Events

The Railway Curiosity Shop of Wonder in John Street, Stroud Alec is always busy in his shop, Mending clocks and repairing engines, Walking past trucks and carriages and bottles and level crossings – But when sunlight flashed through the rainswept window, Alec, like Dickens, performing his characters, Stopped to entertain me with his memories: ‘I started work in the hot summer of ’76. My mum, who worked in the canteen in Swindon Works, making cakes for the drivers, wanted me to get a job. Mum was forever dashing out to take in the washing in the old days of steam as our house in Brimscombe backed down to the line. Anyway, the foreman at the NCB at Stonehouse knew my brother, and he asked: “Can you start tomorrow?” I clocked on at 7 for a 40 hour-week; 7-4.30 with an hour for dinner and a 15-minute break in the morning and in the afternoon. A good wage of £54 a week. I loved driving that 0-4-0 diesel shunter, “Dougal” (formerly, “Mr Useful”), built in 1945. Up and down the line used by the Dudbridge Donkey, up there near Oldends Lane, and the two sidings at the top where I dropped the coal. 12 hoppers, 12 different types of fuel, the dirty old conveyor belt, the diesel fuel tank. I loved driving that train: 3 gears on the diesel, with dual controls so you could drive on either side. Kids used to gather on Silver Bridge and shout, “Hello Mr Dougal” and I used to give them a blast of steam back. They loved that. I even had a visit from a Vintage Preservation Society. I think we must have had 10 in the cab and 4 hanging on the sides. They wouldn’t allow it now but there...