The Guards Training Course

The Guards Training Course started 10th October 1983 with lessons from 09:15 to 16:15.

The course was held at the SR Regional Training Centre, which was in a modern office block next to Beckenham Junction station. However, for several of thus this was a station that was difficult to get to, so we used to catch a Hayes Line service from London Bridge to New Beckenham and have a short walk through the leafy streets to get to the course.

Here’s a photo of the pass I used to get to and from the course.

This course, which was taught by the talented, experienced, and friendly, Mr Salmon, went into vast detail on all the basics we’d learnt at Redhill, and then some. Mr Salmon was a major asset to the railway, for in addition to teaching this course, and the signalling course, he was a relief signalman qualified to take over at any signal-box in the division and when I bumped into him after started work as a guard it was one weekend when I had to take a train past a major bit of engineering work and discovered he was there as the person in charge (PICOP) of the work.

Most of those on the course were passenger guards, but there were also a couple of shunters present and a couple of guards from depots that also dealt with freight trains, who had to do a slightly different course, though all of us still had to learn a great deal about freight trains including the quite complex task of working out how heavy a train was. When it came to freight we mainly had to learn about how to check the brakes and all the assorted labels especially relating to dangerous goods including explosives and radioactive materials. (The freight guards might find themselves assigned to the train that took radioactive waste from Dungeness power station, while the rest of us were likely to encounter those trains during our work, though, hopefully, not in the context of an accident.)

We had to learn about rolling stock, both diesel and electric and about plain old carriages that get hauled behind locomotives. Then there were lessons about brake systems, pipes and cables, heating systems, telephone procedures, making announcements, reporting defects, delays and problems, timekeeping and how to understand the working timetable: a vast thick tome listing to the nearest half minute all arrivals, departures and passing times for all train movements other than those within depots and sidings.

We also had to learn about signals and signalling, including hand signalling, and the various different systems around for basically ensuring that trains did not smash into one another: intermediate block, track circuit block, electric token block. Things might go wrong with signals so we had to learn about things like how to pass a signal at red/danger and how to negotiate single line working (when trains travelling in opposite directions have to take it in turns to go down one line). Sadly, we did not however, get to go into the class room next door to ours to play with the ‘O’ gauge model railway that was fully wired up to allow signalmen to be trained with trains that responded to their signalling actions.

I’ll try and explain signalling very simply. Most of the “modern” signalling in use on SR at this time could show four “aspects” (red, single yellow, double yellow and green). It worked more or less on the principle that behind every train there MUST be a signal of some sort at “danger”(always described as “danger” and not “red” as some signals that meant STOP were not red. e.g. with old fashioned semaphore signals the red arm in the horizontal position means STOP, whereas the red signal at an angle means “proceed” and even when the red arm was horizontal there might be something below it, or on the ground, like a shunting signal that meant proceed slowly for the purpose of a shunting manoeuvre.). The purpose of the Danger signal was/is obviously to stop another train on that track to the rear from hitting the first train.

Then, working backwards, the aspect of the next signal will be a “single yellow” to warn the driver that the first signal is red and that they will need to be ready to stop at it, i.e. they must now be travelling at the right speed to stop in time. The distance between two signals will thus be the distance it takes for a train to brake to a stop from the speed that it is allowed to go at.

The aspect of the next signal back will be “double yellows” warning the driver to be ready for the second signal to be at yellow and for him to start adjusting his speed appropriately.

Then the next signal back will be at green which permits the driver to go at the permitted line speed. (The permissible speed on any route might vary considerable due to bends and points etc. to say nothing of speed limits due to the condition of the track.

When things worked just about right you might find you travelled all the time heading towards “double yellows” as the train in front of you was going at the same speed that you were and was moving away from you as you moved towards the next signal so that you might see a single yellow” change to “double yellow” before you got there, so you would never quite have to slow down. Or close to the busy London termini you might travel on a succession of “single yellows”, so that you’d have had to slow down, but would never actually have to stop till you were approaching your platform.

It there was a junction where you had to change lines or routes, then clearly you couldn’t do that until the points etc. were set the right way (and locked in place), and equally the signals would be at danger if the points were going to be moved. (signals and points were interlocking, so you could not change the points if the signals were not at danger.) Thus, at busy times, especially in another train was late, you’d end up stopping at signals to wait till there was a suitable gap in the trains for the points to be moved.

A lot of the signal stuff was what the driver had to know about and deal with.

One of the older safety systems with signalling to help make sure the driver slows down and stops at danger signals is the Automatic Warning System (AWS). This works using a sort of electro magnet on the track and a detector on the underside of the train. A few yards before getting to a signal the train will pass over the "magnet" on the track. If the signal is green, then a buzzer will sound in the train. If the sighnal is Double Yellow, Signle Yellow or Red, then a bell will sound in the cab and a visual signal will show yellow. The driver then has a few seconds to press a button to acknowledge the warning, otherwise the train will automatically put the brakes on. AWS dates from the days of steam, and is a fairly primative system as it still relies on the driver to not just achnowledge the warning but also adjust the speed of the train etc. 

Knowing about the brakes was perhaps the single most important part of being a guard and in particular about how to do brake tests before starting a journey. It’s probably not necessary to explain all the details, so here’s a scan of some of my course notes about train brakes.

What to do in a calamity was a big part of the training, and this is when I can mention that I used to have to carry a tin of explosive detonators with me while at work!
I should mention something about crashes, to help explain things.

The Clapham rail crash happened after my time at BR and involved that horrible thing that has often be what went wrong with many of BR’s nasty crashes where, after the initial crash, another train then hit the train/trains involved in the first crash. The Harrow crash in 1952 was also a nasty example of this, (click here for more info). And, in the case of the 1957 Lewisham crash, a third train just managed to stop after the initial collision between two trains, though did hit the debris. (click here for mroe info).

As a result of these and others accidents over the years trains and signals and the rules about what guards etc. had to do were changed to try and prevent recurrences. Thus, one of the key things guards had to learn how to do was to try and prevent a bad situation getting worse.

So, even if your train was say lying on its side with dead and injured in it that needed help, you had to leave them for the time being and consider what night be coming your way on another line to make it even worse. The driver was responsible for things that might be coming towards the front of the train, the guard for matters to the rear. You had to check what lines might be blocked, or even partially blocked, for even if just a tiny bit of a vehicle or piece of debris was in the way it could easily derail another train. You obviously had to try and contact signalmen, as he could do a great deal, but it might be a long walk to the nearest phone. (With electric-light signals a signalman would usually be able to change all signals in an area to red just like that.) You might have to put special clips and wires across the other tracks; this had the effect of short circuiting the signalling circuits and making the system think there was already a train on that bit of track and thus change the relevant signals to red so that the driver of a train heading that way would now see red instead of green and stop his train in time.

If you were lucky an unintentional consequence of an accident in areas with third rail to supply the traction power to trains was that an accident might knock the third rail off its supports and cause the circuit-breakers to trip cutting traction power to all trains in a section, and thus they could be brought to a stop before other measures made then stop.

And now we come to the “exciting” bit, for, just to make sure a driver of a train headed your way paid attention, you might have to walk away from the rear of the train to specified distances etc. and place small explosives called detonators on the track. These detonators were about the size of a Jaffa cake could be held in place on the top surface of the rail with metal clips and, when driven over, would go off with a hell of a bang. And, even if your train had only broken down, you might have to walk to the rear of your train and place detonators on your track at specific places/distances where they would act a warning to the driver of any train that was simply sent to help you that he was getting close to you. This might seem excessive, but detonators could be very useful given the benefit of an audible warning in conditions of poor visibility. (You realise how wonderful train signalling is when you can go at 100mph or faster in thick fog.)

Fortunately, detonators were not usually required on lines with modern track-circuited signalling, as that helped tell the signalman and thus other trains where everything was. (The Clapham Junction accident was in part caused by faulty wiring in the signalling.).

I only encountered detonators being used once and that was in a different circumstance, but also when a driver was about to be faced with an unexpected situation that he had to be made aware of. We were heading down through Forest Hill towards Norwood Junction when even from the guards’ compartment at the rear of the train I heard an almighty bang. The train came to a stop as quickly as possible. Looking out of the window I saw that there were lots of people by the track; the signals had gone wrong. While the problem was fixed each train that had to go that way would be accompanied by a designated escort – called a pilotman - to authorise the driver to pass the signal(s) that were broken. When our escort reached a section where the signals were okay he was able to get out and get on the phone to the people at the problem section and announce that the whole of our train was safely out of the way so that another train could be let through with another escort. Human signals.

On a couple of other occasions the signals were only slightly broken and detonators and pilotmen were not needed, as the problem was at a station and where the signals were normally fully under the control of the signalman anyway so men with coloured flags and telephones did the signalling, and the trains all travelled at slow speeds through the problematic section.

Note that when the driver was authorised to pass a broken signal or similar in this kind of situation he had to tell the guard (me) and the guard had to record it in his log book noting the time and the number of the signal and location etc. A signal passed a danger (a SPAD), if done without adequate authorisation and thus a paper trail to confirm it, was and is a major disciplinary offence on the railways.

Here’s a scan of part of the course notes about use of these warning detonators

Mr Salmon took us on an excursion to the railway yard at Tonbridge on 25th October 1983. We were able to look at and examine closely assorted types of signals etc. in the flesh and have a go at operating a set of hand points - something that took more ffort than you'd imagine. We also got a closer look at some locomotives and were told about how to couple carriages to them etc. Things were a bit simpler by then so that trains with carriages had an electric red tail light on the end of thre train and not an oil lamp, and on all the trains I workled a shunter looked after the lights anyway.     

And here's a photo of the ticket to take me to Tonbridge and back.

The Locomotives used on the SR in those days were nearly all either Class 33s built in the early 1960s or Class 73s built in the mid 1960s.

Prior to this, I had seen a lot of Class 33s (nicknamed “Cromptons”), as they were used on non-electrified routes on the South-Western lines. (e.g. to and from Weymouth before that line was electrified, and on the Portsmouth-Southampton-Salisbury-Westbury-Bristol-Cardiff route, and occasionally on the Axminster line. The 33 was a diesel-electric locomotive, meaning it used a diesel engine to generate electricity, and that was used to power electric motors that turned the wheels.

Clickhere for more info

The Class 73 was an Electro-Diesel locomotive; it could either take its electricity straight from the third rail for its motors (when it was rated at about 1500hp), but could also generate electricity with a small on-board diesel engine, though this only had about 600hp. Some Class 73s have been completely reengineered and refurnished and are still running today!

Click here for more info

There was also a special trip to visit Wimbledon depot to all be able to take turns dropping and lifting a buckeye coupling, and joining together and splitting all the air pipes and electrical jumpers you have to fiddle with when joining or splitting units.

We did not travel to Wimbledon depot on our special train, but on ordinary trains for which we all had to be issued with a return ticket to get to the nearest station: Wimbledon Park tube station on the District Line, and here's my ticket:

The buckeye coupling is the semi-automatic coupling that enables two (electrical) multiple units to connect to one another to travel as one.  (The individual carriages of a multiple unit are usually connected with permanent couplings; if they fail you need a breakdown crew.). It may though be necessary to lower the buckeye and use a standard or emergency screw coupling if there is a defect with the buckeye, or if a broken-down train has to be rescued by a locomotive without a buckeye coupling.

The buckeye is hinged and held in place on the hook by a locking pin. To lower it you have to get under the coupling and take its weight on your shoulder or arm; remove the pin and let go. It’s much harder to raise the coupler and lock it in place on the hook as the damn thing weighs a great deal. Several people on the course failed to do this, and it was also seen as one of the reasons few women passed the tests. (Not that many women even applied to be guards). Being able to cope with this heavy component of a train was vital.  

When two trains join together you also have to connect the compressed air pipes so that the brake system is continuous throughout the whole train and also the electrical jumper cables. The continuous brake system is one of the cornerstones of a safe railway so learning how to do a brake test was also a major part of the training as a brake test had to be carried out on every train before starting out, unless it was the same train you and the driver and just arrived on. You also had to do a brake test if you joined two trains together or split two trains. NO EXCEPTIONS.)

Click here for a video I found about couplings etc. The first 7 ½ minutes explain pretty much exactly what we had to learn and with a train of similar age to the ones I worked with in 1983 and EPB unit. (and bear in mind that while you are doing this you may be standing next to a live 3rd rail that will kill you if you touch it.:

Note how filthy the guy gets, we were told to put a newspaper on our shoulders/arms to try and protect our clothes/overalls.

At the time it was possible to couple together all the different classes of Electric Multiple Units (EMUs) in use on the Division, and even couple up Diesel Electric Multiple units to EMUs, so long as you only connected the brake pipes and not the electrical connections. This was a useful set up as it meant that any one train could go to the assistance of any other, if all that was needed was to couple the two together to get them to somewhere where the problem with the broken-down train could be sorted out, (and also so any passengers in the broken-down train did not have to be left stranded in the middle of nowhere for ages.)

We became aware that everything on BR has a name or number or a definition. EG not just bridges and structures have a number, but my small note book (soft cover) was BR200; my medium notebook (soft cover) was BR202, my Guard’s flip-over notebook (hardcover) was BR239, my guard’s logbook BR29106 etc. I still have them:

Signals all carry a letter code that tells you which signal-box they belong. While London Bridge was “LB” and Waterloo “W,” it was less obvious when Brighton was “CB” or Redhill “CR” (And note that Redhill still had old fashioned semaphore signals!), and they also have a number. Thus, when you picked up a phone to talk to a signalman you’d know where he was; he’d have an indication telling him where you were, and, when you’d identified yourselves, you’d both have enough information to log the details.

Units and carriages all had numbers: you needed to keep a record or which set(s) you worked on, and in the event of things like defective doors you could report the number of the carriage where the problem was (you also had to carry stickers to mark such doors “Out of Use” and the appropriate key to lock the door.)

Each train service also had a number and code: the code for a fast service would start with a 1, a stopping service with a 2. A train code starting with a 2 meant it was a stopping service, an empty train not booked to carry passengers would have code 5,

e.g. 2H05 was the 14:20 from London Bridge to Sutton, when it then made the return journey and turned into the 15:07 from Sutton to London Bridge it became 2H04. (And the next services on the same routes would thus be 2H07, 2H09 and 2H06, 2H08 and so on.)

Even though we’d recently had fire-fighting instruction. as part of the Guards’ course, there was also a similar fire-fighting course at the BR fire department “school” near Clapham Junction station. Here’s the ticket I was issued with to get there:

I also had to do a half-day First Aid course at Norwood junction given by a Railway Inspector who was a senior person in the local St John Ambulance. This course also included lots of extra information about electricity on the railway due to the hazard of electrocution.

It was strange that with the Guard’s Course, more than any subject I had studied at any school or elsewhere, I truly felt like I understood what I needed to know and why, and remembered it! And it wasn’t actually that easy, for, on rereading my course notes and booklets, I have been finding that I really having to concentrate to follow it all. So, I think I was right, at the time, to feel more than a little pleased to get all questions correct in the final written exams: more than 100 questions and not multiple choice. However, I was given only 99% as Mr Salmon, our magnificent instructor, told me and everyone else that it was unwise to give anyone 100% and thus risk also giving them the feeling that they knew everything, especially in a world where safety was paramount and there was no room for complacency! A great life lesson to receive, though Mr Salmon also admitted to me in private that he’d never had anyone do as well as me.

Not everyone else on the course was as clued up as me, though the daftest man was probably the one that thought the driver of the train could steer the train. Lots of older Electric Multiple Units had a wheel, like a ship’s wheel, in the cabs and he’d assumed this was to steer the trains round bends through junctions; he had no comprehension of what track and points were or how they worked. The wheel in the cabs was actually there to wind the handbrake on and off. The handbrake was used to make sure the brakes stayed on when the train was parked out of use in the event that the brakes stopped working properly, that said the default setting for the brakes was for them to be on, thus you released the brakes by pumping air into them, so if a pipe leaked, a coupling came undone or similar mishap, then the air would be released and the brakes would come on; the hand brake was thus a case of belt and braces.

There was a hand brake in each cab of the old trains and it was, of course, always important for the driver to check that the handbrake was off before trying to move the train. There was, however, no way of telling by looking at the wheel if the brake was on or off. Thus, rather than have to go all along the train having to check each wheel by trying to unwind it to discover if it was on or not, the drivers invented a system to help each other: The driver that put the hand brake on would always leave a wooden paddle wedged in the spokes of the wheel as a sign it was on. Wooden panel you ask? Yes, in every cab was a special piece of wood that looked like a paddle or a badly made cricket bat, it was there for the driver to use in the even that he needed to physically separate the train from the conductor rail without moving the train. The wide end of the paddle was tapered and a driver knew how to slide it in between the train’s current collector shoe and the third rail where it would act as an insulator. Takes a brave man to do that.

So, the class-room training finished and we became mobile as we set about learning the routes, but still with instructors.