Hitchin train crew

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Mickey

Hitchin train crew

Post by Mickey »

Heres a name from the past some may remember on here Guard Impy of Hitchin. I didn't know what his full name was other than he was called Impy?. Impy looked like a bit of a character even without talking to him although i didn't know him personally but i recall seeing him around on a number of occasions back in the early/mid 1970s. Even though i believe he was a Goods Guard i think he may have done some passenger work on the craven units on the Kings Cross-Hitchin-Cambridge or the Hitchin-Huntingdon diagrams anyway he appeared to be a railwayman's railwayman he had that way about him and he appeared to know his job, i presume he started on the railway after WW2, he wore glasses i recall.

Mickey

* * *The original heading has been changed to Hitchin train crew instead* * *
Last edited by Mickey on Tue Oct 20, 2015 2:24 am, edited 2 times in total.
Hatfield Shed
LNER A4 4-6-2 'Streak'
Posts: 1664
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Re: Guard Impy

Post by Hatfield Shed »

There was a guard by that name very famous for his on train announcement style on the newly electrified outer sub services. His all time best in response to a delayed departure from KX was generally agreed to be (freely rendered from memory):

Ladies and Gentlemen, I regret the late departure of this service caused by slack traffic regulation by (identity). My driver has agreed to do his best to recover to timetable and as such will be using everything the unit has to offer. I would ask passengers to remain in their seats until the train has come to a stand, but then to be ready to leave the train promptly. Thank you.

And never before or since have I experienced such vigorous accelerations and brake applications (other than emergency stops) in suburban service, and the time was recovered by Hitchin by all accounts. It was more than a little 'bouncy' at Marshmoor.
Mickey

Re: Guard Impy

Post by Mickey »

Hatfield Shed wrote:It was more than a little 'bouncy' at Marshmoor.
It always was a little 'bouncy' at Marshmoor lol ha ha ha... all 4 running lines but especially the Down fast & slow lines levelled out on the falling gradient from Hawkshead through Brookmans Park station at the Welham Green over bridge (or it always appeared that way to me?) just before passing Marshmoor box.

It could be the same bloke Hatfield i remember being on the then newly opened Stevenage station around 1973 (Langley Junction's Up slow line semaphore distant signal on that bracket post was still there just off the end of the Up slow line platform) when a short'ish loose-coupled goods train came rumbling through the Up slow line platform with Impy standing on the open veranda of the brake van frantically waving a white handkerchief up & down at someone i don't think he was trying to attract the loco crew's attention i think he was shouting and exchanging some banter with someone on the platform??.

Mickey
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StevieG
LNER A4 4-6-2 'Streak'
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Location: Near the GN main line in N.Herts.

Re: Guard Impy

Post by StevieG »

I'd not heard of this chap, despite being around / working on the GN from 1967 - 89.
Was he related to the well-known Driver Impy (or was it Impey ?) of Hitchin, well-known for several traits, including also 'making use of everything a traction unit could offer'? (Nice turn of phrase, that.)
Last edited by StevieG on Mon Oct 19, 2015 10:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
BZOH

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Hatfield Shed
LNER A4 4-6-2 'Streak'
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Re: Guard Impy

Post by Hatfield Shed »

I may well have confused the name of Driver and Guard. Memory is a funny thing. Only yesterday I greeted the elderly mother of my first girlfriend by her daughter's name. Hadn't seen her in forty years, which is some excuse I suppose.
Mickey

Re: Hitchin train crew

Post by Mickey »

StevieG wrote:I'd not heard of this chap, despite being around / working on the GN from 1967 - 89.
Was he related to the well-known Drier Impy (or was it Impey ?) of Hitchin, well-known for several traits, including also 'making use of everything a traction unit could offer'? (Nice turn of phrase, that.)
To be honest Stevie your right Impy or Impey was a Hitchin driver and not a Goods guard sorry about that guy's and to you as well Hatfield my only excuse is that it was all over 40 years ago now.

Again your right about Impey's driving abilities Stevie cos when he was driving a x4 or x6 car Craven unit(s) 'flat out' up & down the main line it was probably akin to Bill Hoole driving an A4!!!.

The guard i was thinking about was a Hitchin Goods guard who wore glasses along with his B.R. guards uniform including a B.R. guards hat.

Mickey
Last edited by Mickey on Tue Oct 20, 2015 2:25 am, edited 2 times in total.
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StevieG
LNER A4 4-6-2 'Streak'
Posts: 2331
Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2009 9:08 pm
Location: Near the GN main line in N.Herts.

Re: Hitchin Goods guard

Post by StevieG »

Sorry to all who have known Dave Impy (or Impey) for typing him above as a "Drier"; my 'V' key's started playing up lately, and I don't always notice when it's failed to register. :(
BZOH

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Mickey

Re: Hitchin train crew

Post by Mickey »

There was one driver i think he was a Hitchin driver who always wore 'Wellington boots' whenever you saw him i presume a throw back to steam days.

Mickey
Mickey

Re: Hitchin train crew

Post by Mickey »

This wasn't an indivdual person but a Hitchin train crew diagram. This particular train i rode on quite a number of occasions for about 16 months from about the early summer of 1974 through to about September 1975.

From memory this train departed from Kings Cross platform no.9 on the suburban station at 23:10hrs and was always comprised of a class 31 (Brush type 2) diesel loco with about 7 or 8 B.R.Mk1 composite coaches behind the loco. On departure from platform no.9 the train was either routed along the Down Main/Fast no.2 line or the Down Slow line(?) passed 'Passenger Loco' and on through Gasworks tunnel as far as Belle Isle before being run along the Down Slow line through Copenhagen tunnel then passed Holloway South Down box up the 'Holloway bank' passed Holloway North Down box along the Down Slow no.1 line passed Western sidings as far as Finsbury Park station and stopping. After departing Finsbury Park station on the Down Slow no.1 line it would be 'turned out' at Finsbury Park 5 for a run along the Down Fast line all the way to WGC before being 'turned in' again onto the Down Slow line at the south end of the station (that was our stop).

The station stops were-

Finsbury Park
Potters Bar
Hatfield
Welwyn Garden City
Welwyn North
Knebworth
Stevenage
Hitchin
Letchworth
Baldock
Royston
Cambridge

The usual form back then was for myself and one or two other KX seccondmen who lived in 'Garden City' at that time would 'finish up' our pints in the BRSA club (the BRSA club was on the corner opposite the Great Northern Hotel on st Pancras Way opposite st Pancras station) around 11:pm and then nip over to platform no.9 in the Suburban station and board the train for WGC, this 'job' wasn't a Kings Cross diagram but a Hitchin diagram of a driver, secondman & guard i presume this train wouldn't reach Cambridge until about 00:40hrs (12:40am)?.

Mickey
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