PODCAST

Howard"s Railway Ramblings.

Howard Benson

Stories from steam railways and other heritage locations.

history

All Episodes

00:18:59

Alex Scott. Wartime Footplate Man. Part 5.

Howard"s Railway Ramblings. ·

2025/10/31

One of Alex's duties at Watford was working push and pull trains where the driver made the return journey using controls in a compartment in the rear carriage. They ran between Watford Junction and St. Albans and also on the short branch from Harrow and Wealdstone to Stanmore via Belmont. The trains were used by men from the RAF base nearby and, according to Alex, used the trains for a little "pulling" of their own with willing participants from the Women's Auxiliary Air Force

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00:28:04

Alex Scott. Wartime Footplate Man. Part 4.

Howard"s Railway Ramblings. ·

2025/10/31

After working as a passed cleaner for about two years Alex transferred to Watford loco shed where he was promoted to fireman. He then took examinations to become a passed fireman qualifying him to be a driver. Much of the work at Watford was on freight and coal trains but they also had turns on the local stopping passenger trains between Euston and Bletchley. As he still lived with his parents near to Camden shed Alex was called out by the foreman there to work on expresses to the north and one

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00:23:04

Alex Scott. Wartime Footplate Man. Part 3.

Howard"s Railway Ramblings. ·

2025/10/31

As a railwayman Alex was exempt from military service but that didn't mean working on the footplate was any less dangerous than serving overseas. On the home front the trains had to keep running day and night and often that meant braving the bombs of the London blitz. In November 1941 Alex vividly remembers a parachute mine that exploded near Queen's Park station. Whole streets were flattened and many people were killed leaving a local cinema. Alex was on a train returning from Blackpool

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00:21:28

Alex Scott. Wartime Footplate Man. Part 2.

Howard"s Railway Ramblings. ·

2025/10/31

After about a year working in the shed at Camden Alex took his theory and practical tests to become a "passed" cleaner enabling him to work as a fireman on the footplate. His first mainline trip was on a 5XP Jubilee locomotive on an express to Manchester but he also did shunting duties on Jinty tank engines in the yards at Camden and Maiden Lane. As he gained more experience he was rostered for a morning run all the way to Carlisle via Shap, but unfortunately he didn't quite make it!

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00:27:34

Alex Scott. Wartime Footplate Man. Part 1.

Howard"s Railway Ramblings. ·

2025/10/31

Alex Scott grew up in the 1930s a stone's throw away from Camden engine shed which was home to many of the famous steam locomotives which hauled the express trains of the London Midland & Scottish Railway. Alex became a cleaner at Camden in 1938 and quickly rose through the ranks to become a fireman and driver on the West Coast Main Line throughout the Second World War. He left the railway after the war but reamined an enthusiast driving trains on the Nene Valley Railway and acting as

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00:20:20

The Greatest Railway Blunder.

Howard"s Railway Ramblings. ·

2025/10/31

Signalman and author Adrian Vaughan talks about his book on railway privatisation and why he called it The Greatest Railway Blunder.

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00:24:46

Lanky carriages in Bronte Country.

Howard"s Railway Ramblings. ·

2025/10/28

Eric Rawcliffe of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Trust talks about the history of the company and its carriages being restored at Oxenhope on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. Recorded in 2009.

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00:19:05

Liverpool & Manchester Special.

Howard"s Railway Ramblings. ·

2025/10/27

Enthusiasts talk about their passion for steam as they travel on a double headed special to mark the 175th anniversary of the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. Postponed from the previous year the train ran under the headcode 1Z76 from Liverpool Lime Street on Saturday 4 March 2006. It was hauled by LMS Black Five 5, 45407 and BR Standard 4, 76079. The route took it via Manchester Victoria, Huddersfield, Copy Pit and Blackburn before returning to Liverpool.

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00:18:46

Hop Pickers' Special.

Howard"s Railway Ramblings. ·

2025/10/27

Recorded on Saturday 1 September 2007, a ride to Faversham in Kent from London Victoria on a Hop Pickers' Special organised by the Shepherd Neame brewery. The train was hauled by Battle of Britain class steam locomotive Tangmere, renamed for the day as sister loco Spitfire.

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00:21:20

Mountsorrel Railway.

Howard"s Railway Ramblings. ·

2025/10/19

Recorded in October 2009, just before track was laid, Steve Cramp of the Mountsorrel Railway in Leicestershire talks about the community project to reopen the industrial branch line.

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00:13:47

Roland Kennington. 1937 - 2017.

Howard"s Railway Ramblings. ·

2025/10/19

Recorded on its inaugural run on 16 April 2011 chief engineer Roland Kennington talks about the rebranding of A4 locomotive Bittern in garter blue as 4492 Dominion of New Zealand . 4492 was one of five "Empire" engines built to haul the Coronation express between London and Edinburgh introduced in 1937 to mark the Coronation of King George VI.

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00:25:10

Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The Intemperate Engineer.

Howard"s Railway Ramblings. ·

2025/10/19

Historian Adran Vaughan discusses his research into the famous Victorian engineer which reveals he wasn't entirely responsible for the design of the Clifton Suspension Bridge and many of his inventions were flops! Recorded in 2010 on the publication of The Intemperate Engineer.

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00:25:08

Samuel Morton Peto.

Howard"s Railway Ramblings. ·

2025/10/17

Recorded in 2009 in the signal box at Sheringham on the North Norfolk Railway Adrian Vaughan discusses his book on the Victorian entrepreneur and contractor Samuel Morton Peto.

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00:23:51

A Signalman's Life.

Howard"s Railway Ramblings. ·

2025/10/17

Signalman, lecturer and historian Adrian Vaughan operates the box at Sheringham station on the North Norfolk Railway and explains the ins and outs of mechanical signalling. Recorded in 2009.

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00:23:25

Trainspotting Days.

Howard"s Railway Ramblings. ·

2025/10/17

Recorded in 2006 Will Adams talks about Trainspotting Days, his book of photographs featuring the eager young post-war collectors of engine numbers who are the enthusiasts and heritage railway volunteers of today.

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00:23:42

David Shepherd and Black Prince. Part 2.

Howard"s Railway Ramblings. ·

2025/10/17

"A great man who will forever be credited as one of this country’s greatest pioneers of railway preservation. And in so doing brought pleasure to hundreds of thousands of people."

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00:22:36

David Shepherd and Black Prince. Part 1.

Howard"s Railway Ramblings. ·

2025/10/17

This was recorded at the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Railway in 2009 during the 50th anniversary celebrations for Black Prince which was built at Swindon in 1959. The owner, railway and wildlife artist David Shepherd, talks about his passion for steam. David died in 2017 and the loco is now on display at the Bressingham museum.

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00:24:04

Pullman Porters. Part 2.

Howard"s Railway Ramblings. ·

2025/10/17

More from Larry Tye on his book "Rising from the Rails: Pullman Porters and the Making of the Black Middle Class."

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00:26:59

Pullman Porters. Part 1.

Howard"s Railway Ramblings. ·

2025/10/17

Larry Tye talks about his book "Rising from the Rails: Pullman Porters and the Making of the Black Middle Class" in which he explores the critical role they played in the struggle for African American civil rights.

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00:24:20

Railways At War.

Howard"s Railway Ramblings. ·

2025/10/17

A montage of memories and sounds remembering how the railways of Britain were vital to the effort to win the Second World War.

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Howard"s Railway Ramblings.

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