Herb, the following is an extract from the Brontes biographies. It appears that Branwell was indeed addicted to Opium. This is a fact not an opinion. 

In April 1841 he was employed as Clerk in Charge of Luddenden Foot station near Hebden Bridge. While there he was known to frequent the Lord Nelson Tavern. In March 1842 he is dismissed from his post as there was found to be a deficit in the station accounts, attributed to Branwell Bronte's incompetence rather than theft.

For the next three years Branwell's state physically and mentally take a rapid decline due to his dependence on drink and opium........ www.haworthvillage.org

Herb, the following is an extract from the Brontes biographies. It appears that Branwell was indeed addicted to Opium. This is a fact not an opinion. 

In April 1841 he was employed as Clerk in Charge of Luddenden Foot station near Hebden Bridge. While there he was known to frequent the Lord Nelson Tavern. In March 1842 he is dismissed from his post as there was found to be a deficit in the station accounts, attributed to Branwell Bronte's incompetence rather than theft.

For the next three years Branwell's state physically and mentally take a rapid decline due to his dependence on drink and opium........ www.haworthvillage.org

Ted Harrison sent me this to post with his articles on the Lancaster area.

To continue -

Early in 1949 it was decided  to augment the complement of Relief Station Masters in the Leeds DOS area with a Temporary Relief Clerk passed in rules and regulations, available to relieve Station Masters, and I was selected and passed out and put in the post from 4th April 1949. Skipton remained my home station but my work was confined to covering purely operating positions such as Station Masters and clerks in Station and Yard Master's offices. This had the effect of immediately removing me from any regular shift work and at the same time widened my horizons somewhat. Some of the locations I was then concerned with were as follows:-

BRADFORD FORSTER SQUARE; I covered the SM's Clerk's position there. Dickie Bradshaw, the SM, uttered his normal greeting of ` Morning Men' on his way into his office and could then be heard tapping his pencil incessantly for the next hours while he dealt with his correspondence and formulated policy for the day. In those days complaints were few but I do recall one morning when an irate bald headed gentleman burst into the office with blood streaming down his face. Apparently he had pulled the chain and brought the toilet cistern, and its contents, down on his head.

LEEDS CITY; Again I only worked in the SMO. Mr. Chamberlain, the SM, was a rather more remote figure than other SMs in the District and my dealings were mainly with the Senior Clerk, Mr. Grantham. Normally I only went there on arrears of work or in connection with holiday arrangements. One of the favourite jobs that seemed to be reserved for me was to balance the wages staff  PAYE year end tax, a system which was in its infancy at that time. In addition to the normal complement of staff, over one hundred staff were engaged during the year, mainly for the handling of parcel post in the peak Christmas period. Details of earnings and tax were entered, week by week, on a seperate card for each member of the staff. The failure to strike a balance, between the totals of tax deducted on the cards and the tax deducted on the paybills, meant that the weekly entries on the cards had to be checked against the paybill entries as well as checking the accumulative total entries on the cards.  I would expect to find a number of discrepancies before I could strike a balance. At that time national insurance stamps were still purchased each week which required sticking on the NI cards for each individual employed. This duty was, of course,  common to all stations but could be rather onerous at large stations. 

HUNSLET SIDINGS; To get to the Yard Master's Office I had to catch a Belle Isle tram outside City Station. I always found the work interesting and challenging from the point of view of not knowing the staff, most of the time being occupied on rostering and paybills. Here I had my one and only slight experience of anything to do with hostels for trainmen. Lodging by traincrews was an accepted part of their work and in 1947 there were 43 hostels on the LMS providing a total of 2,052 beds. The size of the hostels ranged from the smallest at Oban (9 beds) to the largest, Crewe (105 beds). At Leeds there were two, Farnley Junction (42 beds) and Holbeck (20 beds).      

LEEDS DISTRICT MANAGER'S OFFICE; At that time all the District's Traffic Department's paybills were checked and certified in the Staff office and, from time to time, I spent a few odd days in the Paybill Section, the head of which was Charlies Nunn who I had come across at Barlick before I `joined up' when he was a Relief SM. At about this time a new job was created as Clerk to the District Signalling Inspectors at Leeds and Skipton which was mainly concerned with the rostering of signalmen and I covered the post until the first appointment was made.  Whilst working for the DI's I was given my first taste of Sunday operating work. This was in connection with engineering work on the main lines at Marley Junction involving diversions over the Up Slow/Down Goods lines. I felt quite proud to be the cause of a special stop order being issued on an express parcels train to drop me at Marley Junction in the early hours of the morning. Another interesting job was that of `putting in' single line working over the down line for an out of guage load between Dent and Garsdale, I think because of the lack of clearance with the Up Platform at the latter station. Due to the paucity of trains on the `Long Drag' on a Sunday morning the unusual course of withdrawing single line working `bang road' (ie. with a train travelling over the single line in the wrong direction) was adopted using the out of guage load itself.

GARSDALE; This station boasted the highest water troughs in the UK and the highest main line summit at Aisgill, 1169 feet above sea level. In the 1860's three schemes were launched for linking the LNW and Midland Railways with the NE Railway by passing through Wensleydale. At the same time the Midland, having failed to reach agreement with the LNW for running powers to Carlisle, was promoting its own line from Settle to that city. Eventually the proposed cross country routes were abandoned on the understanding that the Midland would include a branch from Garsdale to Hawes in the forthcoming bill. Running powers were awarded to the NE from Hawes to Settle, and to the Midland from Hawes to Leyburn. The 6 mile long branch to Hawes was opened on 1st October 1878. The Settle and Carlisle had opened for freight on 1st August 1875 and passenger traffic from 1st May 1876. Until January 1900 this junction station was known as Hawes Junction. It then became Hawes Junction and Garsdale until 1933 when it became Garsdale (for Hawes). The single line from Garsdale was worked by Staff and Ticket, the person appointed to receive the staff or ticket at Garsdale being the SM or Person in Charge. After nationalisation the line from Garsdale to Hawes was transferred to the North Eastern Region on 5th September 1948. Eventually the Wensleydale line avoided the Beeching Axe by closing in 1959. UNtil 1902 the NER had provided all the booked services between Hawes Junction and Northallerton. Then the Midland began to run one train in each direction on weekdays between Hellifield and Hawes. In my time this train, known locally as `Bonnyface', left Bradford at 12/46pm (Hellifield 1/58-2/10) returning from Hawes at 4/25pm, terminating at Hellifield 5/23pm. The only explanation I have heard for the nickname was, that in the Hawes/Garsdale area, its return trip indicated, to those working on the track side, that the end of their normal working day had arrived. The `stock'  formed the 7.05am Horton to Bradford the following weekday. LNE trains arrived Garsdale 9.10am and 5/56pm and returned at 10.45am and 6/40pm, having connected, into and out of, slow trains on the main line. In 1950 horse boxes to and from Leyburn (some for Neville Crump's stable at Middleham) were regularly transferred at Garsdale.

Garsdale had a turntable which was a relic from the small engine policy of the Midland when trains on the `Drag' were regularly assisted by a pilot locomotive which was detached and, after turning, returned light to Hellifield or Carlisle. The turntable was surrounded by a `stockade'  which had been constructed as a result of an incident on the 21st December 1900 when the wind was so severe that an engine could not be stopped from spinning round. Eventually, legend has it, the turntable was brought to a halt by platelayers filling it with sane.

The railway cottages at Garsdale were still dependant on a well for their drinking water and, when a piped supply was first proposed in 1950, some of the older residents opposed the `improvement'. This in spite of the fact that the apparatus had to be thawed out on many a Winter's morning and water carried into the cottages throughout the year.          

To continue-

DENT; The highest main line station in England and protected by a barrier of two rows of sleepers to the east. I remember Dent mainly for its occasional problems with sacks. The railways hired sacks to merchants for the conveyance of corn etc. to farmers and others who were supposed to return them when empty. Demurrage was charged, I think at the rate of one `old' penny per sack per week, or part thereof, when these were not returned to the receiving station within the allotted time. With the far flung farms served by Dent it could be quite a job chasing dilatory farmers for there return. If repeated reminders, in the form of postcards, were unsuccessful, the only option was to visit the farm (phones were few and far between) and, whilst every opportunity was taken to get a lift, most of the journeys had to be made on Shank's pony. The sacks could be put to many illicit purposes, one farmer at Cowgill was using some as pipe lagging in his shippon. Having retrieved the sacks the next hurdle  was to obtain payment of the demurrage charges.

The station is about five miles from the village of Dent and a tale is told that a `toff' alighted from a train one day and was disgusted to learn that it was so far away, - `What on earth made you put the station here? he said, to which the `country yokel'  porter could only make the sensible response `I suppose it was because the railway was here sir'.

On one occasion when relieving the SM/GA  here, I was advised that there was a total block failure (failure of block instruments, bells and telephone) leaving no communication between Dent Head and Blea Moor boxes. Half an hour later I boarded `Bonnyface' to return home, which was brought to a stand at Dent Head's up starter where the driver was advised of the failure and instructed to proceed through the section at caution. I could not believe it when the train set off at a cracking speed and hurtled through Blea Moor Tunnel at what must have been well in excess of 50 mph. Whilst the driver's concern to make up the lost time was perhaps commendable, to go at that speed on a flling gradient with a greasy rail seemed to be the height of folly.

RIBBLEHEAD; Although I went there once or twice in emergencies, I never actually relieved the SM/GA as relief Station Masters working at Ribblehead required to have been trained for meteorological work that the SM performed for the Air Ministry. From colleagues who were so trained, I understood that part of this work involved sending up `balloons' and, in certain conditions it was alleged, these were liable to finish up under the arches of the nearby viaduct. A lot of wagon sheets were blown off on the `Long Drag' and these were periodically picked up by Engineer's staff and taken by trolley to the nearest station to be put back into use. An unusually high proportion was found in the short stretch between the viaduct and the station. It was always said that very few sheets blew off wagons on the viaduct itself. It was alleged that a platelayer walking over the viaduct had his hat blown off which went under an arch and landed back on his head.        

Whilst the S&C  was under threat of closure in the early eighties it was sometimes referred to as `The line which chould not have been built'. Such allegations are well wide of the mark as witness the heavy traffic it carried during the seond world war, when it was not unusual for Skipton, Hellifield or Carlisle men to spend a whole shift in a lie-by siding somewhere on the route. No doubt the same applied in the 1914/18 war. One school of thought advances the theory that the traffic could have been handled via Clapham and Low Gill. The required four lines of way which would then be required between Carlisle and Low Gill, along with provision of refuse loops between Settle Junction and Low Gill would, to my mind, only have incurred even more delay. Even after the ASLE&F Strike in 1955, when traffic rapidly fell away, the line was invaluable as a diversionary route for both the East and West Coast main lines. Quite apart from the through traffic, the line between Settle Junction and Ribblehead certainly earned its corn with limestone traffic from the quarries during my time there.

Apart from the collision just north of Lunds Viaduct on 24th December 1910, the S&C signalmen have an excellent record. Without a doubt much of the credit for this must be given to the installation of the Rotary Block Signalling System by the Midland Railway. The rotary interlocking block instruments were so constructed that when the indicator had been placed to `Line Clear'  it could not be moved back to the normal (Line Blocked) position except by using the Line Clear Cancel plunger. Also, when the indicator had been placed to `Train on Line' the handle was locked in that position until the home signal had been taken off and the train had passed that signal. This was achieved by the train passing over a releasing treadle fixed near the home signal on the line concerned. 

To continue-

ARKHOLME: This station, later to be the home of Jim Bowen of `Bull's Eye' fame, was located on the former Furness & Midland Joint Line between Wennington and Carnforth. Shown as the station for Kirkby Lonsdale (3.5 miles away) with six up and four down services each weekday. Kirkby Lonsdale station, however (itself 1.75 miles from the village), on the Ingleton - Low Gill line was still open, and remained so until February 1954, with one morning and one evening service in each direction. Around 1950 Arkholme was a typical wayside station awaiting Beeching, dealing with odd wagons of coal and agricultural traffic with perhaps half a dozen parcels and between ten and twenty passengers daily.

The Station Master/Goods Agent was also in charge of Melling. One afternoon when `doing'  the `Account Current'  there, I decided i would get home half an hour early by walking to Wennington and catching the 4/25pm from there, instead of waiting for my normal train due at 5/16pm. I had only been in charge as a SM for a very short time and I am now amazed at my naivety, or perhaps foolishness, in attempting to walk through a mile long tunnel without any light. Anyway, I paddled off into the tunnel and was soon stumbling about in the darkness. As my eyesight adjusted to the absence of light my confidence improved somewhat, particularly as I could see my gaol (the other end). The silence was then shattered by the whistle of a `Black Five' as it hurried a Leeds - Carnforth fitted freight into the tunnel. To my innocent ears the overwhelming sound of the train gave me the feeling that the tunnel was about to fall in on top of me. Fortunately I was adjacent to a refuge which i was able to press my body into and hope for the best. I had barely crept out of the refuge and resumed my journey when I heard, what turned out to be a light engine, approaching from the opposite direction. I dived across to the cess of the opposite line and, after the danger had passed, tottered towards the tunnel mouth at a cracking pace. Needless to say, I was most relieved to get back out in the open but was somewhat disappointed to find myself back at the Melling end.

WENNINGTON; Most Leeds - Morecambe services conveyed coaches on the rear for Carnforth which were detached at Wennington going forward as a seperate train from that point. Similarly, in the reverse direction, Most Morecambe - Leeds/ Bradford trains attached coaches from Carnforth. Although the SM and his staff were meticulous in `calling over' all the down trains it was not unknown for an odd passenger for Lancaster or Morecambe to emerge from the Carnforth portion after the front portion had departed.

BENTHAM; Located at High bentham, and also serving Low Bentham and Burton in Lonsdale, this was the busiest station between Hellifield and Lancaster and the only one to run to a clerk in its staff complement. It was also a popular place for the liberation of racing pigeons for training purposes. For many years the railways had been invaluable to the pigeon fanciers as a reasonably cheap means of training their birds. The baskets were returned to the sending station free of charge and the labels endorsed with the time of release. 

On the freight side Bentham was served by a local trip which called at all stations and sidings between Lancaster and Wennington. The signal boxes at Halton Station, Claughton Manor, Hornby and Low Bentham were booked to open solely for this trip. These boxes, which were only open for short periods, were often manned by a porter signalman, a grade of staff then frequently found at country stations where the occupant of the post was normally occupied less than 50% o his/her time on signalling duties. As was the case with most staff at these stations, they were jacks of all trades being called upon to do all forms of station duties including booking/parcels office, goods yard, signal lamping, and general station duties. A porter signalman's normal rate of pay was the mean rate between the rate for the porterage work performed and the signalman's rate. On any day when the signalling work exceeded 50% the full signalman's rate would be paid determined as follows:-

(1) Credit to be given as signalman's duty for walking time to take up each duty after the cessation of porterage duties in those cases where the distance from the centre of the platform nearest the signal box concerned is more than 440 yards. The walking time in such cases to be calculated on the basis of 20 minutes to the mile.

(2) Except as provided in (1) walking time is not to be regarded as signalman's duty.

To be continued-           

To continue - (but this post is likely to be a short 'en as I've just lost about three pages (my fault playing about with Real Player).

CLAPHAM; The junction for the Ingleton Branch. The Little North Western's single line from Skipton originally went to Ingleton and opened 30th July 1849. The line to Bentham was opened, again as a single line, to join with the line from Morecambe on 1st June 1850. On the same day the line between Clapham and Ingleton closed, eventually to reopen as double track on 1st October 1861 shortly after the line from Ingleton to Low Gill had been brought into use. 

In 1949 four trains were booked to arrive from Ingleton and one from Tebay, with three departing for Ingleton, one for Low Gill, and one for Tebay. Apart from odd flurries of `hikers', these were very lightly loaded on weekdays but could be busy at weekends and bank holidays. Cars were still a luxury and Clapham and Ingleton were popular starting points for walkers and hikers featuring in leaflets published by BR following on the LMSR practice. Nevertheless the booked passenger train services between Clapham and Low Gill were withdrawn on 1st February 1954.

GIGGLESWICK; Mt first day here was nearly my last. I was travelling in the rear coach of the train with the result it was off the platform. As I jumped down from the train I grazed my chin and nose end on a railing spike. Had I been an inch or two further I would have sustained horrendous injuries to my head. Here I got my first practical experience of platform oil lamps as the SM worked turn about with the Porter and therefore had to light and extinquish them. I soon found that there was an art in lighting, and keeping alight, such an apparently simple thing on an open platform in a brisk wind.

LONG PRESTON; Shortly after my arrival on my first day here the porter went `lamping' after whict a telegram arrived advising that two cattle wagons would require to be detached from the 9.14am up train. My lack of `on the ground' experience was thus laid bare as my only  knowledge of the vacuum brake and steam heating had been obained by reading the General Appendix. Fortunately John Hall, the SM, who was covering the Assistant Signalling Inspector's post at Skipton, arrived to travel on that train and saved my embarrassment by performing the uncoupling and recoupling. In those days very little attention was given to training but I vowed that never again would I be caught lacking practical experience of any work I might possibly be required to perform. By devious means I managed to carry out that resolution and when I eventually met up with the buckeye coupling I made sure that I `poked my nose in' until i knew what i was doing.

BELL BUSK; Station for Malham 4.5 miles away. This station did a fair trade in sheep and cattle and one of the porters was an excellent `rabbiter'. The family always looked forward to a couple of rabbits for a `bob'  whenever i relieved there and there was the necessary `r' in the month. Bell Busk was in the middle of the so called `automatic train section' between Hellifield South Junction and Gargrave. The lines were, of course, track circuited thoughout  which was unusual in country areas at that time, and were subject to working by special instructions. This was well before the Track Circuit Block Regulations came into operation. Nominal `signal boxes'  were provided at Otterburn (north of Bell Busk) and Ingber (south of Bell Busk), both provided with up and down home and distant signals.

Before leaving this resume of the lines north of Skipton I must mention the camaraderie of the railway staff travelliong out daily on the 6.10am Leeds - Morecambe. These were Relief SMs and Clerks supplemented by Loco Clerks (bound for Hellifield) and District Office Inspectors (Signalling, Traffic and Freight Rolling Stock). A full compartment could usually be guaranteed, at least between Skipton and Hellifield, and a `card school' was often in progress by the time the train left Skipton. In spite of the comparartive low remuneration of most of the staff (Class 5 Clerks did not reach their full salary until age 28) the morale of the staff was excellent. The good Doctor and his many ills were still a long way off. Whilst there was the inevitable banter, much of the talk was far from frivolous and many a local railway problem was discussed and resolved on that train. No doubt the experience was being repeated throughout the system.          

Ted, I think the camaraderie and pride in your work that you refer to in your last paragraph was typical od many public service industries.

I was doing some management studies into the NHS in the early 80's when Health Boards were forced to scrap their in house porters, cleaners and restaurant staff and go to public tender. (Well done Maggie)

 I remember very clearly one manager saying to me that this was the start of the break up of the "family" approach to the NH service where despite low pay and often very demanding jobs workers were committed to the service that employed them and to their colleagues who, to a person, wanted to do a good job.  How right he was. Nolic