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The Coalville Guards Dennis Wright, Secretary LDC. 'C staff side 1980-88 Coalville I had the privilege of representing the guards at Mantle Lane as staff side secretary of the traffic grades LDC from1980 until closure as a guards depot in July 1988. These were difficult times, as we fought a rearguard action against never-ending cutbacks and the transfer of work away from Coalville. It was probably with these cuts in mind that the majority of guards backed the NUR's call to ban the movement of coal during the NUM dispute of 1984/1985. After the end of the strike - or Arthur Scargill's 'Charge of the Light Brigade,' as one guard called it - management took revenge. Driver Only Operation was introduced in several stages until our depot became one of the first to be fully DOO. Happily, no one was made compulsorily redundant; some voluntary redundancies were taken, but many of the guards transferred to depots such as Birmingham New Street and Northampton. Some of them, myself included, became drivers following the October 1988 train crew agreement. Others remained at Coalville and Drakelow Power Station as ground staff and the last duty we performed as an LDC was obtaining a shunter's job for a young lad who'd come in off the street. So many had transferred there were not enough men to fill the vacancies! Despite the upheavals, Coalville was a happy depot and I'm sure many others look back with great fondness on our time at what was one of the oldest depots in the country. When I started as a guard in 1976 the majority of trains were un-braked apart from the engine and brake van. In fact the only thing that had changed from steam days was the motive power. Most of the unfitted freight trains finished in spring 1981 due to changes in unloading practices at Drakelow A+B and Willington power stations. MGR wagons became the norm and as no brake van was required this practice paved the way for eventual DOO. In paying tribute to all the guards at Coalville I'd like to name every one of them. Space precludes this, but some spring immediately to mind. Doug Elliot for all his charity work on the Open Day Committee; the incomparable Harry 'Dickey Bow' Johnson who retired as a driver aged 65 and then worked as a guard until his late 70s (I had the honour of firing for Harry on the Great Central Railway in 1977 on the occasion of his 60th year as a railwayman!); my LDC colleagues Peter Hartshorn, Roy Butlin, Graham Cross; and Aubrey Widdowson who as a signalman member of the LDC who agitated constantly for reintroduction of the passenger service long before councillors jumped on the bandwagon and made such a hash of the Ivanhoe Line. Who knows, maybe one-day passenger trains will run again through Coalville and maybe even Coalville depot will re-open. To close, I would like to thank Tony Gregory for actually preparing this book and I am sure that everyone will enjoy it. |