In B.R. days a number of engines were allocated for shunting
duties and for what were referred to as trip, or target,
workings. The resulting trains were not included in the normal
freight timetables and were instead shown in this booklet. Some years
after the publication of this booklet, I got to work as a guard, secondman and driver on a number of these services. By then,
however, many – maybe even most – of the places mentioned in this booklet were but a
memory. Many trip workings were driven by drivers who had some health issue. Most of them had to
have a secondman to go on the main line and, as a consequence, I
spent a disproportionate amount of my time working with them.
Without getting too sloppy, I dedicate this part of my website
to those fine gentlemen, Jack Wooley, Eric Clough and Basil
Baines, to name but three. Only my youth prevented me from
recognising
my days with them for what they were: the best of times in my
working life.