Rails,Railwaymen and literature

RCTS FURNESS, LAKES & LUNE BRANCH

Railways, Railwaymen and Literature by Prof. Paul Salveson

Wednesday 6^th April 2022

At the April meeting of the Branch Professor Paul Salveson entertained the audience with a presentation under the title “Railways, Railwaymen and Literature” in which he described the works of many Railwaymen.

Britain’s railway industry has always been predominantly male although an increasing and very welcome number of women are now joining the various companies. Railways have always been popular in fiction with numerous films featuring them and, historically, Railwaymen have consistently written poetry, books and songs making it one of the most “art rich” industries in the country. There has been encouragement of this talent by the various railway managements and trade unions over the years and in the 1930’s the ASLEF Locomotive Journal even ran a competition inviting short stories and over 20 were submitted. Paul believes there is still a wealth of talent out there.

The first known poet was known as “Surfaceman” and published a number of books. He started his railway career in 1862 on the Glasgow and South Western railway and was believed to have become a librarian in Edinburgh later in life. He then introduced the audience to a character known as Inspector Aitken who was a traffic inspector on the same railway and who wrote a collection of “Songs from the South West” all having railway themes. He moved on to describe a number of works by signalman, Walter Nugent Sinkinson, and Patricroft driver, F.W. Skerrett whose 1920’s work, “Rhymes from the Rail” were put to song by Dave Boulder. Paul continued citing the works of Robert Bonnar, who wrote a novel named “Stewartie” and later works including David Maidment’s “Steamy Stories” and Joe Smythe’s “The People’s Road.” Joe, who was a Guard based at Manchester Victoria, was actually given 6 months off work to write this collection of poems which was published to coincide with the 150^th Anniversary of the Liverpool – Manchester Railway in the 1980’s.

Finally Paul recited a Poem on the closure of Horwich Works (where he began his own railway career) highlighting what was viewed to be a short-sighted decision by the Railway. His own book “The Works” describes the anguish felt by loyal railwaymen who had served loyally). He also drew attention to a publication “Poems from the Platform” published by the Community Rail Partnership for the Bolton area (in which Paul is still active) and invited anyone visiting Bolton station to pick up a copy.

At the conclusion of his presentation, he invited members of the audience to present their own anecdotes and references and Clive Holden recited the “Ballad of J B Hogarth” a well renowned Carnforth driver. Other members contributed their own stories of times on the railway.

A fascinating and different style of evening, making a change from the normal collections of railway images, was enjoyed by all those who attended.