As a now retired ex-British Railways platelayer, I have watched, with much sadness, all that has happened to the country's railway system in recent years in regards to track maintenance. However, I am in no position to pass judgement on those responsible for today's problems, simply because I do not fully understand the rules under which modern trackworkers earn their crust. All I can offer by way of comparison is some idea of the rules under which my generation toiled in the days of British Railways.
I transferred from the Motive Power Department at Balloch, Dunbartonshire, to the Permanent Way Department in 1954. The career change was no great ordeal–I simply left one job on Friday evening and started the new one on Monday morning.
I was first assigned to the resident gang at Renton, on what was the Dumbarton & Balloch Joint Line, the six mile line that linked Dumbarton with the steamers on Loch Lomond. It was a union of the old North British and Caledonian Railway companies, which passed to the LNER and LMS in 1923.
The Renton gang consisted of a ganger, sub-ganger and two lengthmen. This was one of eight gangs (of varying strength) on the Glasgow-Balloch-Helensburgh section of railway then under
