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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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 Posted -
12/09/2004
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18:29
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Posted by Stanlery for 'Handlamp'. (Ted Harrison, a member from Newark)
BARNOLDSWICK LMS RAILWAY STATION AND ITS WORKING IN THE EARLY FORTIES
Having entered the service of the LMS Railway at Skipton on 24th February 1941, where I trained as a Booking and Parcels Clerk, I was transferred to Barnoldswick as a Junior Clerk on 30th June of that year. The duties of my post, which was remunerated at the princely sum of £35 per annum, were split between the Passenger and Goods Offices which were situated adjacent to each other on the sole platform.
Barnoldswick was the only station on a single line, located 1mile 1342 yards from Barnoldswick Junction at Kelbrook, which in turn was 1166 yards west of Earby Station Box on the Skipton to Colne line. The line had originally started life as the Barnoldswick Railway in 1871 but, in March 1898 the local company had approached the Midland Railway to see if it would purchase the line outright. As the line had always paid out a `regular and reasonable’ dividend the Midland agreed to do so and powers were secured in 1899. For many years it appears that the Barlick folk had to make do with hot water bottles as a source of heat until authorisation was given to fit steam heating to the two locos and nine carriages allocated to the Branch on 16th November 1922, some 20 years after the Midland had fitted their main line coaches. The Branch finally closed on 27th September 1965.
Barlick was the place that gave me my first taste for the `thrills’ of railway operating. The single line was worked by the `Only one engine in steam or two or more coupled together’ system, section V1 of the Rule Book. All points on the single line were locked by the train staff which the driver held as his authority for being on the single line. The staff was round and black with the person responsible to receive and deliver it to the driver being the Signalman at Barnoldswick Junction. The only signal at the station was an old Midland `Stop Board’ which protected the level crossing on Wellhouse Road and the Coal Yard beyond. The oblong Board fully presented to approaching trains gave a danger aspect (with red bullseye lamp above), a clear indication being given when it was turned 90 degrees to a side on position, i.e. parallel to the line facing Wellhouse Road.
Every lunch time found me hurriedly partaking of my sandwiches in the Porters Room before going out to `help’ with the shunting of the Goods Yard. This took the form of pinning down or releasing wagon brakes or `knobbing up’ points, only rarely was I allowed to handle a shunting pole. Most evenings I returned to spend more time with the leading porter and the engine crews until the last train at 9:35pm when I usually had the treat of driving the engine. A push and pull train was allocated to the Branch, being propelled towards Earby. When propelling the driver was located in the cab at the front end of the leading coach (normally two on the train) with the staff where he operated the vacuum brake whilst the fireman operated the regulator on the locomotive. It was the practice of most crews, prior to shutting off power, to open the regulator momentarily to the full, then close it at the bridge over the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. The train then `coasted’ to the Junction which was traversed slowly until the driver had surrendered the staff to the signalman. On receipt of the bell code to indicate that the staff had safely been delivered the regulator was opened with some gusto for the run into Earby. Mr. Dawes, the Station Master, must have been aware of my activities as his house and garden overlooked the all station area but he turned a Nelsonian eye and never restricted my enthusiasm in any way.
The Booking and Parcels Clerk was, and had been for many years, Louis Barwick, a much respected member of the community and a leading light in the town’s glee union. He had a good baritone voice and would frequently burst into snatches of anything from the Mikado to the Messiah. Cotton manufacturers travelled to the Manchester Market each Tuesday and Friday and two of their number would sometimes come into the office and join him in song. Exceptionally Louis retained his entitlement to uniform dating from the Midland Railway days when his duties included the examination and collection of tickets. An avid pipe smoker he was often blamed for the destruction of the gas mantles with his practice of lighting paper spills from them. Although then in his early sixties, he had a good head of wiry hair. Tommy Corkill, a Goods Guard from Skipton, regularly cut the hair of most of the staff on his visits but did his best to avoid Louis on the alleged grounds that his hair ruined the scissors.
The parcels were delivered by horse van, the van man being another stalwart, Charlie Moore. Nowadays one is inclined to forget that horses had to be fed and watered twice daily and Charlie, or a substitute, had to attend the stables for this duty at weekends and on bank holidays. Charlie thought a lot about his horses and I recall his sadness at loosing one of his favourites when he loaded it into a horse box for transfer to another station. When a telegram was received advising the timings for a horsebox with a replacement horse for him from the Stables at Oakham he had extreme difficulty containing his excitement until the train conveying it arrived and he had viewed his future workmate.
Another long standing member of the team was Tommy Westmoreland, one of the two Leading Porters. Tommy was a big genial chap who seemed equally happy diving under the buffers to perform coupling on the passenger trains, wielding a shunting pole out in the yard, or dealing with the public in the office or on the platform. I suppose his trade mark was his tobacco tin, pipe and pen knife which he seemed to be perpetually using to cut up his twist. When I first started at Barlick the other leading porter was Joe Creasey who was soon transferred on promotion to Leeds as a shunter and he was replaced by Dick Dawson. Dick had come from Clitheroe and had recently taken up residence on, or near to, Wellhouse Road. The one other member of the platform staff was Walter Scales who resided at Skipton.
One regular daily visitor to the Booking Office was Henry Carter, a local newsagent, who usually arrived around 4:15pm to collect his evening newspapers. Henry was renowned for his hobby of the manufacture of cigarette lighters and he kept the staff well supplied with these, particularly at that time, very useful items.
The Goods Department was very busy as most of the commodities for shops and industry were being conveyed by rail. Large quantities of explosives were also received from, and forwarded to, Gledstone Hall which was being used as a military storage depot. The town cartage work was performed by a horse and dray, industry and out lying areas being served by one or more Scammell units loaned from Skipton. The Goods Office was manned by Mr. Reynolds, the Senior Clerk, and Miss Mary Wensley with myself halftime. In 1941 the system which had prevailed from the days when the railways took over from the stage coach still prevailed and every consignment required an invoice, raised at the sending station and sent to the receiving station, with full details including weight and charges shown thereon. Apart from assisting with the invoicing, as was to be expected with the junior post, I was allocated the more menial tasks. One of these was `abstracting' details from invoices station by station and `summarising’ the financial information thus obtained for each railway.
The Branch was normally serviced by a Class 1 0-4-4 tank engine and two coaches fitted with push and pull equipment which did not require the presence of a guard on the train. However in my time there, so far as I can recall, until around 1:00pm, a Class 2,3 or 4F 0-6-0 covered the passenger service on top of its freight work which, of course, involved `running round’ the coaches at both stations and a guard being employed. Barlick trains connected into and out of all trains at Earby between 7:00am and 9:48pmSX, 10:27pm SO. Even at that time the branch trains were usually lightly loaded. One glaring exception was the 11:10pm from Barlick which conveyed around 200 `late night revellers’ fresh from the regular Saturday evening dance at the Majestic Ballroom. There was no booked Sunday service but the Branch occasionally opened for special trains. In the winters of 41/42 and 42/43 traffic had built up to such a degree that I can recall at least three or four freight specials running on the Sabbath. The booked freight service on weekdays arrived from Skipton around 6.10am when traffic was `set’ in the Goods and Coal yards and departed around 1/30pm. `Mixed’ trains (i.e. conveying passengers and freight) on which the freight wagons were not required to have continuous brakes, were scheduled to run on the Branch. A train departing Barlick around 5/30pm was booked as a mixed train and regularly conveyed the maximum of 20 wagons with a brake van and quite frequently included wagons of explosives
Early in 1943 Rodney Hampson entered the service and commenced training for my duties and it was apparent that my days at Barnoldswick were numbered. As anticipated `the call’ came on 16th March 1943 when I was transferred to Colne, still a Junior Clerk (but this time filling a senior position as Booking Clerk) , my rate of pay having risen by then to £55 per annum.
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 24/10/2006 : 06:59
I can remember coal fires in waiting rooms in massive CI grates with fenders and a big coal bucket. Prints and maps on the walls and if I remember rightly newpapers on one of the tables. I suppose the fires were in most of the day and they were always warm and welcoming. Can you imagine what a selling point a modern marketing man would make of that sort of atmosphere. I think there was a fire in the buffet as well.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk  |
Invernahaille
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Posted - 24/10/2006 : 13:04
Title: Milnrow and Newhey
I read Teds (HandLamp) record of the Oldham Loop, and I would like to record some of the small businesses that were around Milnrow and Newhey when Ted served as Station Master there.
In Newhey just over the station bridge heading down Huddersfield Rd on the left hand side was Edie Bamford's (no relation) who ran a Herbalist health shop. You could buy allsorts of herbal remedies from her. As a young boy I remember calling in a couple of times a week for a glass of her herb beer. It tasted like Ginger Beer, but there was a lot more than Ginger in it.
Then there was Fieldings coal merchants which could be accessed from the Rochdale bound platform. Their Garage was housed in the corner of Broom st, which was on the right hand side of Huddersfield Road.
At the bottom of Huddersfield Rd was Williams Deacons Bank. I cant remember who took them over, but a strong banking tradition went with them.
There were off course the mills. Haugh Spinning, Coral Mill, Ellenroad and Garfield Mills, Jubilee Mill, Milnrow Spinning at Dale Mill. (Which burned down in the seventies and is now a retail outlet of sorts). Another big employer of course was Holroyds on Harbor Lane. In Newhey there was also Henry Kirks who produced jute products. Next door was Redifusion, they made TVs for the cable network (yes there was cable network in the 50s). Tomlinsons (Now sadly gone Drying and Raising Machinery) were on the left hand side of Dales St.
Just as you entered milnrow at the top of Dale St there was Gregories opticians at the bottom of Bradley (thats the lane that used to run up to St Thomas' church in Newhey. This lane is now partially blocked by the M62 bridge on Newhey Rd, though you can still pick it up by going into the park. When Ted was there Cliff House and cottages were still standing. Cliff house was demolished in the early fifties when the war memorial was set up in its place.
Keeping on Dale St on the right hand side was Jack Greenwoods, a bicycle repair shop where you could get any part for any bicycle. People travelled from all around the borough to get parts from him. I seem to recall that he had a strange pricing policy, in that he always charged you what you had in your pocket, and as a young boy that didnt used to be much. That shop is now a fish and chip shop. (or it was last time I was there in 99).
Ted would probably remember Prowses the token Electrical appliance distributor further down Dale St. Incidentally Fletchers ( My dads Uncle) transport was on the left hand side behind the old Co-Op building.
The tripe shop Ted refers to was on the right hand side of Dale St (long since gone).
At the bottom of Kiln Lane was Jacksons Silencers.
Pubs
Newhey
The Wheatsheaf, Top Bird, (Bird Ith Hand), Bottom Bird (Bird In Hand), Waggon and Horses, Free Trade Tavern,
Milnrow
Kings Arms (Butterworth Hall), Commercial (on Dale St opposite Tomlinsons). This pub was used for Tomlinson's union meetings in the sixties and seventies. The Woolpack, The Tim Bobbin, The Ladybarn on Harbor Lane (opposite Milnrow Railway station and now called the Poachers Pocket), and of course the Hare and Hounds (sometimes called the gallows) at the top of kiln lane.
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handlamp
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Posted - 24/10/2006 : 15:52
Robert, youve certainly taxed the grey matter there - apart from Holroyd's, Swales, Jacksons, Midland Bank, John Smiths (bottom of Station Road) I can only recall Ronnie Wood's (Newsagent) and Russell Sedgwick (Plumber) in Milnrow. At New Hey I can only think of Fieldings and Wm Deacon's Bank which I suppose is reasonable given that it was nearly a foreign land to us.The Cricket Field was across from the station on Harbour Lane and I faintly remember a pub adjacent, would that be the Ladybarn you mention? On the picture I recognise the laundry chimney of course but the awning seems somewhat shorter than I recall it was in my time as I feel sure that it used to extend to the New Hey end of the buildings in front of my office and the Goods Office adjoining. What was the white faced structure which looks to be in line with the platform edge at the Rochdale end of the up platform?
Stanley, the stations had a limited coal allocation each year which only allowed normally for waiting room fires during fog, frost and falling snow but many were able to supplement their supplies from by means of the `generosity' of the crews on visiting locos.
Ted |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 24/10/2006 : 15:52
I called in at Kirk's at Two Bridges one day and at that time they were only ticking over making pads for upholstery and beds out of shoddy and jute waste. You've never seen a dirtier place in your life. They told me that there was considerable history behind the firm and claimed that they had given John Cotton his start in the jute trade. I don't know if they are still in business but John Cotton's at Mirfield was a huge undertaking as late as the 1970s. One thing that struck me in the incredibly old-fashioned office was that written in pencil on the wall next to the window were the dates when the swallows arrived and departed for every year going back I think into the 19th century. Both brothers were alive then and so far behind the times I got the impression that they were only keeping the place running to give them a way of passing the time. My visit would be about 1985.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Invernahaille
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Posted - 24/10/2006 : 16:39
Ted the white looking building is Universal Laundries. I think the camera pic dosnt give perspective. I remember they had it sign written in large red letters. Universal used to have a fleet of vans that picked up laundry from all over Lancashire, picked up and returned door to door three days later.
Another sweat shop bites the dust.
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Invernahaille
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Posted - 24/10/2006 : 16:42
Yes Stanley. Kirks was a bit that way. Just round the corner on the bend heading towards shaw there are the remnants of what used to be a chimney. My dad lowered that to about thirty foot in the late fifties/early sixties.
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TOM PHILLIPS
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Posted - 24/10/2006 : 17:12
Every town had 1 or more laundries and some still do today,now as part of large groups like Initial at Chorley.
Have fallen out of the Ladybarn on several occasions,in the mid 80s it had a bit of a night club at the back which often played host to one or two celebs,was the Ladyhouse mill behind the Ladybarn or have i got my bearings wrong.
Good post's again Ted,like Stanley i thought the weedkiller story was funny,was sabotage ever mentioned or am i stiring it ,mmm..
Robert mentioned his Aunt being left a couple of fags under the clock which reminded me of a tale about the Tim Bobbin,one of the local coal men who liked a drink more than most used to have 2 bottles of brown ale left on the window sill for him every morning on his way to work,hair of the dog Peter Tatham said,apparently he would go in the pub every night,black as the ace of spades and stagger home at closing time,he would be as black the next morning when collecting his ale on the way to work.
There also was a woman who drank in the Tim Bobbin,can't remember her name ,but everyone in Milrow knew her many years ago,they reckon she could pee higher up the wall than any of the men,this has nothing to do with the thread but couldn't resist telling the tale.
"Work,the curse of the drinking class" |
Invernahaille
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Posted - 24/10/2006 : 19:43
Oh almost forgot there was also Manns casemakers further up Huddersfield Road. You turned right off the Oldham bound platform and it was about 1 mile up the road. Next door to Manns was an abbatoir, there was also an abbotoir in Milnrow at the end of station road. They slaughtered animals in the basement and processed them through the first floor and sold the meat in the shop which was on the third floor but on the dale st level.
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 25/10/2006 : 07:51
Tom, at the time you were going to the Ladybarn my mate Paul Greenwood was a regular, a right character, they had him riding a pony in the bar one night I think. As for the woman getting higher up the wall, I've seen serious money lost on that bet in Berlin! (even more impressive of course when you think they start from ground level.......)
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Another
Traycle Mine Overseer
6250 Posts
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Posted - 25/10/2006 : 13:58
Tom, the only reason the woman beat the guys at peeing up the wall was the "no hands rule".
As a kid at Rainhaal Road we used to regularly play that game but we were dirty little buggers and used to pee over the wall into the girls toilet - some of us managed it on occasion. Nolic
" I'm a self made man who worships his creator"  |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 25/10/2006 : 15:02
I remember asking Charlie Southwell, me water treatment man (boiler water!) at Bancroft Shed how his prostate operation had gone. He said he could knock a cork off a wall at ten feet.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
handlamp
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Posted - 25/10/2006 : 16:09
Robert, Universal Laundry was there in my time but my memory had put it further away from Harbour Lane, in fact t'other side of Buckley Hill Road, Jack Livesey's (my predessor) wife used to work there. Tom, unfortunately we had no imput to the weed killing train and as far as I know the destruction of the flower display was due to a slip up by the train operators. Tim Bobbin rings a bell - am I right in placing it at the bottom of the hill at the Rochdale end of Dale Street?
Ted |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 27/10/2006 : 06:37
Mail from Ted:
Once again I would be obliged if you would kindly post this picture for me. It is of the 2/55pm Manchester Victoria - Rochdale leaving Milnrow Station in February 1958. This was one of the first DMUs to run on the Oldham Branch. Although I took this photograph it contains an anomaly which I cannot fully explain and hadn't spotted myself until one of our ex drivers pointed it out after seeing it in his copy of the LMS Journal, but so far as I am aware it has not been raised by any other subscribers. It should be a fairly easy question for any ex train spotter or ex trainman and I suggest members be invited to try and solve it.
Keep on the same medication, best wishes,
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
tripps
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Posted - 27/10/2006 : 11:26
Do any of you Newhey/Milnrow experts know why Peppermint Bridge, up Huddersfield Road, was so called?
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Invernahaille
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Posted - 27/10/2006 : 13:13
Ted.
The train is on the Rochdale bound platform. It appears that the driver is facing the oldham/manchester direction.
Do I get the coconut?
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Barnoldswick Railway memories
