Postman Pat Not Very Happy Day
When Leeds Depot were short of Drivers/ Guards we were sent from The Mill to Leeds City Station to work the jobs that they could not cover
This particular week, I was sent to Leeds to work the Shrewsbury Mail from Stockport.
When signing on at Leeds, we were paid 4 hours travelling time and bus fares.
I was sent to Leeds from Monday to Friday, so I got half a weeks wage in travelling time. Not a bad little earner I must say.
I would sign on at 22:00hrs and take the last passenger to Manchester Victoria, then by service car to Manchester Piccadilly, and the staff train to Stockport.
Once at Stockport, I went and sat in the Messroom and had me snap, and waited for the mail train to arrive.
On this particular night, Nobby Clark was the Leeds driver who had been a second man at Healey Mills, moving from The Mill to get a driving vacancy.
Nobby was an ex Doncaster man , who came when Deltics were taken off the mainline, when the HST to work all the East Coast flyers.
When mail train run into Stockport,
Nobby stopped the train and opened the door of the Class 47, and invited me onto the footplate.
At these times I could either ride in the train or on the engine, this was my choice.
The first thing we did when we got going was to have a brew.
The Route we took from Stockport, to Guide Bridge, then Stalybridge, Standage Tunnel ,Marsden, and stop at Huddersfield to take on more mail bags.
The journey was taken at line speed all the way as this was a Class 1 train
The speeds through the tunnel increased, and when going down the bank to
Huddersfield the speed limit increased to about 80mph .
On the journey from Marsden the railway twists from one side to the other, and those people in the train sorting mail would be staggering about due to the curves in the track.
As we approached the down tunnel before running into Hudderfield Station, Nobby got the speed down to the required limit for the entry onto Platform 4 of the Station, we stopped just by the Supervisors Office, and the mess room.
I got out of the train, to see a gang of GPO men running down the platform, shouting for the scalp of the engine driver, and I got roped into this semi riot.
It would appear that the posties in the train were rocking and rolling with the curves of the track and the speed of the train.
I tried to explain that the train was booked to travel at the line speed, and the lines speed was what we did.
As a result I contacted the control, with a seething mass of pats waiting to hang draw and quarter me and Nobby.
I spoke to the Duty Control Manager, and he told me if the line speed is 85MPH that is the speed you will go on a Class1 Train.
I knew that was the answer I was going to get from control.
The control Man spoke to the postmans supervisor who did not like what he was told,
After all this, we set off and and did line speed through, Mirfield, Thornhill LNW Junction, through Dewsbury, Batley, Lady Ann Crossing, Morley Low Tunnel, Farnley Jct and into Leeds City station to be taken off by Newcastle Men.
The train landed at City Station on time.
At this Nobby signed off and went home, and I had to go to another platform to take one parcel van with a class 31 to Bradford Inter Change and then come back light engine back to Leeds to go home at 04:00hrs.
My transport home was a MZ125cc Motorcyle, nice in warm weather, not too good in the cold /rain/snow/ et al
These jobs were a pleasure to do, nobody bothering you, come to work do your job and go home as quick as possible.(plus 4 hours travelling time, the icing on the cake)
I never thought that 25years later I could look in my diaries and remember what I was doing all that time ago, but if I put my car keys down 5 minutes later I've lost them
The driver called Nobby was on television as the meanest man on the railway, but still a good mate.
