Northumberland Archives

TWEEDMOUTH MAN’S CREDITABLE RECORD

FIFTY-FOUR YEARS’ RAILWAY SERVICE

The above photograph was taken at the Railway Centenary Celebrations last years. Mr Douglas, Tweedmouth the subject of our sketch can be seen on the left facing the camera. Mr P. Waite Tweedmouth is also seen standing in front of the engine.

Fifty-four years is a long spell out of a man’s life, and when this period has been spent in the employment of one firm or company it enhances the value of credibility service. This is the record of Mr Thomas Douglas of Kiln Hill, Tweedmouth, who has now the longest service of the footplate staff of the London and N.E.R. in their North Eastern area No.7, which includes the Depot at Tweedmouth. Mr Douglas was only 14 years of age when he entered the employment of the old North Eastern Railway Coy. In 18871 as a cleaner. He is now in his 68^th year and is still carrying on his everyday work with energy. After two years’ service Mr Douglas took up work as a Fireman, and in 1886 he be- duty as a driver.

In his long experience as a railwayman Mr Douglas has naturally had numerous experiences, but according to himself his most thrilling was in March 1886. At this time, he was acting as fireman on a pilot engine. On Monday 1^st March of that year, the pilot, who it is interesting to note, was also a Tweedmouth man named Patison, along with Mr Douglas received orders to take the midnight north express to Newcastle. On the way they encountered what the older members of the community will recollect was one of the most severe snowstorms the country has ever experienced. Huge snow drifts made the progress of the train difficult and slow. The largest drift was met near Amble Junction, and here it was found impossible either to go back or to go forward with the result that the driver and his fireman had to wait with as much patience as they could muster until the breaking of the day. Then they realised the seriousness of the position. It was not until the following day that it was found possible to clear the other line, and by this means some of the passengers were transferred to a relief train and conveyed to Acklington Station. Some of the passengers preferred to take their chance with the train in which they were travelling, amongst these being the late Marquis of Tweeddale, who was a Director of the Railway Company. The little company did not want altogether for food. Several rabbits were caught and made into a very welcome stew. It was not until the following Thursday that the line was cleared of the snow, and the train was able to continue its journey. Newcastle being reached without further mishap or incident.

A STRANGE COINCIDENCE

Another thrilling experience of which Mr Douglas still retains a vivid recollection was the great snowstorm of March, 1888. On that occasion when he reached Alnwick he was informed that the main line was snowed up. Shortly afterwards he received orders to take a special mail train from Alnwick to Newcastle, as the ordinary mail train from Berwick was already snowed up. “We went through several very heavy wreaths of snow,” said Mr Douglas in the course of conversation with a representative of the “Berwick Journal,” but ultimately wwe reached Acklington Station. Here we were brought to a stand still because by a strange coincidence the train in front of us was snowed up exactly the same spot as I was snowed up at two years previously. We remained at Acklington from the Monday night until Wednesday forenoon when they got the line cleared and we were able to get through to Newcastle.

Mr Douglas has a very clear recollection of the Morpeth railway accident of 1875 when five persons were killed, about 30 injured. The passengers on that occasion included a Berwick lady who was amongst the injured. On that occasion Mr Douglas was sent from Tweedmouth to Morpeth to help in working the carne, and the extraordinary feature of the accident was that  neither the driver or the fireman of the wrecked train were injured. We had much longer hours to work in those days, continued Mr Douglas. 14 hours would have been considered a fairly short day, and often we had to work 161/2 hours. I have finished at 2 in the  morning and been out again at 5 and carried on until 2 the next morning and then been back to work again three hours later. That pf course was only when there was a special rush of traffic requiring to be handled. We were paid differently in the old days on what was called the trip system. For instance, the journey from Berwick to Newcastle and back was considered a day. In those far off days Mr Douglas used to wonder if ever the railwaymen would get the then existing state of affairs altered. He considers that the railway strike of 1890 helped railwaymen considerably as it brought about a Government inquiry into the hours of railwaymen and the conditions under which they worked. Since then, the conditions have greatly improved.

A TERRIBLE GALE

Mr Douglas has also an interesting story to tell of the terrible gale of Oct. 1881, when between 200 and 300 fishermen lost their lives along the Berwick coast. It was a fine morning said Mr Douglas, but a terrific gale sprung up suddenly just about dinner time. We got our train to Heaton and prepared the engine for the homeward journey. When we went into the hut for our dinner, slates from the roofs were flying about like bits of paper, and tress and telegraph poles were falling all around. It took us six hours to do the journey from Newcastle to Berwick instead of three. It was not until we arrived home that we heard of the disaster that had overtaken the fishermen.

Mr Douglas is at present engaged on the Kelso line, which he says is sometimes known as “the one lung line” owing to the fact that so many of the old employees are employed on it. During his long career he has naturally witnessed many changes and improvements in railway administration, not only on matters appertaining to the wages and conditions of labour of railwaymen but also regard to the increased facilities afforded the travelling public. Like the majority of railwaymen, Mr Douglas is keenly interested in ambulance work, and for many years he has been Chairman of the Tweedmouth Branch of the London and N.E.R. Ambulance Corps. Mr Douglas is also well known at Tweedmouth as the Chairman of the Ratepayers” Association. He is a keen Burns enthusiast and has acted as President of the Tweedmouth Burns Clubb, and at the annual dinner has been frequently called upon to propose the “Immortal Memory.” He also takes a deep interest in Berwick Infirmary, and for three years was a member of the Committee of Management. Mr Douglas is a Trustee of Tweedmouth Scotch Church. His recreations are rod fishing and gardening. In 1923 Mr Douglas was presented with a handsome silver-mounted walking stick from the members of the Tweedmouth Branch of the Railway Ambulance Corps in recognition of his long and valuable service to ambulance work. Mr Douglas started work when he was 10 years of age, and for four years he worked as a salmon fisher at East Ord before joining the service of the Railway Company.

It is interesting to note that last year Mr Douglas was chosen to represent the Locomotive Sheds at the Centenary celebrations of the London and N.E.R. at Stockton and Darlington at which the Duke and Duchess of York were present. Our photograph shows Mr Douglas standing near his engine on that occasion just prior to the start of the procession of engines past the Duke and Duchess.

When Mr Douglas was a fireman, he was firing a through goods train from Tweedmouth to Newcastle. At Ashington Junction, on the main line, they ran into the rear end of a train of empty coal wagons, struck the van of that train and knocked it clean over a steep embankment. The van was full of pitmen living at Pegswood and travelling to Ashington to their work. The van toppled over and over, and when Mr Douglas went to the van, inside resembled a shambles with blood. He helped these men out one after another and found that although all had received bruises and were considerably shaken, none of them were seriously injured. It was daylight at the time.

In connection with the Railway Centenary, Mr Douglas received a fine bronze medal specially struck for the occasion. One side bears portraits of Edward Pease, Chairman and guiding influence in the management of the first public railway, and of George Stephenson, who built the first engine on the railway, and actually drove it on its historic journey on Sept. 27^th, 1825. On the other side is a figure of Vulcan holding in his hand “Locomotion No.1,” the first engine to be employed on a public railway, with, in the background, one of the London and North Eastern Railway Company’s famous 1925 type “Pacific” express locomotives.