Woking Writers’ Week – Special Feature

Thirty-three years ago, in May 1988, Woking celebrated 150 years of the railway coming to the town with a weekend of festivities set in the down yard sidings at Woking’s railway station.

Two former train drivers who were based at Woking’s Mixed Traction Depot in the 1980s, Geoff Burch from Worplesdon and Jim Lester from Horsell, have since become respected authors in their own right, both recollecting their prolific railway careers.

Read on to find out more...

 

Geoff Burch – Ramblings of a Railwayman 

A superbly self-written and published 236-page book lavishly illustrated with mainly previously unseen colour photographs accompanied by informative and often amusing stories from the authors former railway colleagues from Guildford, Eastleigh, Salisbury and Weymouth engine sheds. There are some rare photographs from driver Jim Wattleworth"s collection on his sojourn at St Johns Road shed in Ryde, Isle of Wight during the sunset of steam on the island and if you are a fan of Southern steam, Geoff Burch"s books are an essential read, as are his regular railway talks in the Surrey area. Altogether a remarkable achievement from Geoff who left school aged 15 to become a cleaner, fireman, driver then instructor with a long and varied career on the railway. – Amazon Review by Ben Darnton

Buy from Amazon HERE

Geoff Burch at a book signing event

Other books by Geoff are Further Ramblings of a Railwayman and Rambling Railwayman’s Recollections. All books are rated as five-star reads.

 

 Jim Lester – Southern Region Engineman

Jim Lester started his career as a cleaner at Nine Elms in 1957, later being based at Woking before moving on to Eurostar in the 1990s. As would be expected he passed through the ranks, becoming fireman, and then passed fireman by the very end of the steam age. Ordinarily this would be both a story and a path trod by countless others before, but Jim s tale is exceptional as he was chosen to be the fireman on perhaps the most famous of all steam workings out of Waterloo in the closing days of steam, that of the funeral train for Sir Winston Churchill. A born raconteur, he ensures that this is no ordinary book of reminiscences. Instead it is the story of the last years of steam from someone who was 'inside the fence', not simply viewing it from the end of the platform. We are treated to the intimate details of the men he worked with and the many locomotives he worked on. The routes, the trains and the experiences are all revealed providing a complete portrait of life on the railway. Supplemented by many unpublished illustrations taken from the footplate and of the men who formed the Nine Elms and Feltham workforce, here is the true story of a Southern Region Engineman.

Buy from Amazon HERE

 

Jim Lester - Pic: Courtesy Yorkshire Post

 *     *     *