Title
Memories of Smithfield Goods Depot, London, 1959 - 1962
Reference
HANS
Production date
1959 - 1962
Creator
- Hansford, Michael Robert WilliamBiographyBiography
Michael Robert William Hansford was born on the 17th November 1943 in Chelmsford, Essex. He attended two junior schools, Miss Duggan’s and Warley Church of England, Brentwood, Essex before moving with his parents to Leigh on Sea in February 1953 where he attended Chalkwell Hall junior school until July 1955 after which he attended Belfairs High School for Boys Secondary until the end of July 1959.
On the 9th September 1959 he began work as a Junior Clerk with British Railways at Smithfield Depot. In 1962 he was appointed as a Class 3 Clerk in the Divisional Freight Rates & Charges Section at Paddington and in 1964 he advanced to become a Class 2 Clerk in the same department. In addition, in 1962 he became a member and a Trustee of Rochford Angling Club (RAC) and has held the roles as Vice Chair, Treasurer, Secretary and Committee Member over the years.
In 1966 he became a Class 2 Clerk at the regional headquarters at Paddington station in the Rolling Stock section. In 1967 he became a Class 1 Clerk at the British Railways headquarters in Marylebone in the Director of Costings department. A railway grade assimilation in and a change in grading in 1968, his job changed from a Class 1 Clerk to a Clerical Officer 2 (CO2). In 1969 he was seconded to the regional headquarters at Buchannan House in Glasgow for several months assisting Don Box in development of the Profit Planning & Cost Centre Analysis system.
In 1970 he gained a certificate in Transport Studies at London University and became a Clerical Officer 3 in the finance department for the Divisional Managers in Euston. In 1972 he became a Clerical Officer 4 in the Freight Finance & Costing department, in 1978 he advanced to Manage Staff 1 (MS1) Management in business evaluation and in 1982 MS2 range at Rail headquarters at Waterloo station.
He married Judith née Grove in 1974 and have five daughters and a son. In 1983 he moved to Sector Evaluation, Freight Costing in Finance Assistance at British Railways headquarters based at the regional headquarters (RHQ) at Euston. He has always been a keen freshwater and sea angler and started a junior freshwater angling club in 1984 and ran it for 25 years.
In 1988 he became MS3 Finance manager at the Area Managers Office in Waterloo station and moved into finance administration in 1989. In 1991 he became MS3 Freight Routes Manager South East at the Waterloo railway headquarters before relocating to Friars Bridge Court, near Blackfriars Bridge London. In April 1994 he was made redundant due to privatisation and made the decision to take early retirement from British Railways.
In November 1994 he worked as a Privatisation Contracts Manager MS2 for Transrail at Euston station until the English, Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS) takeover with services on the railway no longer required. In 1996 he attended the Prospects Business & Technology Training College in Southend on Sea assisting and training unemployed job seekers but due to a restructure at the college his job was displaced. In 1998 he worked as a Training Course and Finance Manager at Southend General Hospital in the Occupational and Physiotherapy department.
In 2001 he assisted his then son-in-law with general book keeping duties for the shed-making business. He retired on his 65th birthday in November 2008.
Scope and Content
This paper is a personal record of Mike Hansford’s employment and experiences as a Junior Clerk at the Smithfield Depot offices from 1959 until 1962, when the depot closed and of the day today working. He recalls fond memories of some of his clerical colleagues and the various depot staff at all levels that he had the good fortune to work with at the start of his railway career.
He details some of the day to day trials and tribulations of certain traffics and includes some humorous anecdotes. This is admittedly only a snapshot of the depot’s long history up to the end of its working life providing an insight into the everyday tasks and responsibilities of those who made it work during his time there.
A typed 25 page document.
Extent
1 document
Language
English
Archival history
The document was written in 2016 and donated in March 2017 to the National Railway Museum by the donor.
Level of description
TOP
Repository name
National Railway Museum, York
Associated people and organisations
- British RailwaysBiographyBiography
“British Railways” is the expression commonly used to describe the business run by the following legal entities:
• Railway Executive (1948 – 1952)
• British Transport Commission (1952 – 1963)
• British Railways Board (1963 – 1993)
Railways were nationalised on 1st January 1948 when the assets of the railways in Great Britain were vested in the British Transport Commission (BTC), a state-owned corporation created by the Transport Act 1947. Between 1948 and 1952 the business of operating the railways was carried on by the Railway Executive, a state-owned corporation, subsidiary to BTC. The Railway Executive was abolished in 1952 and BTC took over direct responsibility for the railways. Before 1948 there was no brand that was identified with the whole of the railways of Great Britain, only the separate brands of the Group companies, Southern, Great Western, London, Midland and Scottish and London and North Eastern, and London Transport. The railways were run under the corporate identity “British Railways” from 1948 by both the Railway Executive and BTC. The public manifestations of this were the words themselves on vehicles and premises, quasi-heraldic devices on locomotives (the so-called “cycling lion” followed by the “ferret and dartboard”) and the lozenge shape adopted (and clearly inspired by London Transport’s very similar logo) for station names.
When the nationalised transport industry was reorganised in 1963, BTC was itself abolished and a new statutory corporation created to run the railways. This was British Railways Board (BRB). The name most closely associated with the national railway system had now become part of the name of the corporate entity, (i.e. the legal person, entitled as a matter of law to own property, to enter into contracts, and to sue (or be sued) in the courts and be prosecuted for breaches of the criminal law) which owned the assets and business of the railways of Great Britain. As a result of the corporate rebranding carried out in 1965 the business name, or brand name (as it was now expressly recognised to be), was shortened to “British Rail”. However, BRB retained the full “British Railways” in its title until its eventual abolition under the provisions of the Transport Act 2000.
Subject
Conditions governing access
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Conditions governing Reproduction
Copies may be supplied of items in the collection, provided that the copying process used does not damage the item or is not detrimental to its preservation. Copies will be supplied in accordance with the NRM’s terms and conditions for the supply and reproduction of copies, and the provisions of any relevant copyright legislation. Copyright is owned by Mike Hansford.