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Steam Tales from the Footplate By Colin Maggs W/ Dust Jacket
Steam Tales from the Footplate By Colin Maggs with dust jacket. 1999 188 pages indexed
INTRODUCTION
Most footplatemen take great pleasure in talking about their job and rightly so, for the driver of a steam locomotive enjoys considerable status. He is in charge of hundreds of tons of goods, hundreds of tons of rolling stock and responsible for the lives and safety of several hundred passengers.
Engine driving is not easy. It looks quite simple - you just go round with an oil can squirting a few drops on all moving surfaces, climb on the footplate, blow the whistle, open the regulator and off you go. Similarly, all the fireman seems to do is shovel enough coal into the firebox to generate heat, ensure that the boiler has sufficient water and in his spare time help his driver look out for signals. Highly skilled footplatemen can make their job appear simple, but there is much more to it than meets the eye. A number of things can go wrong and skilled judgement is required to make sure that no one is placed in danger, that the train is not delayed more than absolutely necessary and that other trains are not made late.
I have spent many happy hours listening to railwaymen's stories and have included some of them in this book, having checked as far as possible that the facts are accurate. I gratefully acknowledge the generous and friendly help of railwaymen from Bescot to Bournemouth: R. Adams; J. Barber; J. Beck; C.A.J. Cook; E Epps; R. Ford; N.C. Gibbons; E. Gray; R. Gray; A. Gunning; T. Gunning; D. Holden; E Holmes; L.R. Moore; W. Rawles; E. Smith; E Staddon; J. Stamp; D. Thorne; G. Tucker; R. Weeks and L. West. Particular thanks are also due to R.B. Ireland for checking and improving the text.
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