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The Driver Albert vale was born in Landudno Wales but later moved with his mother and Father to Manchester .
He worked on the sheds that most local people call the four bridges at the top of a street called Nelson street. which is in Patricroft Manchester, my Father and his Father both worked at the same sheds and his Father was also called Albert.
Albert was a foreman and as you know my Father was a driver ,My brother Trevor worked at the same sheds as a cleaner which is what you first do when you start on the Railways .
he then went on to being a fireman a heavy but rewarding job.
as the days went by i was going to follow my Father but just about the time when i was starting work most steam trains were replaced by Diesel and sio that was that all the romance of the Railways had gone as far as i was concerned.
My Father wanted to make a webpage on his life with the steam engines as he loved his years driving them but sadly he got to ill by the time a good conection was established with a PC on the internet so I hope that my small page will go half way to realising this for my Father.
My Dear Old Dad Albert
Our family circle has been broken;
A link gone from our chain;
But though we're parted for awhile;
We know we'll meet again.
We shall meet with many a loved one;
That was torn from our embrace;
We shall listen to their voices;
And behold them face to face.
Sunshine passes, shadows fall;
Love's remembrance outlasts all
Till We meet again Dad
My Father used to drive the great iron horses of the fifties and the sixties and he loved every minute of it and so did I because i went on the footplate with him on many occasions .
We had a brew direct from the steam pipe and sometimes a bacon butty from the fire cooked on the fireman's shovel i can smell the bacon now a little crispy sometimes but still lovely.
WE lived on a place called Barton Moss A main line for many years We lived in a railway cottage ,the cottage was so near the line the whole building used to shake and most of the Trains would slow down outside our house to drop off coal for our fire and at bonfire night the men on the tracks would leave us the old sleepers for our bonfire some great memories from my child hood on the main line from London to Scotland
The firemen liked to work with my father they said because he drove the trains in such a way it made there jobs easy I guess they mostly meant he knew just how much pressure to put on the engine uphill as well as downhill .so not wasting steam pressure thus allowing the fire to be kept to a minimum helping the fireman this way was good as the fireman's job was a heavy job with all the shovelling he would do in the eight hours or so they worked.
Some people say they should never have got rid of the steam trains and i agree but as time moves on we now have the eclectic trains that can be very clean to run so i guess we have to move with the times but i must say they stopped the steam trains because of the pollution but have you ever seen the smoke coming from the diesel trains and what about the waggons on the road today the buses are the biggest polluter as they never clear the muck from the engines with only going local so all the muck gets blown from the exhaust id much rather have the pollution from the steam train still today.
We have a few Museums with the Steam Trains past and they still look like a massive power house surely they could have made them cleaner with the technology today and what about all that coal that is sitting under us that has all gone to waste what with energy we cant let that be wasted so maybe one day we will have a cleaner Steam train running on the side of the electric trains one day.
