Banking From The Station

[RichmondCommu]

Hi everyone,

A quick question. Is Manchester Victoria the only station to ever have a resident banker within the station environment?

Best wishes,

Angela

 

[Bevan Price]

Don't think so.

I can think also of:
Glasgow Queen Street in steam era.

Liverpool Lime St. - but "banker" also tended to do empty stock movements to/from Edge Hill sidings because only a few trains per day needed a banker.

Exeter St. Davids - steam era banking to Exeter Central. Bankers either returned light engine, or were coupled to the front of a train down the bank.

 

[chorleyjeff]

Hi everyone,

A quick question. Is Manchester Victoria the only station to ever have a resident banker within the station environment?

Best wishes,

Angela

Preston - not quite. In my day the N end station pilot ( a minty) used to bank heavy North bound trains from platform 5

 

[30907]

Preston - not quite. In my day the N end station pilot ( a minty) used to bank heavy North bound trains from platform 5

Minty? Wouldn't that have been Kendal?
Back on topic:
it was very common for steam trains to be assisted as far as the platform end by the loco that brought the empty stock in.
As for banking beyond the platform end, London Victoria, Weymouth, Ilfracombe and Braunton come to mind. I'm not sure the first two would count as "resident bankers," as all sorts of locos were used, but most of the Ilfracombe/Mortehoe/Braunton banking was done by dedicated locos from Barnstaple (on summer Saturdays).

 

[edwin_m]

A terminus wouldn't have a resident banker, because it would spend most of its time trapped against the stops while the train it was going to assist was waiting to depart. As mentioned there would always be a loco of some sort in that position that brought the train in, which would provide assistance on departure if needed.

Were passenger trains ever regularly banked out of Victoria? I was under the impression it was only freight.

 

[D841 Roebuck]

Don't know if the bankers lurked round the relevant stations in between duties, but GWR/BR (Western Region) trains in Devon were regularly banked between Plymouth and Newton Abbot.

 

[AnthonyRail]

Read the thread title and thought it was about cash points at railway stations.