From 1979 to 1989, I worked for British Rail in a number of jobs. I joined as a trainee booking clerk at Hither Green. I spent part of my training at Charing Cross. After I passed my exams I was given my own station at St. Johns, South East London, although I worked overtime at New Cross, Lewisham, Mottingham and Sidcup.  A few months after I started, an arsonist burnt St. Johns booking office down! A shed was my ticket office until I moved to a higher grade station, Greenwich.  Not fitting in there, I moved back to St. Johns and then more promotion took me to the Party Travel Office at the Divisional Headquarters at Beckenham.

If there was one thing these moves proved, it was that however academically qualified I might be for a sedentry life, the call of the road, which had guided my path through previous jobs, was what motivated me.  Accordingly, I changed tack and applied to be a guard.  I was accepted, although there was a lot of suspicion at first, and I think I was deliberately given a hard time to see if I could "hack it". After training, which took the best part of six months, I passed out as a guard at Orpington Depot, which mainly worked suburban services out of Charing Cross, Cannon Street, Victoria and Holborn Viaduct to North West Kent.

I was much happier doing this than I'd ever been in an office, but my previous ticket office experience led to a move to Grove Park Depot, which had many main line duties as well as the suburban work and the infamous Bromley "popper". Grove Park becamse involved in the Hoverspeed services between Dover and London set up as an alternative to traditional train-boat-train services. Thus it was that I started to work the duty which included the 1925 Hoverspeed service from Dover Priory to London (initially Charing Cross, later Victoria).  Although the depot (and I) worked other main line and Hoverspeed trains, it is this particular service with which I will forever be associated; I worked it most late turns during 1986 and 1987.

The wind of change was blowing through British Rail in the late 1980s, and guard's work, as I knew it, was to be phased out. But before this could affect me, I fell ill.  When I returned, I took, and passed, the aptitude test to move career to that of driver, but soon after I became ill again, this time for good, and, by mutual agreement I was given medical retirement in May 1990. The British Rail Pension Scheme has been good to me in my retirement.

Unlike during my time with London Country, I did not have the opportunity to take pictures whilst at work.  Luckily, an old friend, John Law, has stepped into the breach, and very kindly allowed me to use a few of his photos to illustrate these pages. My own reminiscences here are purely of the written sort.

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