The Job of a Railway Plate Layer

THE JOB OF A RAILWAY PLATE LAYER
When I was 16,1 signed on for five years training as an apprentice at Eastleigh Wagon Works.That ended in 1925 and I had to look for a job. It wasn't easy at that time and after the odd temporary job, I came home and told my Dad that I was fed up. Couldn’t he get me a job in his department? He was a ganger on the permanent way and he said he would speak to the Chief Inspector. It was the time when the railway from Allbrook Signal Box to Shawford had to be widened. If you go under the bridge there, you will see that the old part is different from the new. Work on the bridges had to be done before the track could be widened so it took several years. Most of the material for the widening came from the Otterbourne cutting which is just the other side of the old water works; other material came from all over the Southern Railway. The track had to be extended each side by about twenty feet. That was where I changed from being a wagon builder to working on the permanent way which is in the Civil Engineer’s Department. They wanted a temporary man at Allbrook because the permanent men were being used for lookout duties and hand signalling to secure the safety of the many people working there.