False Starts, Near Misses and Dangerous Goods
A collection of stories about working on the railways; a lot of it about day-to-day life and work, rather than headline events. Particular favourites include:
- Somebody who knew the exact term to put in the report when animals strayed onto the line (bovine, ovine, zoological, …)
- Somebody who knew timetables by memory, and told a colleague exactly how to get around the Swiss network on holiday
- A royal train for the Queen – but nobody thought to ask who would push the button for the sliding doors
- The trials of filming Agatha (1979) at York station, and an apparant gaffe where an HST appears in a shot
- Driving a car with a lion cub as part of a marketing campaign
It’s fun if mostly unremarkable; I was given it by Granddad, but as he suggested it’s going to the charity shop now I’m done.