When we read accounts of rail journeys, and especially steam footplate trips whether officially sanctioned or otherwise, there is a tendency to assume that both driver and fireman are used to working with each other and are comfortable in each other’s company. Why this should be so more than in any other job is not obvious although each is dependent on the other in matters of safety and proper performance of their duties. Some drivers were noted for passing on knowledge to their mate and letting him ‘have a go’ while the driver took the shovel.
That this was not always the case, however, has become more evident in certain former enginemen’s reminiscences where they have related how on occasion, as a fireman, they had been paired with a surly and uncommunicative driver. One particular instance of how relations became so strained between two drivers eventually came to a head with one ordering his fireman off the footplate; this led to an official investigation into the circumstances. All this happened on a remote branch line, built as a Light Railway, in southern Scotland just after the end of World War I and the details are all to be found in a file at the National Records of Scotland in Edinburgh.
Early days of the Light Railway
Before looking at the circumstances of the dispute, it will perhaps be helpful if we take a look at the history of the line in question which was authorised under the terms of the Light Railways Act 1896 to serve the small town of Lauder, situated in Lauderdale at the northern extremity of Berwickshire. The town is perhaps most famous in history for being the location where, in 1482, a number of King James III’s favourites were hanged on the river bridge by Archibald ‘Bell the Cat’, Earl of Douglas.
The first proposal for a railway to serve the town had come as early as 1871 but nothing further actually happened until a second attempt was made in July 1883. In spite of much enthusiasm this also failed to materialise. Thus it was not until Parliament passed the Light Railways Act in 1896 that the prospects of a railway to Lauder began to improve, a company being formed for this purpose with the Marquess of Tweeddale and Earl of Lauderdale as the principal promoters. The North British Railway (NBR) was prevailed upon to subscribe £15,000 towards the scheme; as part of this arrangement the trains would be operated by this company. The necessary Light Railway Order (LRO) was dated 20th June 1898 and amongst the usual requirements for such lines (eg simplified signalling, a maximum speed with reduced velocity at level crossings and axle weight not to exceed 12 tons) was one which stipulated that cowcatchers were required on the engines used.
As built the line started at a junction with the North British about 200 yards south east of Fountainhall station on the Edinburgh and Carlisle ‘Waverley’ route. It was some ten miles in length, serving the hamlet of Oxton en route. The line followed a north easterly direction at first before turning through 180° to go
