Confessions of a Canton goods guard

[Danemouth]

John,

 

Before switching to a blog remember that there are people on here who don't bother with blogs - this was mentioned in a thread a few weeks back - can' remember which one.

 

So you will reduce your potential audience.

 

Dave

[Flying Pig]

15 minutes ago, Danemouth said:

John,

 

Before switching to a blog remember that there are people on here who don't bother with blogs - this was mentioned in a thread a few weeks back - can' remember which one.

 

So you will reduce your potential audience.

 

Dave

 

 

Perhaps Johnster could switch to a blog anyway and leave the rest of us to argue here about whether that was the right thing to do.  That would keep the thread live for the foreseeable future and he could drop by with a link to new blog posts when they were ready.

 

BTW, there are signal diagrams of the area around Canton on the SRS site (e.g Penarth Curve North) but they may not be current for the period under discussion.

[The Johnster]

They won't be; North Curve itself was a single track (and a notorious bottleneck) in the 70s, and for some time after, but has been doubled, resulting in a much easier flow of traffic.  And Grangetown & Ely Paper Mill ground frames were taken out a long time ago, though I think the Taff Vale Sidings gf, which allowed entry to those sidings (behind the platform at Ninian Park, now used as stabling for P.W. self-propelled equipment) and an exit from that end of the carriage sidings, may still be there.

[The Johnster]

1 hour ago, Flying Pig said:

 

 

Perhaps Johnster could switch to a blog anyway and leave the rest of us to argue here about whether that was the right thing to do.  That would keep the thread live for the foreseeable future and he could drop by with a link to new blog posts when they were ready.

 

BTW, there are signal diagrams of the area around Canton on the SRS site (e.g Penarth Curve North) but they may not be current for the period under discussion.

 

Perhaps Johnster will indeed do that; it's a perfectly cromulent idea. 

[Philou]

Noooooo don't do a blog - I keep losing track, pretty please. Here, to help you make your mind up, here is a National Library of Scotland copy of an old OS (so permissible to use) showing some of the places highlighted in your reminiscences - only the central area as its taking ages to do the labels and then convert it into something this site will accept. I would have done a .jpg but the labels refuse to copy across.

 

Here goes:

 

Johnster's Cardiff 01.doc

 

Ferry Road and the Red House, plus the paper mill to follow.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

 

(I hope the labels are attached - I don't have Word so can't open it myself to check!)

[Flying Pig]

1 minute ago, Philou said:

Noooooo don't do a blog - I keep losing track, pretty please. Here, to help you make your mind up, here is a National Library of Scotland copy of an old OS (so permissible to use) showing some of the places highlighted in your reminiscences - only the central area as its taking ages to do the labels and then convert it into something this site will accept. I would have done a .jpg but the labels refuse to copy across.

 

Here goes:

 

Johnster's Cardiff 01.doc 1.91 MB · 0 downloads

 

Ferry Road and the Red House, plus the paper mill to follow.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

 

(I hope the labels are attached - I don't have Word so can't open it myself to check!)

 

Pssst - you can just post the url of the current view as a link.

[Philou]

@The Johnster Ok, here's another OS - this time showing Ferry Road and the oil terminal siding - it's the continuation southwards of the first map. I've also marked up the Red House PH because even though it was painted green, it had a red navigation light attached to it (or if not physically attached, exceedingly close) and hence the 'Red' part of its name. At the time of young Johnster, I wouldn't go down there late at night and I had a car (Morris 1100)!

 

Johnster's Cardiff 02.doc

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

 

Paper Mill to follow

[Philou]

Last one for tonight until the next episode:

 

Johnster's Cardiff 03.doc

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

[The Johnster]

See, now, what's happened here is that I wrote out a whole part 4 screed as a blog, describing the training course, and it's vanished; about an hours' writing up the spout.  Obviously my fault, don't know what I did or what I didn't, clicked on 'submit' but nothing happened.  No use crying over spilt milk, it's happened and I must continue with my life as best I can...

 

And opinion is a little divided about the blog scenario anyway, so my instinct is to continue with installments here, within my comfort zone where I know (or at least think I know) what I'm doing and where Philou & co. can access.  This feels like the line of least resistance and as such is my default, so, with apologies to those of you who wanted me to continue in blog mode, I hereby abandon the blog idea.  I'll have another go at part 4 later or Friday.

 

I can't imagine why you wouldn't go down there late at night, Philou, you'd have been lucky to see anyone never mind be attacked by them, except for those lost souls staggering home from the Red House, famous for lockins, and they were barely capable of motion!  It was I suppose a bit un-nerving to people not used to the bleakness, loneliness, and isolation of such a locale in the wee hours. The tank farm worked 24/7 but there was little else down there at night and it was blacker than the inside of a cow.  I used to drive down there at all times to pickup or drop off the old man from or to Esso Poole or Esso Ipswich; it was a forgotten world apart from the Red House regulars, and not much fun if there was an easterly set in off the estuary in winter...

 

But in working hours it was a distinct and lively little working community, scruffy and more than a bit dodgy, but productive and banter-friendly except for the scrappie's alsatian (and it was only me that he took against, on sight first time, just one of those things), and I was honoured to be a small part of it.  Little confined and defined worlds like that do not exist any more, and it was similar in many ways to Collingdon Road and East Moors Road on the edges of the main docks area, where similar small businesses thrived.  Something of the atmosphere of it survives off Rover Way and the Tremorfa Estate in Seawall Road, the remains of the old Airport, but this never had any railway connection, despite Tidal Sidings and the Tremorfa Steelworks system being on the doorstep.

 

It was fertile modelling inspiration territory for micro layouts, small businesses and factories that looked rundown and semi-derelict (there was a reason for that, they were rundown and semi-derelict), but all working and each with their own siding, serviced by a pannier or 08, or at one time a 14 on the E76 for Ferry Road.  A business with a 48DS would not have been unlikely, nor it it unlikely that others would have borrowed it.  Of course, I should have taken a camera down there, but equally of course I never thought to, and it would be diffiuclt to research it now.

 

I've also considered it as an inspiration for a passenger branch with a terminus at a version of Ely Harbour, a bit like the Riverside Branch to Clarence Road.

Edited March 16, 2023 by The Johnster

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Has Steven Spielberg boughts the rights to your screenplay yet? Will you be producing T-shirts too? I think we should know...

[C126]

Off-topic as usual, but I was struck by the amount of land-reclamation when comparing the O.S. and Rail Map Online maps.  Sorry, I digress.

[Kylestrome]

10 hours ago, The Johnster said:

See, now, what's happened here is that I wrote out a whole part 4 screed as a blog, describing the training course, and it's vanished; about an hours' writing up the spout.

 

Whenever I write more than a few lines for a post, I usually write it in a text document first. That way one has the original data in case things go pear-shaped on the forum.

 

HTH,

David

[Wickham Green too]

4 hours ago, Kylestrome said:

Whenever I write more than a few lines for a post, I usually write it in a text document first. That way one has the original data in case things go pear-shaped on the forum.

Moreover, everything can be kept in one folder ready for forwarding to your publisher in due course ! 😎

[Philou]

@The Johnster I didn't go down there at night due to the very long and dark, dark road (Ferry Road) full of potholes (as mentioned already) and little or no street lighting. Cardiff potholes were infamous and those in Ferry Road exceptional - I'm not so sure that a car or two weren't lost in some, never to be seen again!

 

Come daylight, it was a different world especially when the tide was in with great views over the docks and channel.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

[The Johnster]

Ah, yes, that makes sense.  Whole lorries disappeared without trace in the potholes on Collingdon Road; trouble was you couldn’t tell how deep the water was.  Cardiff road surfaces as as bad as they ever were, btw, and the drains just as blocked. 

[The Johnster]

Ok, let's have another shot at the next instalment, the Guards' Induction Course.  This took place, as I mentioned, in the old West Box, which was surplus to requirements after the opening of Cardiff Panel Box a few years previously, and had been co-opted into service as a training establishment, with a lecture theatre/cinema in the old locking room and a classroom in the old lever room, with a good view of the action between Cardiff General and Canton, useful when the instructor wanted to point something out on a passing train.  The instructor, whose name has vanished in the mists of time, was an ex-guards' inspector from York, with an accent to boot, but seemed a well-humoured enough sort.  There were IIRC 18 of us on the course, all like myself off-the-street newcomers and from sheds in Cardiff Area including Ebbw Jc, Radyr, and Severn Tunnel, as well as Canton of course.

 

The training was not particularly onerous, consisting of lectures followed by boxtick answer sheets covering Rules, and train working with particular regard to brakes (and how to isolate them), couplings, protection in rear with detonators, block regulations, lamps, single line working, brake continuity tests, and much else.  I had an advantage with my spotting background and North Curve experience, but (without blowing my own trumpet, here) would have managed easily enough anyway I suspect.  We were a fairly disparate but good-humoured bunch who enjoyed the course and each others' company, a variety of ages and backgrounds rubbing along well enough.

 

There were daytrips, one to Portskewett Pumping Station, which involved going down the shaft, after the previous day spent on Severn Tunnel working, and one to Margam Hump Yard where we were shown the intercom system for reporting to the control tower, and then visited the tower itself.  This was combined with a visit to Port Talbot Panel Box, which seemed odd seeing that our own panel box was two minutes walk away, and there was a later visit to Llandaff North semaphore signal box, to explain the workings of that system.  This was a particularly pleasant trip, as we all went over to the Railway Hotel for a late lunch and made our own ways home afterwards.  In fact we quite often finished early, having covered the material for that day, and were sent home early.

 

The course finished with a written boxtick exam, where you had to choose the correct anwer and thus had a 30% chance of getting any given question right by chance; the course covered the ground fairly comprehensively and equipped us with enough knowledge to get us under way in our new careers, but I got the impression (and I wasn't the only one) that one would have had to have been particularly dull to not pass out successfully, and that this was intentional.  Nevertheless, as we will see later, one or two pretty dopey characters did get through it and were a nuiscance and danger in the job afterwards.  They didn't last long, fortunately!

 

The boxtick exam was followed by an oral with Mr Lloyd the Area Guards' Inspector, who asked questions on rules and procedures and how we would proceed in certain given situations; I remember being asked what I would do in the event of needing to bring an unfitted goods train to a stand for some reason, and answered correctly, or at least correctly to his satisfaction, that I would first apply and release the handbrake to attract the driver's attenting, then reverse the van's side lamps at night to alert the loco crew, and wave my red flag at them in daylight (they are supposed to look back on suitable curves to check that the train is following them in order), and wave the flag or a red Bardic at signalmen, oncoming trains, or any other railwaymen that I happened to observe on or about the track if that had failed to stop the train.  Mr Lloyd seemed happy enough to let me loose on the public railway network; 'well done, Mr Richards, I'm passing you out.  Always remember, though, that each of these Rules and Regulations was originally discovered at the bottom of a bucket of blood!'.  He then shook my hand and told me to report for duty at the roster clerk's window at 08.30 the following Monday morning.  The honeymoon was over, and I was going to have to work for my living, mostly unsupervised and left to my own devices!  I thought I'd probably manage, though, such is the arrogance and confidence of youth!!!

 

Mr Lloyd will re-appear in a few installment's time.

Edited March 17, 2023 by The Johnster

[F-UnitMad]

On 16/03/2023 at 00:56, The Johnster said:

opinion is a little divided about the blog scenario anyway, so my instinct is to continue with installments here, within my comfort zone where I know (or at least think I know) what I'm doing and where Philou & co. can access. 

Glad to hear it! 👍👍

 

On 16/03/2023 at 00:56, The Johnster said:

.... and it was blacker than the inside of a cow. 

How did you find this out?? 😳😱🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤣🤣🤣🤣

 

Really enjoying your thread, sir! 👍

[Enterprisingwestern]

10 hours ago, The Johnster said:

The boxtick exam was followed by an oral with Mr Lloyd the Area Guards' Inspector

 

Really??

Had you run out of sheep?

 

Mike.

[Rivercider]

I am just catching up with this fascinating thread. Like Philou I consulted a map to see where we were going with the trip working. I already had a basic idea of the area, but found the OS 25 inch to the mile map(s) to be great to follow the moves.

My 30 year railway career was spent almost entirely behind a desk. I too was a railway enthusiast before I joined, and I too was fortunate to be able to learn from many experienced older railwaymen (and women). who were happy to pass on their knowledge and experience.

 

Edit - I like the quote

'I am enthusiastic about railways, but since that morning have never regarded myself as a railway enthusiast.  It's a difference of attitude, and difficult to explain quantitatively, but nonetheless genuine  and real.' 

That is a feeling that I too sometimes get, - it is hard to put into words.

 

Many thanks for taking the time to write up these memoirs,

 

cheers  

Edited March 17, 2023 by Rivercider
Added quote - and my reaction to it.

[SED Freightman]

I am really looking forward to reading further installments of your thread and can only echo Rivercider's comments. I found Philou's maps most helpful in following your shunting movements. Cardiff is a long way from the SED, although towards the end of my 36 year career I did gain an intimate knowledge of the lines within Tremorfa and Castle Works along with the Imperial Cafe in Splott !

[ianathompson]

15 hours ago, The Johnster said:

I got the impression (and I wasn't the only one) that one would have had to have been particularly dull to not pass out successfully, and that this was intentional.  Nevertheless, as we will see later, one or two pretty dopey characters did get through it and were a nuiscance and danger in the job afterwards. 

 

This seems to have been a very apt description of the Signalling School that I took at Ilford on joining the railways in the early 2000s.

There were written exams but everything had been throroughly covered by the instructor, often in duplicate, beforehand.

 

Having passed out on Absolute Block we all did a conversion course for Track Circuit Block.

The course lasted for one week and was tested by 20 multiple choice questions.

The answers were "accidentally" left lying around in the teaching room for the whole day before the exam whilst the instructor went for a fag break, had lunch etc.

It was so rigged that one of the leading lights of our party got 2 answers deliberately wrong to allay suspicions about its integrity!

I think that the pass level was 16 or 17 out of 20.

 

Similarly to the guard's course idiots sometimes got through but were soon found out in an everyday environment.

 

Keep up the good work Johnster it is good to get an insight into how things really were rather than as they were supposed to be.

 

Ian T

 

[Philou]

Here's another map highlighting @The Johnster's site visits - had I included Port Talbot and Margam, the scale of the map would have been too small. Hope it's of use to set the scene .........

 

Johnster's Cardiff 04.doc

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

[The Johnster]

3 hours ago, SED Freightman said:

I am really looking forward to reading further installments of your thread and can only echo Rivercider's comments. I found Philou's maps most helpful in following your shunting movements. Cardiff is a long way from the SED, although towards the end of my 36 year career I did gain an intimate knowledge of the lines within Tremorfa and Castle Works along with the Imperial Cafe in Splott !

 

Tremorfa Works was not long built in those days, with the Dowlais (GKN East Moors) still in full production; Castle did not appear until much later.  Tremorfa will have a part to play in a later instalment.  This all related much more to 'over the dock', a world of pilot duties and far-flung sidings and wharves that we never penetrated much.  The pilot drivers were mostly 'green card' men who were not considered fit for main-line work; cardio-vascular problems, nerves, that sort of thing.  One once told me that he knew when he was off the road in some of the darker spots at night because the ride improved; it was a differnet world over there and in some ways still is.  I'm sure Philou will remember the flashes in the night sky from the foreshore when the molten slag was tipped into the Severn Estuary, accompanied by clouds of steam and an impressive roar that could easily be heard two miles away at our house in Roath Park.  Elemental stuff, Dante's inferno on your doorstep.

 

You'll be pleased to know that the Imperial is still going strong, and is one of my regular Saturday morning haunts for cheese on toast or a bacon & egg sarnie, and a muggatea.  Must be one of the oldest established businesses in Cardiff by now!  Sadly no longer with us is the Splott Park Road Cafe, an asbestos hut just the Tremorfa side of the railway bridge opposite the road entrance to Tidal Sidings, which always amused me with it's 'Closed For Lunch' notice; what sort of cafe closes for lunch (one that caters to shift workers in the local factories and Tremorfa Works, that's what sort)?

[Philou]

Oh yes, I do remember the bangs and flashes especially at night when there was rain threatening and clouds hung low in the sky - and there weren't sodium lights either in those days, we had low wattage tungsten ones (and not that many) in the street, and in our lane it was a gas light with an elegant swan-necked iron column, which the gas-lighter used to come just after sunset to pull one of the chains to switch it on - he'd be back in the morning to switch it off, but before I was up. They replaced him with a clock that turned the gas on and off only to have that replaced shortly by an inelegant Stanton and Staveley concete post with a low pressure mercury bulb - as an older child though I did appreciate the modernity of it at the time.

 

At about the same time, I did go to the foreshore to see the slag being tipped onto the foreshore - not only HOT but mighty impressive! I don't remember the caff, I should do as the park was a haunt of ours during lunchtimes as our skool was just the Splott side of the railway line - p'raps because it was shut at lunchtime!

 

C'mon @The Johnster, you haven't told 'em why the East Moors Steelworks was also known as the Dowlais Works (I know, but you can tell them in another installment). Do you want a plan with that, sir? I can do one tomoz if you like, bed is calling at the moment.

 

Toodle pip

[The Johnster]

Thank you again everybody who is making encouraging noises about this thread; flattery will get you everywhere and I am a very shallow and trivial person who thrives on praise...  Please, don't be afraid to call me to account if I haven't explained something or you have any questions about any aspect of it all!  We're going to cover a lot of ground, much of it not perhaps familiar to enthusiasts.  With the inestimable M. Philou as our official cartographer, we'll manage well enough I reckon...

 

To take up the story on the following Monday, I reported for duty as instructed by Mr Lloyd.  Traincrew supervisor, bloke called Vernon Jacobs, a bit stern and serious sort, waiting for me, takes me around the lobby to show me the links (I'm in the bottom, no.9 goods guard's link, the 'spare' link, and informs me that Ted Beecham has stated that I am competent to sign the road in regard to the E76 working, which I'm booked to do tomorrow, so will I sign the road, please.  Ok, that's reasonable, no worries.  He then shows me the roster sheets, and how to read them, and we go upstairs to the mess room (there are two train crew messrooms at Canton, and the one we use is downstairs; visiting crews use the upstairs one, which is larger and 'nicer'.  It's bigger and got proper windows, ours is a bit of a bare box room with high windows you can't see out of.  Over a cuppa, he shows me how to fill out the daily Guard's Journal, an account of how you filled your working day's time which included train loads and running times; this was used for recording purposes and was the basis for your pay, overtime rates, and any bonus payments you were due. 

 

If memory serves, duty between 22.00 and 06.00 attracted time and a third, Rest Day working was an additional 'and a half', and Sundays were double time.  Bank Holidays gave you a choice, double time and a day in lieu, or triple time.  Then, he sends me down to the stores (I already know where this is, basement level Maintenance Shed), to get kitted out.  Uniform (no trousers my size in stock so I'm given boilersuit, which I prefer); jacket, hat, waistcoat, and an overcoat, choice of waterproof Gannex or Woolen Greatcoat (chose the Gannex), Satchel (brand new bright orange tan leather, eurgh, hated it, but it proved to be built to take a bit of punishement and my respect for it's quality grew over the years.  I still reckon some sort of backpack would have been better, and offered a safer balance when you were climbing aboad some of the less accessible locos, but I got used to it and eventually loved it), Bardic Handlamp (seriously indestructible piece of kit, dropped mine off a loco at 60mph, barely scratched and undamaged when I recovered it, had a bracket on the back to enable use as a substitute tail or head lamp, three colours, white/red/green, and an inbuilt handle at the top.  There was a spare bulb inside it as well, never needed it).  Whistle, Acme Thunderer, a man's whistle, detonators in a cardboard box (to be replaced every 3 months IIRC), red flag, green flag, and flagpoles.  While I was there I took the opportunity to order some steel toecapped shoes, payments deducted weekly from pay packet. 

 

Dinner time by now, so I took an hour off and familiarised myself with 'our' messroom, then went off to look for my locker.  Found, swept the cobwebs out, and stashed the satchel and coat in it, then went to see the roster clerk for my publications.  Already had a Rule Book, but this had to be accompanied by up-to-date revisions and alterations, the General Appendix (which covered train working matters), Sectional Appendix (local instructions, including the wrong line unfitted haulage that had horrified me on the way back from Ely Paper Mill), Working Time Table (what it said on the box, but containing route and load restrictions, classes not allowed in certain sidings, point to point timings, signal box opening times &c), up-to-date engineering and other notices containing locations of work and any temporary speed restrictions.  The Sectional and WTT were for 'Awre Crossing to Fishguard Harbour including Severn Tunnel Jc to Severn Tunnel Bottom, Maindee Jc to Shelwick Jc, and branches'.  Shelwick I knew from my spotting days but Awre was a mystery, so I asked.  Awre Crossing was, is, between Lydney and Bullo Pill (where?), ok, Lydney and Gloucester, and is the border point between Cardiff and Gloucester Areas, and Newport and Gloucester Panel Box control. 

 

Enough to be getting on with, I thought, made a canotea, and sat down in 'our' messroom to sort it all out and stash it in the horribly obvious new satchel, screaming 'look, everyone, here's a strapper with no idea what he's doing' to everybody in line-of-sight.  A few guards and one or two drivers struck up conversations with me, and when it turned out that I had a couple of 0 levels under my belt somebody came up with 'oh, you're the professor, then', which stuck and I never got rid of it.  As I was to find out, there were worse nicknames.   Phone rang, somebody got a job to do, 'and tell Richards he can go home when he wants'.  It was only three o'clock, and I hung around for a bit, but was told that it would be ok, I'd done my bit for that day.

 

07.00 for E76 in the morning, Professor, book on at the lobby not at the yard, go home, spend a bit of time poring through the publications but realised that it was going to take a few weeks to get to grips with them.