From Newsgroup: uk.railway

I am reading a book about one of the pioneers of airlines in Scotland.

During WWII he was unsurprisingly taken on by RAF.

In 1940 he went to Berkshire on a course with three others. They tried
to get a train back to Blackpool but were told there were no trains
running because of air raids.

There was an engine with a couple of carriages that was steamed up.
They asked where it was going, thinking it might get them nearer their destination. The driver said he lived locally but could get them to Northampton except he would have to pay for a night away. So they had a collection and offered him 22/6d. He was happy with that but a larger
group of passengers offered him more and he took them to Leicester.

I wonder how common arrangements like that were at that time?

I am familiar with the well known story of MacAlpine 'persuading' a
driver to take him to Fort William with a surgeon and nurse one night
but the line was closed down for the night so no danger of meeting
another train.
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From Newsgroup: uk.railway

On 18/08/2025 10:51, JMB99 wrote:

I am reading a book about one of the pioneers of airlines in Scotland.

During WWII he was unsurprisingly taken on by RAF.

In 1940 he went to Berkshire on a course with three others.-a They tried
to get a train back to Blackpool but were told there were no trains
running because of air raids.

There was an engine with a couple of carriages that was steamed up. They asked where it was going, thinking it might get them nearer their destination.-a The driver said he lived locally but could get them to Northampton except he would have to pay for a night away.-a So they had a collection and offered him 22/6d.-a He was happy with that but a larger group of passengers offered him more and he took them to Leicester.

I wonder how common arrangements like that were at that time?

I wonder how a driver went about requesting a route for such an ad hoc
journey. If there were no trains running then the signallers may have
been redeployed, resting or sheltering from the bombs.

I am familiar with the well known story of MacAlpine 'persuading' a
driver to take him to Fort William with a surgeon and nurse one night
but the line was closed down for the night so no danger of meeting
another train.

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From Newsgroup: uk.railway

On 18/08/2025 11:22, Certes wrote:

I wonder how a driver went about requesting a route for such an ad hoc journey.-a If there were no trains running then the signallers may have
been redeployed, resting or sheltering from the bombs.

I don't think they did.

The MacAlpine journey was done with the train crew getting down to
change the points themselves.

I know from a talk we had here that a lot of things that happened then
would be unheard of now - derailed so just get out a crowbar! One when
there was a stop signal and no answer from the signal box so they drove
to the signal box in a car but no one there because they had gone to the bakery to get some fresh rolls straight from the oven.



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From Newsgroup: uk.railway

On 18/08/2025 12:22, JMB99 wrote:

On 18/08/2025 11:22, Certes wrote:

I wonder how a driver went about requesting a route for such an ad hoc
journey.-a If there were no trains running then the signallers may have
been redeployed, resting or sheltering from the bombs.

I don't think they did.

The MacAlpine journey was done with the train crew getting down to
change the points themselves.

I know from a talk we had here that a lot of things that happened then
would be unheard of now - derailed so just get out a crowbar!-a One when there was a stop signal and no answer from the signal box so they drove
to the signal box in a car but no one there because they had gone to the bakery to get some fresh rolls straight from the oven.

I was thinking of the more complex journey from Berkshire to Leicester
or Northampton. The crew would have to be familiar with a variety of procedures for that one, not to mention accessing several companies'
locked signal boxes which might be some distance on the far side of the
points.

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From Newsgroup: uk.railway

In message <107ut2f$2v5pb$1@dont-email.me>, JMB99 <mb@nospam.net> writes

I am reading a book about one of the pioneers of airlines in Scotland.

During WWII he was unsurprisingly taken on by RAF.

In 1940 he went to Berkshire on a course with three others. They tried
to get a train back to Blackpool but were told there were no trains
running because of air raids.

There was an engine with a couple of carriages that was steamed up.
They asked where it was going, thinking it might get them nearer their >destination. The driver said he lived locally but could get them to >Northampton except he would have to pay for a night away. So they had
a collection and offered him 22/6d. He was happy with that but a
larger group of passengers offered him more and he took them to Leicester.

I wonder how common arrangements like that were at that time?

I am familiar with the well known story of MacAlpine 'persuading' a
driver to take him to Fort William with a surgeon and nurse one night
but the line was closed down for the night so no danger of meeting
another train.

Rather earlier in time, I suspect Edwardian, certainly pre WW1. There
is a nice story in Dow's history of the Great Central (which I don't to
hand at the moment) of a gentleman arriving at Marylebone hoping to get
the last train back to Aylesbury. He had missed the train, but on
producing his first class return and (IIRC) 5 Guineas, the staff
organised a special for him, which ran express, and therefore lead to
the service he had intended to catch being looped so he could overtake
it.

I doubt such customer service would be available today.

Adrian
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From Newsgroup: uk.railway

Certes <Certes@example.org> wrote:

I wonder how a driver went about requesting a route for such an ad hoc journey. If there were no trains running then the signallers may have
been redeployed, resting or sheltering from the bombs.

Presumably in wartime there must have been some way to organise ad-hoc
paths? Assuming the signalboxes were open, that is (which they perhaps
would have been given wartime traffic demands).

If there was an air raid or whatever that took out a piece of track at X,
and the RAF base at Y needed a shipment of bombs urgently because their ammo dump had been hit, then presumably there was a way to call up and ask for a path for a train?

I don't know how much central planning there was (to get a non-stop path) or was there just a lot of time in-section waiting at signals? Perhaps it was easier to use secondary lines for ad-hoc traffic which weren't troubled by
too many local trains?

Theo
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