Interview with Steven Lace about his memories of working as fireman on the Isle of Man Steam Railway
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Date(s): 19 April 2023
Scope & Content: Steven Lace talks to Jude Dicken about his time working on the Isle of Man Steam Railway in 1968 and also his family connections to the railway in the 1950s. Steven talks about his grandmother who was gatekeeper at St Germans from 1920s to 1958; living in the station house at St Germans from 1958; watching the steam trains as a child in the summer with his grandmother (Catherine Evans, died 1959) on the Douglas to Ramsey line; women working as gatekeepers; his grandfather who was a platelayer; going to the pictures (cinema), Douglas, on the train; uncles working on the railway; locomotive ashes in wagons; going to school on the trai; to the mart in Ramsey on Monday with cattle, sheep, poultry in wagons; Sunday school train outings; decline to St Germans railway station after 1960; Peel Road train station; decline of the St John's to Ramsey line; uncle as St Germans gatekeeper until 1965.
Steven then describes his career on the Isle of Man Steam Railway from the age of 18 in 1968; reopening of the line; comical story of woman gatekeeper at St Germans opening the gates too early causing traffic jam; his role as fireman from 1968 and the routes he worked; comical story of being sick at work 'on the plate'; operating the locomotive on the Douglas to Peel line; 'the races' from St John's between Peel and Ramsey trains; BBC programme 'The Train Now Departing'; fireman's job keeping the steam up and managing the boiler; No.12 Hutchinson; railway accidents, including 1968 Home Rule demonstration on the track at Union Mills; carrying passengers to Peel and Douglas; working the trains on 1968 Tynwald Day; George Crellin, St John's stationmaster and story of faulty water tank; closure of Douglas to Peel line; oil tanks for Ramsey power station; hearing the railway was to close, October 1968; declining offer of job on the reopening of Douglas to Castletown line; 'Douglas or Bust' sign on locomotive; oil tank accident; 'devastated' at ending of passenger line to Peel; Fred Caley and story of RAF personnel at Jurby using the railway; Glen Wyllin bridge; driving diggers after leaving the railway at the end of 1968; surprise at the Douglas to Peel line being closed; his job to demolish Ramsey railway station when he later operated a bulldozer; other trips on engine footplates as a child and a few years ago; his Isle of Man Steam Railway uniform and photograph of him in it aged 19 and other family photographs; death of his grandmother; railway workers
Language: eng
Extent: 53 min. 23 sec.
Item name: mp3 file
Collection: Sound Archive
Level: ITEM
ID number: SA 2024-0001
So evocative of an era sadly now gone. Thank you for sharing such fascinating memories. - Sheena Report this
So evocative of an era sadly now gone. Thank you for sharing such fascinating memories. - Sheena Report this
Interesting stuff. I am glad that you confirmed up to 12 carriages on the morning service in the summer. I used to watch from the train from the hill behind our house in Kirk Michael and could see them crossing the Glen Wyllin viaduct. - Mike Report this