Howard's Railway Ramblings.

Howard Benson
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Stories from steam railways and other heritage locations.

  1. Alex Scott. Wartime Footplate Man. 5.

    10/30/2025

    Alex Scott. Wartime Footplate Man. 5.

    One of Alex's duties at Watford was working push and pull trains where the driver made the return journey using controls in a compartment in the rear carriage. They ran between Watford Junction and St. Albans and also on the short branch from Harrow and Wealdstone to Stanmore via Belmont. The trains were used by men from the RAF base nearby and, according to Alex, used the trains for a little "pulling" of their own with willing participants from the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. Similar liaisons took palce on the late night all stations service from Euston to Bletchley, so life had its lighter side for a wartime footplate man!

    19 min
  2. Alex Scott. Wartime Footplate Man. 4.

    11/05/2025

    Alex Scott. Wartime Footplate Man. 4.

    After working as a passed cleaner for about two years Alex transferred to Watford loco shed where he was promoted to fireman. He then took examinations to become a passed fireman qualifying him to be a driver. Much of the work at Watford was on freight and coal trains but they also had turns on the local stopping passenger trains between Euston and Bletchley. As he still lived with his parents near to Camden shed Alex was called out by the foreman there to work on expresses to the north and one unique loco he fired was the Turbomotive which had steam turbines instead of cylinders. His eyes were also opened by what one Bushey mother would do to keep her trackside house warm!

    28 min
  3. Alex Scott. Wartime Footplate Man. 3.

    11/08/2025

    Alex Scott. Wartime Footplate Man. 3.

    As a railwayman Alex was exempt from military service but that didn't mean working on the footplate was any less dangerous than serving overseas. On the home front the trains had to keep running day and night and often that meant braving the bombs of the London blitz. In November 1941 Alex vividly remembers a parachute mine that exploded near Queen's Park station. Whole streets were flattened and many people were killed leaving a local cinema. Alex was on a train returning from Blackpool which was caught up in the blast but he didn't realise the extent of the casualties until the train arrived at Euston. On a lighter note he remembers the drunk American soldier who found his way into an engine tender and how he courted the daughter of a pompous railway guard.

    23 min
  4. Alex Scott. Wartime Footplate Man. 2.

    11/09/2025

    Alex Scott. Wartime Footplate Man. 2.

    After about a year working in the shed at Camden Alex took his theory and practical tests to become a "passed" cleaner enabling him to work as a fireman on the footplate. His first mainline trip was on a 5XP Jubilee locomotive on an express to Manchester but he also did shunting duties on Jinty tank engines in the yards at Camden and Maiden Lane. As he gained more experience he was rostered for a morning run all the way to Carlisle via Shap, but unfortunately he didn't quite make it!

    21 min
  5. Alex Scott. Wartime Footplate Man. 1.

    11/10/2025

    Alex Scott. Wartime Footplate Man. 1.

    Alexander Richmond Scott was born in October 1924 and grew up a stone's throw away from Camden engine shed which was home to many of the famous steam locomotives which hauled the express trains of the London Midland & Scottish Railway. Alex became a cleaner at Camden in 1940 and quickly rose through the ranks to become a fireman and driver on the West Coast Main Line throughout the Second World War. He left the railway after the war but remained an enthusiast driving trains on the Nene Valley Railway and acting as stationmaster at Sheringham on the North Norfolk Railway. Here in Part One of his story he talks about his family, growing up in Camden, and trainspotting from on top of the toilets at the Pembroke Castle pub. (Alex died in Norfolk in 2017.)

    28 min
  6. The Greatest Railway Blunder.

    10/28/2025

    The Greatest Railway Blunder.

    Signalman and author Adrian Vaughan talks about his book on railway privatisation and why he called it The Greatest Railway Blunder.

    20 min
  7. Lanky carriages in Bronte Country.

    10/28/2025

    Lanky carriages in Bronte Country.

    Eric Rawcliffe of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Trust talks about the history of the company and its carriages being restored at Oxenhope on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. Recorded in 2009.

    25 min
  8. Liverpool & Manchester Special.

    10/27/2025

    Liverpool & Manchester Special.

    Enthusiasts talk about their passion for steam as they travel on a double headed special to mark the 175th anniversary of the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. Postponed from the previous year the train ran under the headcode 1Z76 from Liverpool Lime Street on Saturday 4 March 2006. It was hauled by LMS Black Five 5, 45407 and BR Standard 4, 76079. The route took it via Manchester Victoria, Huddersfield, Copy Pit and Blackburn before returning to Liverpool.

    19 min
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Stories from steam railways and other heritage locations.

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