When Brother Bill said he had heard that there was vacancies in Long Rock engine sheds for trainee engine drivers I decided to apply, not realizing I was letting myself in for what was probably the longest apprenticeship for any job.
My application was successful and off I went to Swindon with three other lads for a medical exam, also a reading and writing test, two of us passed and two failed, one with flat feet, discovered by standing barefoot in a box of sand. The other chap failed the colour blind test of putting coloured wools in their correct ‘family’ rather crude methods but quite efficient I believe.
The following Monday I started as an engine cleaner at the Long Rock Depot. This was 1924 and it was 1936 before I was made a fireman, but during that time quite a lot happened. There were 24 cleaners, some were ex-soldiers others were of various age down to my seventeen years.
My starting rate of pay was £1/10- rising after some time to £2/2- or 2 guineas as we called it in those days (per week), that was my salary later on when I got married. I was soon doing all sorts of jobs. The foreman having discovered that I could read and write reasonably well, this suited me fine and the fact that I did not want to work Sundays or shift turns pleased the other cleaners for this meant an extra bob or two for them. Therefore I booked on at 6:00am every morning as ‘boiler washers mate’ also as timekeeper (relief), storekeeper and what I liked most, cycling all over the place with messages – you see even if I worked a late turn I was up at 5:30 helping Dad and Bill milk twenty cows in any case, I helped out in the evenings so it was a twelve hour day in any case but I preferred to do my official task first.