The term ' furlough' may be new to many, but it is familiar to collectors of old railway tickets

EARLIER this year many of us had never heard of the word ' furlough; or if we had we would undoubtedly have had only a remote idea of its meaning.

The coronavirus pandemic has changed that, but to many collectors of old railway tickets - a hobby not as esoteric as some may imagine, and indeed popular enough to have its own specialist auctions - it was far from an unknown word even before Covid- 19 struck.

Great Central Railwayana director Dave Jones, one of the country's leading railway ticket collectors, said ' furlough' first appeared on tickets issued to servicemen on a leave of absence prior to the 1923 Grouping, and was probably used most widely by the North Eastern Railway. An example he quoted was an NER ticket for a return journey from Leeming Bar in North Yorkshire to York which had ' Soldier on furlough' quite clearly printed on it.

After Grouping, ' furlough' was adopted by the LNER, which had a significant number of RAF and USAAF bases on its patch, and was occasionally also used by the Southern Railway and LMS. Dave said that it even survived into the post- Nationalisation era of British Railways, particularly in the Eastern Region, although BR also printed other terms, such as ' Forces leave- MM; the initials standing for Mercantile Marine.

Chris Dickerson, of Pickering-based auction and sales company Old Railway Tickets, concurred that ' furlough' was used mainly by the LNER, while post- Grouping the GWR often used ' HM forces on leave: Chris, a North York Moors Historical Railway Trust board director, said the terms ' forces on leave' or' forces on duty' were also often used.

He said that a number of service personnel tickets issued after Nationalisation but printed by one of the Big Four and carrying the term ' furlough' were still in use well into the 1960s, especially by some little- used country stations. "In towns that had a major military presence, like Colchester, stations soon ran out of such tickets, but country stations often issued pre- printed stock for many years'.'

According to English language websites, ' furlough' comes from Dutch verl of, which originated from early 17th century middle low German from the verb verl oven ( to allow).

G REATC ENTRALR AILWAYANAU CTIONS Rural activity: There are signs of activity at Leeming Bar station ( now part of the WensleydaleR ailway) i n this atmospheric1 959s cene, a sa K1c lass2 - 6- 0 shunts cattle wagons on the left and someone strides towards the Ford Prefect parked on the platform. Meanwhile, wagons loaded with limestone from local quarries are readyt o be deliveredt o customersT. he NorthY orkshires tationw ast he startingp oint in the pre- Groupinge ra for a soldiero n furlought o travelt o York. TRANSPORTTREASURY/ NORFROIRSR EST Inset: A North EasternR ailwayt icket issuedt o a soldiero n furloughf or return travel from LeemingB arto York.

An LNERfu rloughr eturnt icket for a serviceman'jso urneyo f about four miles each way from Sealand in Flintshiret o either Connah's Quay or Shotton station. The ticket, whichw ould haveb een issueda fter September 1931 as prior to then Sealand was called Welsh Road Halt, wasd oubtlessi ssuedt o an airman, as Sealand was located close to an RAF base. OLD RAILWAYTICKETS