new name old boy back again

[the green mile]

Now there's a few more names in the frame which I hadn't thought of. Mr Oakley is indeed still going strong as is his son Dave who is also a Controller but for FGW. Guard Tony Gulley retired a few months ago.

[Robin Summerhill]

I was on the staff bus in the early 90's 91 to 93 I think every Thursday you had to do the chip run for the LDC. Pranged that Sherpa van more times then I would like to admit to. Most of what was referred to as The Baby link have ended up working for DB Schenker.
I worked on the bus along with Steve Robins , Pete Wade ( No longer with us) and Frank Padmore. Bert Sams was the storeman on the train cre side of things.
Roger (no men) Ford , Keith (Bird seed ) millett Phill ( judge) Du camp Mr Joshi was his name something like nasir ?? Colin Oakley now train running controller for Notwork Rail in Swindon and Steve radio Dent . Can still hear him now calling 14 to 1 , 14 to 1. Guard Gulley is on his way up to the station for the Hereford. Said in his northen tones.
Many of the characters of Bath Rd still bring a smile to our faces and raise a laugh or three when we get time to go over the old days.

The names Frank Padmore and Bert Sams are familiar. Another name that came back to me just as I was writing this was another cleaner, Courteney Jane.

If I remember correctly, Steve Dent was an ASM at Temple Meads when I was there briefly in 1979

[oldchapie]

Bath road the fun house of the western region lol the names of the lads at bath road ought to go down in history robin you realise you were one of them so keep naming them

[the green mile]

Ah yes! Poor Courteney. One of life's victims. A very naive individual who was taken in by anything he was told. He was the brunt of a lot of mickey taking in the mess room. Had ideas way above his capabilities. He wanted to be a fitter but the lads would wind him up by saying he wouldn't be strong enough to remove the big spark plugs from the big diesel engines. This would sow seeds of doubt in his mind and it could be seen all over his face. I'd like to think he was a cross between a Norman Wisdom character and Pikey on Dad's Army.

[Robin Summerhill]

Ah yes! Poor Courteney. One of life's victims. A very naive individual who was taken in by anything he was told. He was the brunt of a lot of mickey taking in the mess room. Had ideas way above his capabilities. He wanted to be a fitter but the lads would wind him up by saying he wouldn't be strong enough to remove the big spark plugs from the big diesel engines. This would sow seeds of doubt in his mind and it could be seen all over his face. I'd like to think he was a cross between a Norman Wisdom character and Pikey on Dad's Army.

Presumably you're hoping he doesn't read this forum!

(Note - if any "regular" stops posting now we'll all have our suspicions about their identity!)

Mind you, those spark plugs are heavy, but they're nothing compared to the carburettors .....

[the green mile]

You presume correctly Robin. I can't recall what sort of age group he was but definitely older than me.

Heaven forbid that we had had a mix of petrol and diesel locos with bulk supplies of both in the daily shed. Can you imagine how many trains would have spluttered to a halt after leaving Bristol. Or heavy exhaust because the driver had forgot to put the choke back in. (Younger readers may perhaps wonder what a choke is as cars haven't had one for probably 30 - 40 years now). The old dmu's were fuelled using a holster type gun. It wasn't unknown for fuel tanks to be filled with water.

[Robin Summerhill]

You presume correctly Robin. I can't recall what sort of age group he was but definitely older than me.

Heaven forbid that we had had a mix of petrol and diesel locos with bulk supplies of both in the daily shed. Can you imagine how many trains would have spluttered to a halt after leaving Bristol. Or heavy exhaust because the driver had forgot to put the choke back in. (Younger readers may perhaps wonder what a choke is as cars haven't had one for probably 30 - 40 years now). The old dmu's were fuelled using a holster type gun. It wasn't unknown for fuel tanks to be filled with water.

I'll hazard a guess that if Courteney is still with us he'd be in his mid-70s by now.

Your thoughts on the Daily Shed reminded me of a memo that came round in 1974 or so. Reading between the lines it said:

"Will you buggers stop pinching anti-freeze to put in your cars because we haven't got enough left for the diesels"

[the green mile]

I remember people queuing up to clock off with bottles of the green stuff secreted under their coats!