LOCOMOTIVE JOURNAL
APRIL 2024
BATTERSEA DRIVER TREVOR FINCH
Trevor Finch was born on 30 August 1949 in Croydon and started his railway career at Nine Elms in July 1964 just before his 15th birthday. He started as an engine cleaner, helping with cleaning the engine for Winston Churchill’s funeral train, Battle of Britain Class 34051 Winston Churchill in January 1965. He progressed to fireman before moving to Norwood as a
second man after the end of steam. Trevor passed for driving in 1972 and remained at Norwood until 1978 when he moved to Victoria MT. Over the years he had a few more moves in him, including Epsom and Ryde St Johns I.O.W. and finally back to Victoria with Gatwick Express.
Trevor became a DI driver passing on his vast knowledge to new recruits and was also the GX royal train driver. He retired in 2018 after 54 years on the railway, with many of us attending his 50 year medallion celebration, presented by GS Mick Whelan. Trevor was a
keen fisherman and cricketer and spent many happy times watching cricket with his friends. He enjoyed taking his grandson Jake fishing and watching him play football on a Saturday morning. Trevor had many stories to tell about his time on the railway, always finishing with his cheeky laugh, including the time he Trevor: many railway stories and a cheeky laugh and I turned up at a football match wanting to kick each other off the pitch after a certain Graham Hoy had convinced us both we wouldn’t get on. In fact it was from this day that Trevor and I became firm friends. He will be missed by his wife Linda, sons Chris and Steve, friends and former colleagues.
Nick Warner
Battersea 019
Branch Chair
The original reunion version
The Brighton & Sussex A.S.L.E.F. Social Event, had to be cancelled and was rescheduled to
Tuesday 17th September
LOCOMOTIVE JOURNAL
JUNE 2024
BRIGHTON DRIVER TREVOR FIELDING
I would like to report the death of my father, Trevor Fielding, to you. He was a train driver from steam, and diesel, to electric. He started at Tonbridge loco., moving to Brighton in 1962. Trevor was the last branch secretary of Brighton No.1 branch 1983 - 1988. Trevor also served on the LDC for Brighton M.T.
Alistair Fielding
LOCOMOTIVE JOURNAL
JULY 2024
LONDON BRIDGE BRANCH
Driving a train? There’s not much to it really...
Great news that teenagers are going to be able to be train drivers! At least, that’s what the government (desperate for a good news story) is presumably hoping for, at the same time encouraging a narrative that train driving is so easy even a child could do it. After all, it’s only pushing a button, isn’t it?
Except... there’s more than one button. Oh, and you have to be sure to press the right button at exactly the right moment, maybe 100 times a day (or night). Oh, and if you press the wrong button, or you don’t press the right button at the right time, people can get hurt. Oh, and you’re the first person who has to deal with any incidents or emergencies – alone if you’re D.O.O. That’s if you’re not incapacitated from being in the crumple zone of the driver’s cab. Apart from that, there’s not much to it really... other than generally controlling the speed of the train, braking safely, in exactly the right place, being on time all the time... etc, etc. We really deserve a pay rise!
There’s no reason why a teenager can’t do all of the above, of course. But not any teenager.... not even many teenagers. The nonsense is that there’s no shortage of applicants as it is. It’s just that most don’t get through the selection/training because they don’t have the necessary abilities or mindset, whatever age they are.
Ultimately, we all know that one of the main reasons for driver shortages is that the TOCs choose not to recruit enough drivers because it’s cheaper to rely on existing drivers working their rest days.
GS Mick Whelan says: ‘We have always believed that the people in the driver’s seat at the pointy end of the train should reflect the communities we serve – which is why we want to see the TOCs and FOCs recruit more women, more LGBT+ drivers, more people from ethnic minority backgrounds, and more young drivers. It is ASLEF policy to reduce the main line train driver’s age from 21 to 18 to bring it into line with Tube train drivers and encourage more young people to come into our industry. That’s our policy, made by members at AAD.’
LOCOMOTIVE JOURNAL
AUGUST 2024
NORWOOD BRANCH
On Tuesday 15 October it will be 30 years since the Cowden train crash that took the lives of Norwood drivers Brian Barton and Dave Rees, Selhurst guard Jon Brett-Andrews, and travelling passengers Mr and Mrs Pointer. Norwood branch – both current and retired – gathers every year on the day to pay our respects and remember friends lost on that fateful day. This year we have been busy organising, with the help of Southern, and local residents, a day that will honour them, and build what we hope is a legacy to Cowden so we never forget. In the build-up to October we will be renaming the mess room at Norwood as the Cowden Memorial Room and installing a painting by Norwood driver Kevin george which we hope will prompt new drivers to ask about Cowden.
On 15 October the day will start at Cowden at 10.00 with a service led by the Railway Chaplain, Tony Miller, followed by a wreath laying service, ending with a 30 year memorial unveiling. Should anyone wish to donate to the Cowden legacy fund, which aims to help us remember Cowden year on year, they can do so at pay.sumup.com/b2c/Q0VRIK4J. Those interested in attending on the day or buying a 30-year anniversary badge please get in touch with me at acdriversclub@hotmail.com.
Sam Green
Norwood Junction branch 147
and Alan Cranstoun’s Drivers’ Club secretary
LOCOMOTIVE JOURNAL
SEPTEMBER 2024
BRIGHTON DRIVER FRED GETHING
Fred Gething passed away on Saturday 27 April after his Lewy body disease accelerated. Fred had a long career with British Rail, starting on signals and track, having been introduced by my dad, Jock Mouat (a name from the past), then training to be a guard at Brighton. Fred was always looking to further his career, always wanting to be learning. He trained for train driver first at Brighton and then on to Bournemouth, many nights spent learning the rule book with him. He enjoyed his time making a number of good friends – so many to mention, and so many memories! He kept in touch, through the Retired Members’ Section, remembering people, and telling stories. And he enjoyed the quizzes. Fred’s quick wit will be missed, as well as the camaraderie between them all. Thank you for all your kind thoughts and wishes.
Pat Gething and son John
LOCOMOTIVE JOURNAL
OCTOBER 2024
NORWOOD DRIVER ALAN TAYLOR
I AM sure that we were all filled with great sadness when we heard that Alan Taylor had died in hospital on Sunday 26 July aged 83.
He spent most of his driving career at Norwood depot where he was an LDC rep and well known on the Southern region. Alan was a very conscientious and meticulous person in his job and the positions he held, not only on the railway, but also as a member of the ASLEF RMS committee where he was custodian of the 500 Club and, latterly, treasurer. He was also our representative on both the national executive committee and the London region of the National Pensioners’ Convention. He was a great supporter – and activist – on all campaign issues. He was a sociable, thoughtful, and caring person, who loved his football and was a supporter of Manchester United.
Ready to work a steam special from Victoria station Alan was an ASLEF man from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet with over 60 years’ membership; he was old school,
and a stalwart of this great trade union.
It was a privilege to have known Alan over many years, and more so to have worked with him on the RMS and NPC committees. He will be sorely missed, but never forgotten, by his friends and comrades. We send our heartfelt sympathy and condolences to his wife Lillian and son Stuart at this very difficult time. Re Rest in peace, Alan.
Bill Dale
RMS chair
A.S.L.E.F. PRESENTATIONS AT THE 2024 REUNION
LOCOMOTIVE JOURNAL
NOVEMBER 2024
BRIGHTON BRANCH
On Tuesday 17th September Brighton & Sussex ASLEF branches held its annual (and strike-rescheduled) social gathering with members past and present travelling from all parts of the district, and with some ex-members travelling from various parts of the country, from Scotland to Cornwall and many points in between. The branch had the pleasure of four special guests: GS Mick Whelan, AGS Simon Weller, EC1 Marz Colombini, and newly-elected DO1 Paul Donnelly.
Mick gave a brief account of the latest situation on our pay dispute, followed by the most important part of the afternoon, making the presentations to the members: Dave Neish, 30 year badge; Dave Lace, 40; Ian Osborne, 45; and retired Eastbourne member John Carney, with his 50 year medallion.
Mark Johnson once again produced the annual reunion badges. This year there were two variations as our original event had to be cancelled owing to industrial action. Proceeds go towards the cost of this long-running event, and once again was well supported by those in attendance. If you’re interested in coming to next year’s social it’s on Tuesday 6 May.
The branch would also like to pay tribute to retired Brighton/Three Bridges member Danny Lodge who recently received his 50 year medallion.
Ian Buxton Brighton 035 branch secretary and Paul Edwards
LOCOMOTIVE JOURNAL
NOVEMBER 2024
GRAHMAN MORRIS
DISTRICT No.1 ORGANISER
Graham Morris steps down this month after 46 years on the railway, and 25 years as District 1 Organiser, he recalls a question his predecessor, Len Worboys, was asked while sitting with his wife and friends including EC president Bill Mackenzie and his wife Janet, Graham and his wife Sally. ‘Someone asked the question, what’s more important, Len, ASLEF, or your wife?’ Difficult question, tricky to answer. ‘Len had to think about it. Eventually, he said ASLEF. In hindsight, Len was probably right. Len’s logic was that we’d have nothing if it
wasn’t for ASLEF.’
Graham was born at St Thomas’s Hospital, just across the Thames from the Houses of Parliament, in 1962, and brought up, an only child, in Camberwell. His mum worked as a cook in local schools on the Old Kent Road and his dad was a supervisor at the paper-making
company Samuel Jones; when the firm was taken over by Wiggins Teape the factory – and
employees – moved to St Neot’s in Cambridgeshire.
He left school at 16 and joined the railway in June 1978 as a traction trainee because a couple
of mates, both a little older, worked on the railway and said it was money for old rope. ‘I started as a second man at Bedford, smiles Graham, ‘and it wasn’t too taxing!’ He was still
living at home with his parents and his first week’s keep was based on his first pay packet, which was for three days, rather than five; as he sips a pint of Moretti in the Bishop’s Finger on the edge of Smithfield Market, he smiles again: ‘I was a negotiator, even then!’
When he joined the railway, the first two things – ‘the best two things I’ve ever done’– were to join the pension fund and join ASLEF. ‘It was a closed shop, in those days, but I would have joined the union, anyway. It was second nature. Two guys, both ASLEF, came in to talk to us, explaining the benefits of becoming a member, adding, “If anyone comes from the NUR you know where to tell them to go”!’ Graham was a second man – driver’s assistant –
at Bedford, and did his first shifts on trains electrifying the Midland main line in preparation for the BedPan services between Bedford and St Pancras. ‘It was a different era, run on overtime – everybody was obsessed by overtime, which I wasn’t, particularly – and I
remember one night a ballast train was stuck in a tunnel for ten hours and I was told “We’ll get a tunnel allowance for the shift” and it worked out at about two pence an hour! Another time I was working a train from Bletchley to Bedford, where we were to get relieved, and,
approaching where the relief was, signal cleared, I was told to duck down, ignore the
relief, I was cowering underneath, and couldn’t see, and we just kept going on to
Cricklewood…’
After a couple of bad winters riding his motorbike – first a Yamaha Fizzy, then a Yammy
200 – from St Neot’s to Bedford he transferred to Peterborough so he could get a train to work. ‘One night I was working a train to Doncaster, on an old Deltic, having a little nap, legs wrapped round the handbrake, and, as we got to Newark, a flat crossing, where the tracks cross over, we hit the crossing and I fell and hit my head on the well of the floor. The driver just left me there with my legs wrapped around the handbrake all the way to Doncaster.’
He got his key at 21, passing out in 1983 on Class 47s, moving to London Bridge as a driver,
and working for Connex after privatisation. Graham occasionally attended branch meetings
at Peterborough, but became really active at London Bridge, as branch chair and LDC.
‘Industrially, and politically, there was a lot going on – the miners’, the steelworkers, our
own strike in 1982 – and younger people were getting involved.’ He was already a member of the Labour Party – ‘I’ve been a member most of my life, although I left recently, over Palestine’ – and believes ‘the miners’ strike, in particular, politicised a whole generation.’
One thing the Tories, and the likes of Peter Wilkinson at the DfT, have never understood is the solidarity and unity, sense of purpose and sense of fraternity, that underpins this union.
‘We’re a small group of workers, a craft trade union, we only organise train drivers, every body knows each other, there’s a friendship, a sense of mutuality, an understanding of the trade union movement, and why it’s right to be a member of ASLEF.’
That became clear during the recent two-year pay dispute at 16 TOCs. The Tories, TOCs, and RDG, misunderstanding the mood of members, made all the wrong calls. ‘We made the argument, at each branch, and in each district, and we got the mandates, in each and every ballot.’
In 1992 Graham was elected to South Central company council. ‘It was the John Major government, the privatisation of British Rail, Gatwick Express became a separate franchise from Southern, and the major difference was we went from being a body dealing with local issues to dealing with pay negotiations and terms & conditions, when talking about pay had previously been undertaken by the GS and the EC president.’
Graham was elected district organiser in 1999 after Len Worboys retired. ‘I’d made my mind up I would run. I thought I would be the best person to do the job, it meant skipping a generation of reps, but I had the support in the district. Shaun Brady, Basingstoke, was also in the election and went on to become general secretary. Sadly.’
Graham has been in position for 25 years – an extraordinary shift in a difficult and
demanding job – and has been challenged only once – in 2004. ‘We successfully navigated privatisation – don’t get me wrong, privatisation was not a good thing – but we negotiated improvements for members; and with restructuring agreements in the late 1990s we regained our T&Cs over a period of time. In the recent dispute, it wasn’t the pay increase that really mattered, but that we go forward with all those terms &conditions in place.’
Graham is 62 and, after 25 years as DO1, has decided to step down. He met Sally in the Shipwright’s Arms, Tooley Street, London Bridge, in 1988 and they were married in 1991. They have two children – a son, Leigh, who’s a head chef, and a daughter, Jessica, an HR adviser– and four grandchildren, and he’s looking forward to spending more time with them. He’s just got back from Sardinia, is going skiing in March – ‘Something Sally has always wanted to do; not that I have any intention of going anywhere near the slopes’ – and looks, it should be said, very well. Happy and relaxed.
‘I’ve enjoyed every minute of the last 25 years, as the organiser in District 1. I’ve worked
with eight general secretaries: Ray Buckton was a giant of the movement, when I was young;
Mick Rix changed the dynamic of the union and we started addressing issues around T&Cs and reductions in the working week; and Mick Whelan is the hardest-working GS I have known, a good mate, who showed real vision, with Dave Calfe and Simon Weller, to win the recent dispute for our members. It’s also comforting to know that the district is in good hands with my successor Paul Donnelly and Marz Colombini.