MY EARLY DAYS WITH BRITISH RAILWAYS
Part 1: Early days
In Steam World December 2020, I recorded how at 5.45am on Monday November 11 1956, I left my digs and walked at 6.00am with my landlord and future tutor, Roger Larg, to Beckenham Junction, to start my career as a trainee Booking Clerk in the Up side booking office. It was a culture shock!
Roger was an excellent Booking Clerk, very methodical and organised and an excellent teacher. He started off by telling me that 7.32am was a key time on the early shift as it was the last departure that passengers could catch to London to arrive before 8.00am as required to travel on a workman’s ticket. He then showed me how he set up two cash floats, one to be using before 7.32am and the other afterwards.
The basic train service at Beckenham Junction was the half-hour service between Orpington and Victoria operated by electric multiple units used the Up and Down through platforms. There was also a half-hourly service from Beckenham Junction to Victoria via Crystal Palace and Clapham Junction that used the London-facing bay adjacent to the Up platform. I cannot remember any regular use of the Down bay. In peak hours, the service was significantly enhanced and included trains to both Blackfriars and Holborn.
There were two booking offices, the one on the Down side, where the Chief Clerk also worked, handling parcels as well as longdistance bookings mainly to the Kent Coast. The Up office was heavily London
