Conserving Heritage - The People of Workington
Keith Dobson
Keith began his railway career at Stratford depot in London, in Aug 1976. He transferred to his home town of Workington a little over a year later, as the railway hostel he was staying in closed. He was a second man (a diesel driver’s mate). In 1977, there were several diesel locomotives still stabled at Workington. They weren’t necessarily kept in the shed though (which was described as ‘shut’ by this time) often being left in sidings, or at the fuel points by the shed doors.
He still remembers his first trip as second man at Workington, with a driver called Jack Sharpe on a class 25 loco with a trip working to Beckermet Iron Ore Mine.
There were normally three class 25s, used for trip freight workings (known at Workington as “Target Jobs”) to Beckermet, and Maryport. The local industry was fairly interdependent – iron ore from Beckermet would be sent to Maryport steel works. Almost all of the work journeys were very local.
A class 40 heading up a train taking Pig Iron to Kings Winsford was another regular job. Freight work was steady until the steel strike in 1979. That was the beginning of the decline.
There were two ‘08’ shunters kept at Workington which tended to be used for working around the very local yards, marshalling wagons for dispatch. There were still three shifts of men, which is an indication of the amount of work going on.
The other loco was a class 47 for the mail train to Huddersfield.
There was a top link which had six men in it – the six senior hands, all DMU passenger work. There was a train to Carlisle and Barrow which left early from Workington. There was one late shift, which could earn a man another £25 extra pay. (Book on 10.05pm, drive to Carlisle, have a break and bring the 04:15 newspaper train back.) The DMUs were usually class 108.
The next link was called “the big link” with 22 men, and a trip link which had two men. Finally there was the shunting link for the very local work. Four men were needed for that. This tended to be staffed by men restricted for “light duties”
In total around 60 men were based at Workington.
Keith was passed for driving in the summer of 1982 after attending a course in Preston. He was only 22 years old, a young age for drivers. Compared to older men, who might have been forty when they were passed to drive that’s very short, but Keith says the really old chaps said they approved. A similar situation happened during the war when traffic was busy and there was a need to pass people out. “They were with us all the way. They were brilliant. Those men, the schooling they gave us, not just in railway work, but in life, was brilliant. It was an education money couldn’t have bought”
After 1982 traffic continued to decline. Keith’s driving career involved both freight and passenger work. One passenger turn was known as “The Long Job”. A driver would book on at Saturday lunchtime, work a train to Barrow, then to Carlisle before finally returning to Workington just before nine o’clock in the evening. That’s around 160 miles and a lot of station stops.
There were still occasional peaks of traffic. Cement trains with loads being transferred for shipment to Douglas on the Isle of Man and coal trains for shipment to Scotland. At one point a traffic supervisor was appointed to keep everything moving, but it proved to be a false dawn.
Over his time at Workington there was still camaraderie, but the area and shed went into a slow decline. “Railway humour is very dry. That first hour in the morning – well you could have sold tickets for it! The banter was flowing. I remember one day a driver took the mail engine to be fuelled. Anyway the track was a bit flaky and the road was spread. The Class 47 derailed itself. The driver came to the fitter’s cabin to report “an earth fault” (a simple electrical problem).” The fitter certainly did find the loco had an ‘earth’ fault when he went out to look!
“It always seemed like the beginning of the end when the night shift went. Before you knew it the back shift would go. Then you were left with just days.” Locos were gradually transferred away and soon they were stabled north of the shed on the holding sidings. “It was sad to see. You heard a lot of stories about the old shed. I remember one night when I was 18, before I was passed to drive, I had to take a Class 40 to the front of the old shed to fuel up. The loco inspector appeared out of the shadows, but he was more concerned that I shut the engine down while I fuelled it, because of noise complaints from nearby houses.”
In the winter, “frost men” were rostered. As temperatures fell there were instructions for engines to be run for a certain number of hours. Eventually though, any loco fitters were transferred to Carlisle and would travel to Workington by car to do any jobs required.
Keith finished on the railway in 1987 transferring to the internal network at BNFL’s site at Sellafield. “Better pay, better hours!” He’s now in his forties and still drives for them today.