Station Master

Description

About the book:

HARD work, long hours and small pay might not be everyone’s choice, but they certainly paid off for Tom Smith, who tells in his own words of 45 years on the Settle and Carlisle line. He recalls how he saved “a good many lives” at the risk of his own and also of a fatal crash when an express train from London hit a landslide, leaving eight people dead.
However, his book is much more than a tale of life on the line in the early 20th century. It also charts a lifelong romance and a family’s history, making it perfect for those researching family trees in places as far apart as northern England and the likes of Boston and Iowa across the Atlantic.
Tom looks at how the Settle line came into being, changes to trains, signals and equipment and the goods carried in the days before road haulage, from coal, cattle and cotton to timber, potatoes and milk for London. Station Master on the Settle to Carlisle Railway Line is a “must read” for anyone interested in railways, folk from a different era or history in the counties of Yorkshire and Cumberland.

Reviews:
Tom Smith’s book opens a window onto the past operation of the Settle to Carlisle Railway north of Appleby. Starting his career as a junior porter in 1879 at Armathwaite he worked his way through the ranks, with a move from Armathwaite to Kirkby Stephen, then on to Appleby as a goods shunter, learning the ropes as a signal man at Settle and finally making the rank of station master at Culgaith and Little Salkeld.
His account contains a wealth of information about the daily working life of a station and its staff, covering topics such as carriage oil lamps, communication cords and the transportation of goods on the railway.
Tom’s book will also be of great interest to family historians who have ancestors living in the north west and the Eden Valley, as he recalls many of the local families and the trades that were carried on in the villages around.
Of the many books that have been published about the Settle to Carlisle Railway, very few contain accounts of the working life of employees of the Midland Railway Company. This book provides an invaluable addition to our knowledge not only of railway history but local history. A small book with a big story. David Occomore, author of The New Railway to Scotland