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i was brought up in swinging days, all the coal trains were swingers, exept the guards van, handling an unfited train, was a very skilled job, the drivers would never let a fireman "have a go", unless he had been fiering for a very long time.then it was under close supervision.

when i was a young fireman at saltley b/ham, if i was spare, they used to send me to bromsgrove shed, banking up to barnt green, heavy trains could have 4 engines coupled, john.

i started in the past, when i was at camden loco (1 b) i fired the night mail to crewe, stopping at tamworth for mail off the midland line, booking off at crewe. the next day it was non stop to euston with the "City of litchfield" (6250) john.

before a journey started, the guard would say to the driver ,"you,ve got 30 on and 10 swingers". The driver would then know his braking capacity.

i was a driver at skipton when they elecrified the line, an agreement with the banks fell though so they had to get the 308,s as a stop gap till the new trains came.