interest and knowledge gained about locomotive names and classes, signalling systems etc, stood him in good stead.  He started work as an engine cleaner which meant big changes for him and a steep ‘learning curve’ with the travel to work and early morning starts, but he progressed well now working on locomotives that he had only seen before – it was just what he wanted.  At around this time, his Aunt Phyllis bought him a Brownie 127 camera which he made very good use of as could be seen from the photographs that Jim used to illustrate his early career, some of them very historic like the Horse Guards riding over the level crossing at Chertsey on their way back to barracks.

As his experience grew, he learned more about the different locomotive types and how well, or badly, they steamed, describing how things worked and his experiences along the way.  He continued to take a great interest in other sheds in the area such as Guildford, with different locomotives, and the photographs showed some of things that Jim was particularly interested in – again quite historic now.  Jim felt he was very lucky in his more experienced work colleagues and learned a great deal from their advice and help whilst mentioning the lack of health and safety in those days!  On one occasion he described an incident when locomotive 30916 had been prepped to haul the Royal Train but the engine broke down with a bang at Vauxhall so they had to make do with a ‘dirty old engine’.  The problem turned out to have been caused by the presence of 6inch nails in the pistons.  It is still not certain whether or not this was accidental except that the nails were identical with those being used in the engine shed roof repairs.

Jim passed out as a cleaner and moved on to learn to trainee fireman based at Guildford and Nine Elms.  This turned out to be a very busy time for him and he explained the system of working and the teams with further photographs taken on his Brownie 127.  He even got the chance to drive.  He was thirsty for knowledge and experience even on his days off and described a visit to the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway where he was given the chance to drive.  Jim was learning fast describing both his routine work and the locomotives that he enjoyed working on.  He continued to make friends with all sorts of good people which proved to be very worthwhile as he learned a great deal more than he otherwise would.  He was not entirely happy at Nine Elms, feeling that he was progressing too slowly, so he moved to Feltham Depot in March 1960 where he gained experience both in firing and driving.  However, as he was keen to work on the mainline, it was time to consider another move – this time back to Nine Elms where he progressed rapidly.  He worked with some great and very experienced drivers and learned an enormous amount from them as illustrated by his descriptions of different locomotive classes, modifications and the best ways to get the most out of them.

During this time, Jim related the story of having to stop at a signal box where he had to fill in a form re Rule 55.  However, the signalman, who always kept his box immaculate, did not want him to enter and spoil the neat and tidy space.  Jim insisted and wrote the entry in the book in beautiful copperplate about the reason for stopping.  The signalman was highly impressed with what he had done which Jim described as a lovely moment.  There was also the time when he had to explain to an inspector about a problem with the Channel Island Boat Train hauled by ‘Sir Eustace Missenden’.  The locomotive had not been running well but Jim had identified and fixed the problem.  This was noted and he was thanked.

Jim continued at Nine Elms becoming part of the Top Link team with plenty of running work mostly on the Salisbury/Bournemouth routes, describing his favourite locomotives and work activities.  With all the stories, working with good colleagues and helping each other out, it is clear that Jim enjoyed his time there.  He has put together an Enginemen’s Gallery of photographs to remember them and we were shown some of the photographs as well as the stories that went with the people pictured.

Just after a year on the Top Link team, he was called into the shed master’s office – he and his colleague driver Alf Hurley had been selected to take Sir Winston Churchill’s funeral train from Waterloo to Hanborough, the closest station to Churchill’s final resting place.  They had to plan carefully and prepare the locomotive - 34051 – to make sure it was beautifully turned out for the occasion.  The journey was described with some lovely historic photographs – from Waterloo, through Richmond, Feltham down to Reading, then onwards through Didcot and Oxford until reaching Hanborough.  There were masses of people lining many sections of the route as a mark of respect.

At the age of 23, Jim finally passed out as a driver but times were changing, promotion was frozen and eventually it was time to move on, this time to EMUs (electro motive units).  However, in 1988, Jim was invited to go to France to see how French Railways operated, and found it so interesting that he joined European Passenger Services as Eurostar’s Traction Officer.  He was more than pleased but that is another story for another time.  The time passed so quickly this evening that we ran out of extra time for separate questions and answers.

This was an excellent and fascinating story, well illustrated with many of Jim’s own photographs.  Jim clearly has a thirst for knowledge and a great enthusiasm for all things railway as well as an enduring wish to credit all the wonderful people he has worked with over the years.