The Railwayman's Life

Introduction

Hello there. My name is Stanley. Stanley Ellis. I used to work on the Great Western Railway. It was a fine era, expresses, stopping passenger duties, freight trains. Not to mention the wonderful stations that were included on every point of the line running from London to Bristol and beyond. No wonder it was widely known as Gods Wonderful Railway.

I started life on the railways as a cleaner. This was someone who would come along in the extreme hours of the morning to clean and maintain the locomotives that were to be used that day. This required a lot of time, as the steam locomotive had to be cleaned Everywhere. Under the frames, in between the wheel joints, sometimes even the crank shafts.

It was difficult work I won't lie. But it was definitely rewarding when you got a glimpse of a magnificent King class pulling the Bristolian at 120 miles per hour. The paint gleaming in the sun, the wheels working so smoothly and her chuffs sounding so sophisticated, as though it were a gracious lady, beautifully skipping through the countryside.

This is the story of how I started life on the railways, how I came up in the world. Who i met, where I went, how the good old GWR affected my life... Forever...