Banter, memories, and tea on menu at Mangapps
A COMBINATION of banter, memories, train rides and lots of tea-drinking will be at the heart of a meeting of former footplatemen at Mangapps Railway Museum in Essex on September 24.
The occasion will be the fourth annual reunion of ex-Stratford men, organised by Dave Brennand, a volunteer at the museum near Burnham-on-Crouch who retired in 2013 after a 40-year career at the East London depot.
“The bond between footplatemen all over the UK is something very special and rare among former work colleagues,” ex-driver Dave told Heritage Railway. “Indeed, many of us are far more than colleagues – we have become good friends, spanning several decades.
“The long tradition of Stratford depot’s drivers and secondmen lingers on in the form of a big annual gathering, a monthly meeting, and another event every other month, but we have this insatiable need to mix and share our memories 20 years on from the closure of one of the finest locomotive depots.
“I am sure thousands of Heritage Railway readers will have visited the shed and works that was Stratford in its heyday during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.”
Calendar fixture
Dave said that, unlike the other venues used by the ex-Stratford men’s regular meetings, Mangapps didn’t have a beer and spirits licence. However, referring to the museum’s extensive display of railwayana – one of the finest private collections in the country – he added:“In compensation it has many thousands of artefacts from our rich railway heritage, and, on the day of our visit, train rides until our hearts are content or the tea runs out!”
Mangapps’ boss John Jolly said: “The reunion started as a one-off, with a handful of ex 30A/SF drivers attending, but has now become a fixture in our calendar, with more attendees each year.
“We have at our museum many reminders of the old Stratford and the traditional railways of the area, and it is a considerable pleasure to welcome the human element of this once great depot, besides being a wonderful opportunity to learn what it was really like to work there.”
Mangapps is a working museum with a ¾-mile standard gauge line that has a station at each end. It is known among preservation circles for its collection of ex-BR diesels, including two Class 31s, Nos 31105 (D5523), which will be heading trains at the reunion, and No. 31233 (D5660).
Many artefacts
Others are Class 47 No. 47579 James Nightall G.C. (D1778), five Class 03 shunters and a Class 04, while the stable also includes four industrial steam locomotives, three industrial diesels, and more than 80 carriages and wagons. The museum has undergone a £1 million expansion that comprised the construction of a three-road 150ft-long carriage shed, a 60ft extension to the locomotive shed, and a five-road 80ft extension to the museum itself.