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(Down but not out)!
A young man steps out! Seniority dictates banking duty! Then Branch line work! Come midnight you arrive on pits to clean your fire! There’s all sorts to putting an engine to bed! You have your own shed and 3 or 4 loco’s! The Ivatt 2Mt, The standard 82 3Mt and the Riddles 4Mt need attention? But Bill’s not in the best of health! Can you cover for him says Bert! So I do all the thing’s to then shovel the clinker out of the pit to ground level, to then ‘Devon’ shovel the clinker and dust up into an old coal wagon! (This after a full shift) For me to go home and crash out ‘dirt n all’ well S*** o**! Without the strength to get the lid off the coffee jar? Engine boiler water to the top of sight glass! Fire under door and blacked out! Hand break on! (On my own)? Driver went home an hour ago! Have you ever done physical stuff till you drop? This was one? And the Royal Mail Train back to Bristol Temple meads was another! A bad trip indeed? To drop dead or drop a plug? And a gasp of fresh air to see half a dozen horses gathered to stare at me? This was different they thought? My flat I shared was on the Wells road, How I got home i don’t remember?
