U is for uplifted from Uranquinty

A guest blogger describes a bit of his misspent youth ...




Imagine you're sixteen and hitch-hiking. No one will pull up and it's cold and getting dark. You've got no money. You're stuck in a one-horse town miles from home.

What would you do?

Well, these days you'd get out your mobile and start bleating for help.

Half a century ago, I walked across the paddocks to the Uranquinty railway station and asked the stationmaster if there was any chance of a ticket home to Albury. No there wasn't, but I suppose I looked small and miserable. He said he'd pull up the next goods train coming through.

Thanks to the kind SM, I went from cold and stranded on the side of the road to toasty in front of a pot-belly stove in the guard's van, with a guaranteed ride home.

There was only one small catch. The guard said I could earn my keep by looking out ahead for the signal lights. I'm colour-blind, but I didn't let on. Blue wasn't a problem, and I guessed right about the reds and greens, or we were lucky.

Anyway, we made it to Albury.

Uranquinty railway platform about 2009 from Wikimedia Commons

A railway accident where the signals were ignored.
View southward, towards Hatfield and London; ex-Great Northern East Coast Main Line. on 7 January 1957 the 19.10 express from Aberdeen to King's Cross, hauled by A2/3 Pacific No. 60520 'Owen Tudor', had passed several signals at Danger - in fog and in spite of exploding detonators - and ran into the rear of the 06.10 Baldock - King's Cross local train, which was already on its way, at a closing speed of about 25 mph. Rear coaches of the Local were wrecked, killing one passenger and severely injuring 25 others. The Pacific overturned as seen, the driver being badly injured but the fireman was almost unharmed. The coaches of the express and their passengers were also relatively unharmed.

R is for Railways - triennial listing of railways employees in Victoria

I wrote earlier this month about the Victorian Government Gazettes. The Gazette published a list of railway employees every three years between 1884 and 1929.

I have been able to follow the career of my husband's great grandfather, Henry Dawson (1864 - 1929).

On 7 June 1889 commenced employment as a railway employee.

On 30 January 1893 he was with the traffic branch as a lampman.

On 4 February 1896 he was with the traffic branch as a carriage cleaner.

On 2 February 1899 he was with the traffic branch as a porter.

On 1 January  1902 again employed as a carriage cleaner. His  pay was 7 shillings weekly.

As he was not mentioned in the gazette listing of 1905 it appears that Henry had left the railways before January 1905  (1905 Gazette 141 Page 4744  http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/view.cgi?year=1905&class=general&page_num=4719&state=V&classNum=G142)

The Commonwealth of Australia Electoral Roll of 1909 has him still employed as a railway employee. He probably hadn't updated his voting registration. (1909 Australian Electoral Roll, Bentleigh polling place, Division of Balaclava, State of Victoria)

On 1 January 1912 Henry Dawson recommenced work with the railways

On 4 August 1914, 27 February 1918 and 7 April 1921 he was with the transportation branch as a lampman. He was still in that job on 24 November 1925; his weekly pay was 14 shillings 8 pence.

 ...

retrieved from http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/view.cgi?year=1926&class=general&page_num=1233&state=V&classNum=G54

There is more information about railway employment  at http://prov.vic.gov.au/provguide-40

Where to find the Triennial List of Railway Employees in the Government Gazette

(1884 – 1929)

Year	Vol	Page		Year	Vol	Page
1884	1	1459		1908	2	2333
1887	2	2055		1911	2	4457
1890	1	1237		1914	2	3267
1893	1	387		1918	1	887
1896	1	621		1921	1	1189
1899	1	433		1924	1	1167
1902	3	4099		1926	1	1233
1905	3	4719		1929	2	1931

The list was discontinued after 1929.