So to signing on

Well, from now on we no longer had to clock on and off, also we had 20 minutes meal break free. So we worked for 8 hours without having to set a specific time for a meal. Once you was passed fit to be a fireman you was then sent to one of 3 gangs. They were days, night and afternoons. All rotating. Generally when you started you was on days 6.00am was the normal time nights was 10.00pm and afternoons was 2.00pm. 8 hours a shift, you wers as required or a/r as it was put. Days officially started from 12.01am. to 9.00am nights from 5.31pm to 11.59pm and afternoons from 9.01 20 5.30pm. I write it down as it was days was always followed by a Sunday working and nights. We worked 48 hours one week and 40 hours another week. ie 6 days one week and 5 days another. If it worked out right you could work 8 hours on a Sunday @ time and3/4. and nights from 10.00pm to 6.00am at time @1/4. So you could be paid 14 hours for a Sunday and 10 hours a night for 6 nights. Minus though 4 hours for the week that you only worked 5 days but even so it would be a good week of 70 hours pay. So times were beginning to look better and poverty seemed to slowly disappear. Work for my father was also getting better too and life in general improved.
Railway work was very variable, in the summer there would be so many Special Trains to Kings Cross that there was plenty of work, as we had just passed out to be firemen, the work was generally in the loco sheds cleaning out the fireboxes and in general preparing them for their next journeys, it was hard to start with but gradually we grew stronger and it was just a routine job. Occasionally I would get a small job like a pick up. That was where you went out on a goods train picking up full wagons in sidings and dropping off empty wagons in other sidings, some of these may be by a farmers field that was sending sugar beet to the local factory. Also you would call at some railway sidings on the main line, here you would be shunted off the main line, it did not take me long to find out where the best places were for wild strawberries, gooseberries, blackcurrants and later in the year apples. Most of these were old gardens that a crossing gate keeper had been living or something like that and they had just been let to grow wild. I enjoyed just furraging around to see what I could get.
It was in the winter though when it was fun. After the summer, there was little work at all and we just were given menial tasks like filling wagons of ashes and clinkers, anything to keep us occupied. We all worked hard so that we could get to the messroom and enjoy ourselves.
There are so many stories, I forget most of them but one night this guy called Ian said to me, I'm not having bread and bung(cheese) tionight. I'm having Campbells Chicken soup. Wow I thought. It was expensive in those days. Well he put his can of soup in the side oven. We had an open fire, Told some lads to keep the fire well stoked up and we settled down to play cards(solo) you never won or lost much at that game. As time went by we forgot about the soup, until there was an almighty bang, the oven door flew open and the soup, or what was left of it was deposited all over. I just turned to Ian and said "Looks like we're all having soup tonight Ian" He did see the funny side and we all shared some of our snap with him. There would also be water fights, we had ashpits with water hydrants which would spray jets of water some 20metres. These were used to wash the ash pan of the steam engines. When somebody thought no one was watching there would be a huge jet of water and several guys would be soaked. It is hard to believe but there was NO bullying and no reprisals at all. In general everybody was happy and they were the happiest days of my life. All the recipients of the water would say "We'll get you back" Generally they did. One of the favourite tricks was to urinate in a can, walk into the messroom and sling it on the fire, rush out and close the door and hold it shut as long as they could. The smell I can assure you is not nice. Another was to get a can of swab, which I think was parafin and oil mixed. Throw it on the fire and rush out. The messroom was tunnel shaped so the flames used to curl round the roof and finish up by our feet. We thought it fun really but I suppose it was a little dangerous. More stories next time.