My life on the Railways, from Willesden and Wembley to North Pole and Temple Mills, by Dennis Clarke
4th November 2025 Meeting.
For this high-quality meeting we had our fullest attendance so far this year, the audience being boosted by several of the Speaker's former work colleagues!
Like so many of us, Dennis spent his early years trainspotting all round the country and shed bashing, in his case with the Inter City Society. This led to him applying for a job with the railway and he started as a Craft Apprentice in 1976, completing his training four years later. His career was subsequently spent firstly at Wembley Carriage Sidings, and when Eurostar came along, he transferred to their operations until his retirement in 2017. The huge appeal of this talk was the large number of photos of all the different loco types (including many rarities) that were to be seen at the southern end of the WCML, all taken from a workman's point of view, locations that enthusiasts couldn't normally get to.
When it came to Eurostar, we were shown in technical detail the complexities of keeping these high speed trains operational. This outstanding presentation was rounded off by some comments from Nigel George, a former Eurostar colleague, who told us, amongst other things, the interesting fact that North Pole was chosen as the Eurostar depot because at one stage Kensington Olympia was to be the London terminus.
Rob Freeman, Branch Committee Member