I remember when.....

I remember when...

Mrs Bette in Ladock

Wartime Stationmaster of Probus & Ladock Halt

Six years I was there. When I went for the job I thought I wouldn’t get it as I was tiny, but I’d been born in Ladock Post Office and knew how to work the telegraph.

During the war, business increased a lot. There were three trains each way every day and people used to run down the backlit to go to Truro or St. Austell. Very few buses you see.

A lot of rabbits were sent to London and Birmingham and broccoli too. People sent flowers so I thought I’d send primroses. Father-in-law laughed at the idea, but for the city people it was a breath of country air and they were lovely primroses!

Yes, we had proper printed tickets and I used to see tickets and wave off the trains. No names on the station then, and no sign posts either. Children used to put pennies on the line for the train to flatten them, but there was a row about that so it was stopped.

Before D Day the woods were full of American soldiers so I had a permit to use the road, but children were refused, in case they talked! It was a long walk all round Grampound Road instead of the valley.

There were seven linesmen to see to the line and they had a stove in a hut on the line. They made good tea! I had a precious extra ration for being Station Mistress and a little firestove in the office, (the safe was there too) as I brewed up as well.

When the war was over a man came to do the job, but it didn’t last long, as the station was soon closed.

Images: Two undated photos of Probus and Ladock Halt showing the station office where Mrs Bette spent many hours during WW2. Sadly the halt was closed in 1957, and just seven years later Grampound Road Station was also closed. Nowadays, the station is long gone, but the fields shown in these photos have hardly changed at all. Many thanks to Adam Tofts and Jack Vincent for sharing.