R h n hardy collection
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- RH417A.
- SNCF CAPTIONS 434-450, RH434
RH393 Florrie Dawson was my Sec at Liverpool St and how lucky I was, She kept me on the straight and kept the world at bay when I was busy and her typing and shorthand was first class. Long before the days of work processors one dictated and then when the thing was typed one wanted an alteration which involved rubbing out or tippexing. How easy it is today but my secs must have cursed the day that I was born and I never knew it! RH394 The Great Eastern Amateur Athletic Association held their annual sports at Loughton and all the nobs were present as well as the top brass of the BRSA. Gwenda and I were there as a matter of duty but on the Sunday, there was a very different gathering known loosely as the Stratford Loco Sports which were great fun and very unsophisticated. The names of the three gents in braces have gone, likewise the children and, smiling a usual (except when he was put out), is the unforgettable Syd Casselton, Breakdown Foreman who, once he was in action with the crane of the German re-railing gear, would brook no interference from anybody however senior outside the Loco Dept. And I never had to interfere for Syd had forgotten more about breakdown work than I would ever know and he never made mistakes. Never! RH395 As Foreman of the Crane Shop as well as the Breakdown Gang and the Power House (ex ODM), Syd liked to do “Little jobs” for the DMPS/DRME - me. Here, they have arrived in the little van to measure up for a bench-seat for our kitchen which will be made by Charlie Wilcox, Carpenter class 3 (R), another friend of the family. There were three Carpenters at Stratford, class 1 being the tradesmen men and Charlie upgraded from fitter’s mate, the one who did skilled work! Syd called the other two “Wood-Murderers” who could turn out heavy stuff such as footboards by the dozen. In those halcyon days, the District Officer would be expected to have this sort of thing done and nobody would ever have queried it – how things have changed. RH396 Back to Webby again or to give his Stratford nickname “The Mole”. Mine happened to be “Baron Bongo”! With “Barrow-boy Webster of Spitalfields” is Les Thorn, our Diesel Assistant. How lucky I was to have such assistance when we were changing over from steam to diesel traction -fresh problems ever day, indeed every minute of the day. RH397 This is the Leigh-Pemberton railway deep in the Kentish countryside, the Torry Hill Light Railway in its 1958-68 form when Major Leigh-Pemberton was alive. Two visits from Stratford. The Mutual Improvement Class which was hilarious and the little “Robin” took the place of “Rose” the GN Atlantic which did such fine work but lost a small-end pin that day. But here is George Walker from the Stratford Loco Machine Shop (L) who had made a set of beautiful single line tokens for the Major and had a day of welcome along with Dick Elmer, the Stratford Loco Inspector, an old Ipswich man and a very good Inspector: he knew what to deal with himself and what the shedmaster should know and he was a firm decision maker. And finally, Ernie Foskett, one of our acting Inspectors. We had an enormous base from which to choose the right men for the challenges of the transition. The THLR was unforgettable and nobody ever wanted to go home! RH398-401 All taken at the British Transport Staff College about Oct 1962 during the four months I was on course 7, a marvellous experience. The photographs include Percy Tanner (SR), Bob Gladwin (LT), Allan Blenkarn (BT Waterways), RH, Geoff Kibblewhite (BRHQ CM&EE), David Binnie (ScR), Dick Sallis (Directing Staff), Bill Willmott (SR), Archie Prior (Tillings), Don Bartlett (R&D), Frank Ward (NER). RH402 More of the Torry Hill Light Railway. Probably taken in 1967/8. The King was the last engine I knew on the railway although since my last visit in 1968, a Lord Nelson was added to the fleet. The King was immensely strong and very fast. R-L: is Baron Gerard Vuillet, an amazing man who had travelled the world on the footplate and who knew Andre Chapelon personally. He was also a daredevil driver on the TH1R on this, his only visit, and I had the job of slowing him down before he took off into the woods. Keith Tierman, one of the three men who helped Major Leigh-Pemberton run the railway. My dear friend, James Colyer-Ferguson who knew the L-P family well, the Old Man himself, and what a marvellous man he was, dedicated to service in the County and a very real gentleman. His younger son, Jeremy, completes the party. RH403 “Rose”, the GN Atlantic and mainstay of the railway waiting time. It will cross another train at the passing loop up the bank and out of sight and ultimately make two complete loops before heading for home and the passing loop. Anthea or James will be the driver and I will sit on the leading truck to give them instruction about the feed-pump, the regulator and reversing screw and, of course, the brake. In the cab (L) is the steam brake handle, (C) the regulator handle, (R) pressure gauge and below, reversing gear. The smoke tells a tale: I had filled the firebox full of coal. The pressure gauge shows only 60psi but soon after starting it will be at the blowing-off point. The engine would do its complete two loops without the fire being touched so the children never took their eyes off the road. L-R: Anthea, James and John Leigh-Pemberton, the son of Robin who would one day become Governor of the Bank of England and Lord Lieutenant of Kent. RH404 “Rose” at the terminus with James, Peter (driving) and John Leigh-Pemberton who is in charge of the oiling round! RH405 The little four wheeled coupled “Robin”. Fill her and shut her up and she would fly, marvellous little engine. Anthea, Peter, Mr Beacon, Keith Tierman and James. I was never quite sure where the lower line went but ours went up into the wonderful woods and out beyond into the countryside and through the tunnel where we turned back after the second loop. RH406 Annick Dutertre, daughter of Mécanicien Henri Dutertre of Calais and 231 E16, followed by E9, Anthea, Peter, James, John L-P and the Major. RH407 Dover Loco and a Stewarts Lane un-rebuilt BoB which gave us a rough trip home which fascinated the great WO Bentley, once of Doncaster Plant and John Hewing, stoker, now happily retired after many years as a Supervisor at Charing Cross and, like many other, glad to get out of it and retire. Some of the old boys in my time would have stopped on the job for life but, thank God, they all died years before the “New Railway” took charge. RH408 WO is suggesting something about Clun Castle in the background which he considered to be a passable piece of engineering but not to be compared with the products of Doncaster! He was right too! RH409 WO at home at Little Garden Cottage, Shamley Green with our son, James, and his friend, Harry Champion, a proud day for both of them. RH410 WO relaxed and happy. How he loved the return to the railway that I arranged for him after we first met in Nov 1958. He went many miles on the footplate until his last trip in 1961 with Percy Tutt and John Hewing What a wonderful man. His was a hard life but his achievements were many and great to say the least. RH410A 11.00 Victoria – Dover Boat Train hauled by rebuilt, Bulleid Pacific. Driver Percy Tutt and his fireman John Hewing made the day completely memorably for WO and myself. R410HH410B A study of Percy Tutt in the cab of 34091 taken at Dover before our return to Victoria which was very hard work indeed for the fireman, who was me! RH411-412 My dear friend, Danny Whelan, ultimately became Divisional Manager, Preston, only to die in office of cancer. We had worked together in great accord when I was DM Liverpool. The occasion is the presentation at Penrith, to May Treacy, of the headboards carried by “Evening Star” which had worked a special train from Leeds to Appleby on the occasion of the memorial service to Bishop Eric Treacy, on the downside south of Appleby station. May drove the locomotive, an 86, a short distance and then we went to a nearby village where there was a short service followed by the presentation. May and the Vicar hold one plate whilst Bernard Staite the other. The seat is also in Eric’s memory. He was vicar of St Mary’s Edge Hill before the war and the only Clergyman I knew who was an honorary member of ASLEF! RH413 In 1919, Rodney Darwen started at Walton-on-the-Hill shed in Liverpool (CLC) and could not get a regular fireman’s job so moved to Bradford. Before the war, as a fireman in the goods links, he was much in demand for specialling, and fired many miles for Ted Hailstone, Harold Binder and Arthur Pheasants, all GC men. When I first met him, he was firing to Tommy Stott (RH37) but shortly after, moved back to Liverpool, retiring as Running Foreman at Bank Hall to which shed most of the Walton men were sent on closure. Quite by chance, when I first went to Liverpool as DM, I was in the cab with a Kirkdale driver who had come from Walton (Norman Ives), and to my question about Rodney told me that he had just retired. We soon met at the Exchange Hotel at 1830 one evening and were still talking four hours later. We had everything in common. He was very astute and a splendid judge of men and of railway work. He had been a leading light in ASLEF for AAD, liked and respected by all. He had a protégé, the Birkenhead driver Les Johnson, a very similar type of man, who took full time employment as an ASLEF organiser. The photo was taken at Rail House in Lord Nelson St when we were off to our final meeting and lunch in the French Restaurant at the Adelphi just before I left Liverpool in Sept 1973. Happy days, for our reunions gave him great pleasure. RH414-416 About 1979 with my old Riley 1952 2 ½ , which we had from 1957-1980 when it had to go as a matter of expediency to pay for retrospective school fees, and daylight could be seen through the floor of the boot. It went to a chap in Braintree who restored it to perfect order and ultimate sale in America. We were at the Grove where us big-shots had been interviewing university graduates who were seeking a career on BR. RH414 Malcolm Southgate, Divl Manager Brum and Station Master KX in 1964 at an early age, an appointment made just before my time as DM but of which I wholeheartedly approved. Nor did Malcolm ever look back. Freddy Clements, then CM&EE at Derby, a good friend of many years’ standing, going back to his Neasden days in 1951. He died in 2001 and we were away at the time so I could not join the throng of old railwaymen at his funeral. He served his time at Horwich and when L P Parker had got his mitts on him, he never looked back. So he was LMSR, ER, WR as Motive Power Officer and then back to his old railway. Alan Sourbutt was CM&EE at York and was an electrical engineer who had started on the Southport Electrics at Meols Kop as an Apprentice. I have the happiest memories of all three men. RH415 The same group minus Fred Clements and including me. RH416 Maurice Maguire was CM&EE of the Southern Region and a lovely man who took things to heart too much. In my last job, he would agonise over the appointments that I wanted him to make but always came up with the right answer. He was Rochester born and bred, a Southern Railway electrical engineer and, with the coming of BR, spread his net wide and was Electrical Engineer on the ScR and ER before his appointment at Croydon where I met him for the first time. He died far too young. Douglas Power came from the CIE in the fifties and went to the LMR as DME Euston. In 1970, he went to Doncaster as Works Manager (having asked me to give him a run-down of some of his staff!) and did a good job there. By 1973, he was CM&EE of the Western Region and we were close colleagues for the rest of my BR years. We went to France together where Douglas danced the night away at some railway social and we also stayed with the de Fumichons at Orleans as well as having his first wine-drinking experience, riding with Michel Robillard from Calais to Amiens. When Fred Clements retired, he became CM&EE Derby. I think he found the traditional canniness of top LM management more constricting than the WR of his day where he was very much his own boss. RH417-422 all concern Albert Edward Hooker, Engineman of Nine Elms shed (not to be confused with the premier depot at Stewarts Lane). Bert was a very dear friend. We never worked together which was always an advantage to friendship if currently employed as we were until he retired in 1980. He died in 1996 and I was honoured to give the address at his funeral at Eltham Crematorium. RH417. The scene is the footplate of 73037, a WR standard class 5 and an excellent engine working what I think was the 1310 ex Bournemouth-Waterloo, all stations to Brockenhurst and then the main ones up to London , leaving New Milton. On the left, Bert Hooker and in the driver’s seat is R A U Jennings, one of the legendary Housemasters at Marlborough College whom I had known as a boy and revered ever since, as I did Hubert Wylie, my own Housemaster, an even greater legend. He came for a day out with us, his life’s ambition just before it was too late. I fired to Bert on the down road and it was my turn to drive on the up road. Somewhere about Christchurch, Bert said to me: “Shall we let Reginald have a little drive?” but he took some persuasion. “It’s your last chance on BR, Reginald”, I said and here he is, enjoying every second of it. The picture captures an expression of pure joy on his face. RH417A. A similar photograph to RH417 but without the panache. RH418 When Bert retired in 1980, I had a hunch that he would fade from the scene with nobody in charge to shake his hand and wish him well and that proved to be the case. My hunch led to Gwenda and me arranging a gathering of his oldest friends at our home in Amersham. We gave Rene and Bert some lovely presents and also I compiled a large album as a form of “This is your life” which, since his death, has come back to me thanks to his son, Denis. Bert was much moved and we saw him off in style. It was a nice day and we could go in the garden so, Front L-R: Roger Constant, Miriam Barlow, Bobby Jones, AEH, Rene Hooker, Major Harry Mosse RA. Middle: George Barlow, Gwenda Hardy, Bill Thomas, Tony Seymour. Back: RHNH, Edmond Godry (Chef Mecanicien, SNCF Calais), Tom Miller, Margaret Thomas and Robert Sinclair. A Happy Day. RH419 Brockenhurst and 73037 with Alan Newman who became a Loco Inspector on the LM Region and must be about somewhere. He learned a great deal about both sides of the engine from Bert with Reginald Jennings and Bert. RH420 A very early introduction to the steam locomotive. Bert Hooker and our Peter, born in 1958. Eng 73082, one Sunday morning at Waterloo. RH420B Portrait of Driver Dick Brock of Stratford. RH420C Portrait of Driver Ted Whitehead of Stratford. RH420D Portrait of Driver Albert Page of Stratford. RH420E Portrait of Driver Harry (Bungay) Wooltorton of Stratford. RH420F Portrait of Ernie Smith ex-Driver and now on shift in the Outlet Office at Stratford shed. RH420G Portrait of Driver George Marler of Stratford who had an impromptu presentation to Her Majesty the Queen when he was acting as a diesel instructor. RH420H Portrait of Driver Jack Searle of Stratford who took all these portrait photographs. RH421 A classic family photograph now hanging in the downstairs loo! Bert and Peter Hardy in the cab of 73082, Camelot on which I had a splendid day in 2002 on the Bluebell with David Ratcliffe. RH422 On the down road at Southampton, Eng 35003, Reginald Jennings and Bert. Two men from totally different backgrounds, they were as one within an hour of meeting on the platform at Basingstoke (see RH417, RH419). RH423 See previous pictures at Bold Colliery L&M Centenary and a half, 1980. Mike Satow wrestles with “Rocket” to engage fore gear. Up to now, no forward movement whilst Fred Dale, next day’s driver, watches apprehensively. The two on the right taking cover from the dirty water from the tall chimney are (L) unknown and (R) Eric White, Chief Loco Inspector whose only steam work had been on the Mersey Railway J72 on ballast work but for all that 1 in 27 gradients! RH424 The “Rocket” with Bold Cooling Towers in the background. Jimmy Donnelly, then the senior passed fireman at Edge Hill, Captain Bill Smith, the owner of the old GNER 1247, J52, Peter Hardy, out for the day, Freddy Day (“The Principle Boy”) and Wilf Hulme, next in seniority to Fred. Jimmy is a Scouser but now lives in Ireland in retirement. RH425 Doctor Ian Allen in his garden at Thorpeness. A good old friend if ever there was one. RH426 Doctor Ian again, this time at Bressingham with two ex GER and BR enginemen, one from Colchester, the other from Norwich. Eng 70013 in background. RH427-432 are all family photos of our children. RH427 Peter at New Romney in the cab of George Barlow’s “Green Goddess” – playing to the gallery in April 1964, still five, and two months off his sixth birthday. RH428 At Longmoor of all places on the way to see my cousins near Petersfield. About 1964, James and Peter. J would be about ten and had the makings of a splendid athlete until he had to have both knees operated on for Schlatter’s disease, a tragedy which he bore with great fortitude for one so young. RH429 Here are James and Peter still at Longmoor with the “Gazelle” built by Dodman’s of Kings Lynn in 1896 and after being privately owned became a Col Stephens engine and helped in a very small way to work the Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Light Railway when taken over by the ROD in the 1939-45 war. I suppose the royal Engineers must have kept it but I doubt if it was ever used on the Longmoor Military Railway. Its original Victorian owner had a grand time scooting around the Fens on a Sunday with a GER driver and fireman. RH430 At New Romney, April 1964 with the “Green Goddess” George Barlow and our Anthea, James and Peter. Who is the chap with the woolly bobble cap? RH431/2 are taken with the old box camera about 1957-8 at Stewarts Lane in the cab of a Fairbairn “Midland” tank. Both a classics of their kind and, as such, merit a place on the wall of the downstairs loo. James is 431 and Anthea 432. SNCF CAPTIONS 434-450, RH434 The Gare du Nord , Paris:. 231 E 46,one of the last Chapelon Pacifics to be built in 1936/7 for the Nord . Working the Fleche d’Or,train 19 to Calais. E46 was the machine titulaire of Mecanicien Henri Odent and his enormous chauffeur Robert Gourdin who were complete masters of the job. On the left is Philippe Leroy, the head of the Motive Power Dept on the Nord Region of the SNCF, a very dear friend and when he retired in 1970, all his BR friends had him and Madame over here to see them off in our warmest style. Alongside him is another old friend, Len Theobald, Chief Locomotive Inspector of the Eastern Region under L.P,Parker. Calais men and engine in Mar 1959, RH435 Calais men and engine again in Mar 1965. This time it is E9 and Henri Dutertre at Boulogne on train 16. Henri took over E16 in 1951 aged 27 and when she was withdrawn in 1961, he was given the E9. one of the original PO rebuilds as was E16. His fireman is Michel Rock, his last on a Chapelon and Michel went with Gilbert Sueur to the end of steam in 1971. George Barlow was having his first journey on a PO and he was the driver from Etaples to Abbeville: he had a good story to tell when he went back to New Romney. RH436 Amiens: a luncheon in 1964.The participants are Andre Corbier(L)who spoke excellent English as did both Henry de Fumichon and his dear wife, Nicole. He was the equivalent of DMPS and Andre was Chef Controlleur in the Permanance at Amiens. Henry had been in the Army but took his degree at the Ecole Polytechnique and then joined the SNCF. He and Nicole were titled in their own right, Baron and Baroness and became great family friends. Not many barons on our railway nor Etonians either but in the background is Alan Parker who became Sir Alan by and by. He was a great character and during the meal we were surprised to hear the persistent bark of a small dog. After searching underneath the table and looking in all directions, the bark was traced to the side of the smiling Alan’s mouth amid great applause. RH437 St Lazare,Paris. James Colyer-Fergusson and I had crossed from Southampton to Le Havre overnight and we left Le Havre at 0700 on the engine of the boat train,231 G 763 an Etat Pacific modernised by Andre Chapelon and a very good engine for a heavy and tightly timed train. I was the fireman from Rouen to Paris and enjoyed the hard work . The old engine did her job well but not quite in the style of the genuine PO 231E. L-R Mecru Jean Dupont, Chauffeur Georges Heller ,the Cherbourg Chef Mec Robert Garnier, J-CF, Phillipe Leroy and Maurice Oudry, his Assistant.. RH438 Lille and the machine titulaire of Marcel Delmasure of Fives, the passenger engine depot for Lille. The engine is E19 which finished her career at Calais and we had a splendid journey to Calais with train YF .I worked my way home as usual and Marcel’s fireman enjoyed his rest and distributed his wine accordingly.With me was Stanley Seers who was a well-known owner of veteran cars and who took me on the Brighton run in 1961 on his 1901 Mors so this was by way of a return trip which he enjoyed immensely. RH439 The same Equipe with RH in the centre. RH440 E19 in all her glory at Calais Ville. You can see the ACFI equipment, a fireman’s friend if ever there was one, the large Westo pump, the Walchaerts valve gear operating rotary cam poppet valves, the trapezoidal firebox, the immense steam pipes to the high pressure cylinders and many other interesting features RH441 Another Fives mecru, Arthur Duflot with George Mitchelll, the examining Motive Power inspector for the Eastern Region an old King’s Cross fireman and driver who enjoyed every moment of his weekend. E22 was the first of the new engines built for the Nord Railway in 1935 and was a beauty which finished her career at Calais in charge of Jean Guelton. Arthur was a very special engineman and a delightful man as was his hatchet faced fireman on the next picture. RH442 George Mitchell, Arthur Duflot and his hatchet faced fireman at Calais Ville. RH443 As above. RH444 See 438 RH445 Alfred Cordier, once a mecru on the 230Ds and now a Conducteur de Route on the 66000DD, a very poor exchange for a 141R or a Pacific, indeed they were feeble creatures. Jean Querlin Chef mecanicien under Edmond Godry and an ex Calais mecru stands next to the camera and both are watching that Frank Mayes does the job as it should be done on train 16 as far as Etaples.Frank was a Locomotive \inspector at stratfoed which he reached via Barnsley, Kings Cross on the A4s with Syd Tappin and Stratford for his driver’s check. He loved the French and was always prominent when they came to England. RH446 Now for few views of footplate work. The solid and smiling Gilbert Sueur has started on the track as a trackman but transferred to the depot at Calais and got to the top of his profession as a Mecanicien by driving firstly E41 and then E14. He was a lovely man who came twice to England and very conscientious so that his long-time mate did not always please him. Rene Hochart had a way of his own but he was a PO fireman for over twenty years and knew the job backwards. RH447 Michel Dutriot was a spare driver who had passed the exams on all but the PO locomotives and sadly he died before he could achieve his ambition. Colin Morris, then DMPS at King’s Cross, was a great success in France and here he is looking like Colonel Cody, the early aviator, on the K81 en route with train 19 Paris-Calais.The day was amazing in that a dragging brake gradually brought us to a stand on Caffiers bank whereupon both Michel and his mate Aime Deloison left the footplate, ran down the train, isolated the brakes on the seventh coach, ran back, released the brakes and got away up 1 in 125 without a slip or hesitation with over 580 tons. Total delay, ten minutes, arrival in Calais Maritime five minutes late. Wonderful work but when we were saying good-bye before boarding the Invicta, the conductuer du train came up in a terrible rage as we had got off the bank so quickly that we had left his mate behind up in the hills for he had gone back to protect the train with detonators etc. How he got home and when has never been related! Download 0.62 Mb. Share with your friends:
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