of signal checks were the real cause, not that young inexperienced fireman. The feeling of satisfaction felt then was not to be experienced again too frequently in later life. I had felt at the onset that if nothing was ventured, nothing would be gained - and I had truly gained a lot of knowledge and confidence in myself, something from which I was deriving immense satisfaction. Trailing back to Old Oak Common was the first time I remember looking at the state of the tender. It was still some third full, though I felt as though I had emptied it some two or three times over! Our prudence in taking the extra couple of tubs at Laira had been unnecessary. By the time we were putting 6020 over the fire pit to be serviced, the only thing I recall was that all I wanted was a cool drink and a shower. After disposing of 6020, we went to the canteen at the back of the paint shops and I couldn't get to the drinks counter quickly enough. The Cockney lady assistant knew we were the "Up Limited Men" from Charlie's appearance. Turning to me, she said, "Have you fired the train from Plymouth to Paddington, as you certainly don't look big enough?" 10 stone, 4 pounds, including boots and overall! A good wash and a meal were the only excitement for the rest of the evening, though I did remember to send the promised telegram to my Mum and Dad. Dad was especially proud as he was a railwayman himself. This trip was
always a mileage turn, meaning extra payment, 14 hours pay via the Berks and Hants, an extra hour if it was via Bristol. The basic wage of £4/10/0 (£4.50p) was for a week’s work - how times have changed. There were to be many subsequent trips, some of which must have surely been with 6024, 'King Edward I' but it will always be that first trip that I remember so vividly. One summer Saturday some twenty years later I was to fire a Castle, 5070 'Sir Daniel Gooch', over the same London to Plymouth route. That was to be the last steam engine I fired on a 'London'. Charlie Mapstone was the driver then, a driver from whom I learnt many, many skills and who was destined to become a very good friend. My last ever trip over part of that route (Cogload Junction to Plymouth, just before my 65th Birthday and retirement) was at the sharp end of an HST set, but by then, the physical demands had been largely replaced by the mental demands. It was also a journey done alone, and more quickly! If ever I needed a reminder of that first daunting trip to London, then it is forever with me in the form of an original oil painting of 6020, 'King Henry IV' which adorns the wall of one of our rooms at home to this day. Returning though to 1944, after that journey, I spent that night alone with just the thoughts of returning on the 1:30pm the following day but that's another story...............
Tales from Wales Andrew Dyke The milk creamery at Pont Llanio was sited next to the railway yard. In the early years, liquid milk was loaded into 13,620 litres (3,000 gallons) glass-lined rail tank wagons which were collected by up passenger trains and taken to Carmarthen for attachment to trains for London. Empty wagons were left on the short siding on the north of the building and moved into position below the output tank by means of fixed capstan winches. The Milk Marketing Board (MMB) leased the south siding for the import of coal but also for facilitating the marshalling of empty and full milk wagons. When the Felinfach milk factory was opened, rail tanker traffic from the two factories was combined at Lampeter. During the gradual decline of services and closure of the railways
north of Pont Llanio and west of Felinfach, both were served by up to three dedicated trains a day, involving complex workings by steam locomotives from Carmarthen and later class 35 and 37 diesel motive power from as far away as Landore, Swansea. Pont Llanio was in the true sense a country wayside station. Situated down a windy narrow lane a quarter mile or so from the A485, it served a very small settlement of a couple of railway cottages, a post office and a public house aptly named the Derry Arms and, all within a stone throw of the station. Although the settlement of Pont Llanio was small and seeming idyllic situated next to the Afon Teifi with all the amenities immediately to hand, however, all is not what it seems and one
January/February 2021
GREAT WESTERN STAR MAGAZINE
77
