Sidney Read - The Signalman• I left school at 14 and joined the railway in 1933 as a bellboy. My first uniform

had that many buttons that my nickname became “Buttons”. A pile of block books was provided for me to stand on because I wasn’t tall enough to reach the telephone.

• When I moved to Hallaton Station in 1938 the stationmaster was Mr Gittins and the porter signalman was ‘Nutty’ Smith. We kept the platform clean and tidy, trimmed the lamps, sold tickets, opened the signal box when necessary and looked after the general public. It was our job to load and unload livestock onto the cattle dock and supervise the weighing of trucks on the weighbridge.

• A well and pump situated at the top of the railway cottage gardens was the only source of water for the station. It was my job every morning to pump water for the station, the toilets and finally to fill the tank in the Station Master’s house. It took 600 pumps of the handle just to supply the station!”

I left Hallaton Station when I was 21 to join the Royal Engineers and fight in the Second World War. On my return nearly six years later, the job at Hallaton that was promised would be waiting for me, had gone to somebody else and I was sent to Ashley and Weston.

I retired from British Rail in 1984 after 50 years’ service. My grandson inherited my railway topcoat, a cause of much hilarity to his school mates; my railway cap has been to many a fancy dress party but my daughter has kept my “buttons” as a souvenir of my life on the railway.

Nat Horsley - The Platelayer

• William Henry Horsley, (Nat) was born in 1905 and lived in Eastgates with his wife Lillian and daughter Sue.

• Nat, who served in the RAF, joined the railway at Hallaton as a platelayer after the war and worked on the line until the

station closed. • This picture shows him on his motorbike,

decorated with white ribbons ready for his wedding.

• Sue remembers her father teaching her to ride her bike along the “New Road” beside the platelayers hut.

Eric Ghent - The Engine Driver• Eric Ghent was born in Hallaton and

worked on the railway for 45 years. As a driver he travelled regularly through Hallaton to Melton Mowbray.

• He vividly remembers Hallaton Gentlemen’s lavatory as having one of the most beautifully decorated pedestals on the branch line.

• He also remembers Bill Kirkham, also an engine driver from No.2 Station Cottages, taking on the responsibility of looking after his neighbour Sid Read’s chickens whilst on holiday. Bill, on returning from night duty at 4.00 am decided, as it was a lovely morning, to let the chickens out and go to bed. When he later returned to feed Sid’s chickens the fox had killed the lot!

Eric, second left, with friends on the French TGV at Chatillon Depot, Paris in November 1991.