Shunters

At the GCR this morning and I noticed this diesel shunter fussing about with stock at the engine shed end of the platform, so I wandered down to see what it was up to. It had drawn up a line of three, out of steam, steam locomotives - two Standards and the Hall, and positioned them so that the GW engine was in place under the water column.  

It reminded me how station pilots used to do a lot of fannying around in the main stations - the Jinties at Lime Street bringing in empty carriage stock and then giving the heavier expresses a half-hearted push up the slope towards Edge Hill. At Central Low Level, it was Fowler tanks at the buffer stops. When I was still at junior school, I had a cab ride in one up the tunnel to Brunswick and back.

I thought that the engine driver was my new best friend, who would obviously bestow the favour whenever I turned up, after that. He would recognise me immediately and off we would go again. I was virtually his fireman, now, after all.

Dad, who had waited patiently for me on the concourse, explained otherwise. It was a one-off and I had been very lucky. He broke it to me gently. That was the sort of man he was.