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It's nice out ennit?

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Such a beautiful day as today reminds me if some hot weather things i've seen in the past. Like a bunch of P'way men taking a cold shower under the water tower at Upminster depot. :blob6: P'wymen were quite resourceful in their way if remote from a cabin.

They'd have a large wooden box with tools in it and take it to the site. But not only did they have tools inside but cooking stuff too. Like a frying pan and teapot and a saucepan too. I've seen a permwayman take an egg out of his knapsack and crack it onto the rail and watched it fry in no time. With a bit of lard you can do the same with a rasher of bacon too. If there were a stack of rails next the track, a pot of tea could be kept warm when placed on them. A kettle could be likewise kept warm after having first been boiled on a little gas thing they had.

Sometimes you'd come along and see a whole row of P'waymen alongside the track fast asleep in the sunshine on a break.:sleepy2: I never saw a fat P'way man. All that heaving and lifting kept 'em fit but as a rule they were drinking men and smoked like chimneys so they cancelled out the benefits


Oh it was fun to work on the railways in the old days.
 
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AlexS

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Mainline drivers have a little hob and cooker thing in the engine rooms of their locomotives - breakfast is very traditional! Before that, train crews on steamers would cook their breakfast over the fire on the fireman's shovel!

The railwayman's snap has always been a bit of an institution, apparently something strange would have happened for a member of the train crew not to turn up for duty with his snap and mash can!
 
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AlexS said:
train crews on steamers would cook their breakfast over the fire on the fireman's shovel!!


During the war when eveything was rationed and my Dad was a fireman he was on shift with one of the miserable old 'fireman hating' drivers. As you know everything was rationed then and Da's mum had given him a bit lard a nice sausage, a rasher, and an egg to cook at work.

This old git of a driver was an 'engine basher' and flogged the damn things for all they were worth. This made hard work for the fireman and he was not popular. Having got out of London and past Tring, Dad had the chance to have a bit of a rest and cook his grub. He duly cleaned the shovel in the fire and balanced it on the firebox sill. Then put lard on to melt. When it was liquid he puts all the grub on to cook. No sooner was that done than old 'miseryguts' promptly opened the regulator full and sucked the whole lot up the chimney.

Of course Dad saw red and in retaliation grabbed the drivers knapsack and flung that in the fire to follow his grub. That's when the fight started. The driver hurled Dads cap in the firebox and Dad hit back by belting him on the conk and knocking out his false teeth. They went in the fire too. This went on for a few miles with nobody in charge of the engine or watching the road until they both retired to thier respective sides of the cab exhausted.

At the end of the day they made a sorry sight. Dad had an enormous black eye and contusions as well as torn clothes. The driver had a nose like a traffic light and swollen to boot, no false teeth and likewise torn togs They were both bloody hungry as well.

It was lodging turn up north somewhere and when they had got rid of the train and disposed of the engine they walked to the hostel in silence. Then something astonishing happened. The driver bought Dad a meal to begin with and before they retired for the night took him to a pub for a pint or two. They were the best of pals after that.
 

AlexS

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Jesus, you bunch certainly got up to stuff over the years didn't you. You should definately write that book you say you can't, I'd buy you a pint certainly.
 

Sturdjos

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AlexS said:
Jesus, you bunch certainly got up to stuff over the years didn't you. You should definately write that book you say you can't, I'd buy you a pint certainly.

Agree with that :)
 
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AlexS said:
Jesus, you bunch certainly got up to stuff over the years didn't you. You should definately write that book you say you can't, I'd buy you a pint certainly.

I don't say I can't write the book but at the moment until I sort out my health problems it's in abeyance
 
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