I believe they have announced that schools in Herefordshire will be closed tomorrow. I was just talking about this same subject with my wife. At no time during my childhood do I recall our school closing and neither did transport grind to a halt. Hardly any families had cars and teachers/pupils travelled to school by bus or walked. I can remember the crates of milk stacked up and the milk frozen and sticking out of the bottle neck by about 2 inches with the silver top froze to the top.
Fast forward to the winter of 62/63 and I was a fireman on British Railways. Again I don't recall trains being cancelled although there was a lot of late running due to points freezing, certainly no trains that I worked were cancelled due to the weather. Conditions were unpleasant on the footplate due to the cold, I would stand in front of the firebox door and be burning one side of my body but freezing on the other.
One day we worked a train from Cardiff and had relief at Hereford and when I got off the footplate the perspiration on my face froze my eyelashes together. I also remember working a train to Crewe and when we were near Church Stretton seeing two horses in a field froze stiff where they stood.
If the injectors froze up we would get some cotton waste soaked in oil and shove it up the injector waste pipes to thaw them out and it worked with one exception. My driver and I relieved Bristol men on a parcels train at Hereford and the injectors froze while waiting for the porters/post office workers to load/unload the mail. We couldn't thaw them out and had to leave our train in the station and make a dash for Hereford MPD where we dropped the fire before the fusible plugs in the boiler melted. That was a firemans gravest sin, to drop the plugs, and I only knew of it happening once to a Hereford crew.
My most knackering time was again working a train from Cardiff consisting of oil tankers for Rowley Regis, Birmingham. I even recall the engine, it was 92220 Evening Star, the last steam loco built for British Railways. From Abergavenny to Llanvihangel theres a steep climb and some trains stopped for a banker to give assistance at the rear of the train. My driver said we would be ok due to the weight of our train so we took a run at the bank. About 3 miles outside Abergavenny we came to a stop due to the icey rails. It was my job then to protect the rear of the train by placing detonators at 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 miles. Then I had to walk back to Abergavenny signal box to inform the signalman. After the 3 mile walk I was chilled to the bone and entering the signalbox the signalman burst out laughing at me. He said I looked like the Abominable Snowman. At least I didn't have to walk back to our train, they detached the locomotive off the following goods to give us a push over the top.
They are memories that will always stay with me and there was a great camaraderie among footplate staff. Even now, every October, we have reunions at the Hereford BRSA club. Sadly with each year the numbers are getting fewer though :O(
It always was my ambition to be a driver but Dr. Beeching put paid to my dreams but I don't regret my time on there because not many can actually have the experience of working on one of mans greatest creations, the steam locomotive.
p.s. Sorry to ramble but once I start I get all nostalgic ;O)
