Songs from the Age of Steam UK4

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[Note 571.3]

[Note 571.3] This verse refers to the accident which forms the subject of bar581~The Gallant Twain. Below is the plaque in Postman's Park

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[Note 581.1] In 1898 Walter Peart and Henry Dean were the driver and fireman of the Great train known as the Windsor Express. On 18 July 1898, they were driving the 4:15 train from Windsor to Paddington when, just outside Acton, the connecting rod broke. Part of it was driven through the boiler casing and caused damage to the firebox which overwhelmed the men with cinders, steam and fire. They succeeded in applying the brake and bringing the train to a safe standstill before leaving the engine at Acton station [Ref http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Western_Railway_accidents] At hospital, Peart explained why he hadn't jumped out: I stopped my engine. ... When it happened, I got back out of the way, and I thought to myself, the train is running as fast as ever. I thought I would go back to the fire and put my vacuum brake on. I did it, and as I got out from the fire and the smoke I couldn't run and when I was by the side of the engine my leg was struck by the connecting rod, which was broken. Among the lives saved by Peart and Dean was that of Mr Goschen, First Lord of the Admiralty, who wrote with a subscription to their families. However, Peart and Dean themselves died of their injuries in St Mary's Hospital. The inquest jury desired 'to place on record their high appreciation of the conduct of the two deceased men in applying the brake and in keeping at their posts, thus averting a very serious catastrophe which would have endangered the lives of the passengers of the train.' Both men left widows, and Peart also had five children [ref http://carolineld.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/postmans-park-27-railway-heroism.html]

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[Note 263.2]

In the period 1839-1841 work was progressing on two lines in the vicinity of Bishopton: the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow,_Paisley_and_Greenock_Railway; and the Glasgow - Greenock Railway. [ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_and_Paisley_Joint_Railway] By 1841 a railway station at Bishopton had opened and many Irish navvies who had come to Scotland to work on the Glasgow to Ayr line decided to stay in the area [ref: http://wikimapia.org/2362731/Bishopton] .

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[Note 263.1]

The native home referred to in the song is probably Ireland. Many Irish men came to Scotland by way of the steamer services from Belfast to Greenock.

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[Note 339.2]

"My wages are a pound a week which isn't very fat" :-Glynn Waites analysis of the wages paid to staff employed at a rural Midland Railway station suggest that a porter would have been fortunate to earn a pound a week and that 15 shillings (75 new pence) would have been more typical. [ref: Waite, G. Whatstandwell Station Staff 1871 - 1908. Crich Parish website http://www.crichparish.co.uk/webpages/whatstandwellstationstaff.html]

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