Retirement Photo

Here is an interesting photograph that arrived with me yesterday, I think originally from Mark Keefe. It shows the retirement of Percy Sarginson, the last stationmaster at Kirkby Stephen East during its 150 years of operation as a working railway junction.

I guess that dates the picture as being taken in or about 1962. The event was held in the Croglin Castle Hotel. I'm told that at least one of the people pictured - Norman - is still alive and now 91 years old.

I wonder if any readers can tell us about anyone in this picture and something about their life at Kirkby Stephen East? If you have any memories please e-mail me. The one that caught my eye at once was Syd Jones, a close friend of my grandfather and a signalman. He lived in Nateby a few doors up from the 'Black Bull' and had I think three daughters. He also loved 'Pinky and Perky' music and was glued to their show on TV on Sunday afternoons! After the closure of the line he moved away, I think to a railway post in the Lostock Hall area.

My guess about 'not known' left is that he is someone from Divisional HQ come over to make a presentation. Perhaps someone from the Cumbria Rail Association can identify him.

If you want to look at the picture more closely click on it and it will open in a larger format

'Nelson'

Some jobs you go through life thinking "I wish that I had done that!". In my generation of course it generally used to be "engine driver" and some of us eventually made it too on Britain's 'Heritage Railways'.

 But there was one job which as a youngster I wanted to do when I grew up because I knew and admired the gentleman who did it. Well, I never knew his real  name but his nickname on the railway was 'Nelson' and he lived in Bowes. Why 'Nelson' I don't know - perhaps he was in the navy during the War. I wonder if any of his family still live in the area?

Nelson worked as the 'trackwalker' for the Stainmore summit 'length. Every morning he would collect his light sledgehammer and catch the 07:14 train from Bowes arriving at Barras at 7:30. Then with his hammer over his shoulder he would walk the 10 miles 22 chains back to Bowes.

Of course for him it wasn't just the ten miles. His job was to check the track and knock back in all the loose oak  'keys' that held the bull head rail in the cast steel chairs. With the big ranges of temperature in the course of a day and the battering that they took from 21 ton mineral hopper wagons they were forever working loose. He needed to criss-cross the pair of tracks to check outside both the outer rails which must have lengthened his daily walk by half. Fifteen miles carrying a sledge hammer. Snow, rain, wind, shine. Every working day.

I used to chat to him when he came up into the Stainmore Summit box for his 'bait' by the stove around 11:30. He would thaw out and talk for half an hour as he ate his sandwiches and drank a pint mug of tea and then head off east down the bank towards Bowes again.

After one freezing snowy December morning walk up the track from Barras to Bleathgill with a crescent moon setting over the Vale of Eden and the early pink dawn light reflecting off the snow covered fields he confided in me that it was so beautiful and still that he thought for a minute that he must have died and gone to Heaven.

Lamping

One thing that was very unusual about Kirkby Stephen East - in fact unique I belive on the old North Eastern Railway - was that it had electric lighting. I don't have the date of installation to hand - it is in Keith Richardson's book - but I seem to remember that it was installed around 1906 and it was driven by the little hydro-electric generator at Stenkrith.

This wasn't just an advantage in terms of better lighting at the station building - although 'Barnie' had gas lighting well into the 1950's. It was an even bigger boon to signalmen who everywhere else on the Stainmore line had to go through the  daily ritual of 'lamping' - filling up the old paraffin lamps and then climbing those narrow iron ladders on signal posts in all weathers to change the lamp and ensure that the lights kept burning.

On a sunny June day 'lamping' was fun, but of course if a lamp blew out on a stormy December night - and they often did! - then the signalman had to light a new one and struggle along the track in the storm and up that iron ladder and change the lamds over in the dark. A difficult and dangerous job and a lonely one too at a box like Stainmore or Belah where you were probably the only soul for three or four miles around.

Down in Kirkby Stephen East Box or the Junction Box I guess they just switched the electric lights on at night. But there must have been the occasional bulb to change in the dark. I wonder if anyone can remember how it was done?

Oral Histories

Mike Thompson has asked me to remind 'diary' readers that over the next few months we will be recording the memories and reminiscences of people who worked on the Stainmore line.  A number of ex-employees have already volunteered to share their recollections of working on the railway, and the work of recording and transcribing these will be carried out by members of the Kirkby Stephen Family History Group throughout the summer. We will also be making recordings at the 'Stainmore 150' Festival in August.

Did you work on the line, or do you have a friend, relative or neighbour that did so? If so please let us know and we will arrange for one of the project team to talk to you and explain what the programme is about and how you can take part. If you would rather that your memories weren't publicly shared during your lifetime it is possible to record them but have them held in confidence to be retained in the archives for use by future researchers.

We also plan to capture the memories of those who used the railway regularly in their daily lives

Please e-mail me at iain@stainmore150.co.uk and I will pass your details on to the research team

Ride on a 'Wickham' trolley

Although a lot of material around the 'Stainmore 150' celebrations is likely to focus on memories of the Kirkby Stephen end of the line, this year's events are concerned with remembering the whole route. We shouldn't overlook connections between the railway and other towns and villages. 'Barney' had a large railway community in the town, West Auckland and Darlington sheds had many staff who worked most of their lives out on the line, and there were employees scattered in many communities along the route.

Here is a picture that I took at Bowes in 1959 of the local 'PW' ('permanent way') gang on their 'Wickham' trolley. I remember the day well because it was just before they gave me an illicit ride up to Stainmore Summit on their 'trusty steed' as they made a trip to check out some problems with the track drainage. It was a noisy and draughty trip 'up the bank', but coming back was a 'whizz' -  they didn't use the engine at all. Just 'rowed off' with their boots and settled back as that trolley rocketed silently downhill under the force of gravity. Scary stuff!

Do any of the people on this trolley still live in the Bowes area I wonder? If they do, then they must be in their 'seventies' or 'eighties' I guess ... If you do then I hope you will be coming along to the ex-employees reunion on 29 August at Kirkby Stephen east!