DERBY TRAINMAN: HSTS
Former 1990s Derby trainman Tim Helme considers the allure of HSTs.
The main job was turning sets at Burton.
LIKE the Class 08 shunters last issue, trainmen were not ordinarily involved with HSTs on shed – which, unlike Class 08s, I do regret. They are appealing trains and somehow always manage to draw the eye, even when engaged in the mundane, such as being cleaned or refuelled.
One of the fitters in the ‘wind tunnel’ was ex-BREL (British Rail Engineering Ltd) and had helped build HSTs at the Carriage Works – but whenever this was mentioned during night shed, his usual response was always: “We never did anything at BREL on nights, except sleep.” I always liked that broad generalisation and could only conclude that the day shift must have been extremely busy.
Someone must have done something at some point, however, because about 30 train sets were turned out from there during his tenure in the late 1970s. I suppose his indifference was a result of having to act as nursemaid to them just over a decade later. Also, the train sets had covered millions of miles by that time, when all he had done was cross the road from the Carriage
Works assembly line to 4 Shed’s fuel line.
A FIRST CLASS TURN
HST sets were brought in from the station, with the lead power car being refuelled in Etches Park and the rear power car in the wind tunnel. After which, the set would be stabled in Etches Park or returned to the station, depending on its next duty (05.05 was the first scheduled London departure). As there were not normally many hand points to pull, two drivers (one in each cab) shared this operation.
The only involvement a spare trainman might have with HSTs was helping to turn them at Branston Junction, a typically irksome task that tended to crop up regularly on nights. This was done so the
First Class coaches were at the London end of the set – something I often wondered if the First Class passengers actually appreciated – and was achieved by using Branston, Birmingham Curve and Leicester Junctions, which formed a triangle just beyond Burton-on-Trent. The work was undemanding enough, but after five or more hours of sitting spare, it was the last thing you wanted to do when your bed was almost within reach.
The trainman would ride in the cab of the rear power car (which was the
First Class end on a ‘wrong way round’ set) and stop the driver once clear of the shunt signal at Branston Junction. He would then give the driver the buzzer code to set back, remaining in that cab ready to apply the emergency brake if necessary as the driver propelled the set round to Birmingham Curve Junction. Sometimes, the trainman would be let loose with the controls for this bit if the driver did not want to either propel or scrunch along the ballast to change ends. Once the driver was behind the main aspect at BirminghamCurve Junction, he could then proceed round to Leicester Junction and continue back to Derby.
The trainman could join him up front, but would usually remain in the back cab or the train itself. If the coaches still had to be cleaned, you could walk through and secure any booty. Newspapers and magazines were a favoured commodity during a long night in the mess room, but one of those welltravelled cheese sandwiches from the buffet car was best left alone. Amess room occupant could become extremely well-read with the variety of newspapers and periodicals from all around the country.
A trainman’s other involvement with HSTs was coupling or uncoupling failed sets, either HST to HST or HST to loco, using the appropriate emergency coupling. Train crew could go their entire career without ever having to deploy the emergency coupling, but during the winter of 1991 – the year we had the ‘wrong kind of snow’ – my colleagues and I were called upon to rescue several sets by this means.
“A mess room occupant could become extremely well-read with newspapers from all
around the country”