My Dad’s First Job was on the Alloway Railway
When my dad retired, he said “I’m the luckiest person in the world, I was paid to do my hobby”.
My Dad, John Scarlett, like his father and brother, worked on the Railways. The first time he was on the footplate was when he was aged only seven. He was at Kilmarnock Station, Platform 1, with his Dad when one of the train drivers took him out on the footplate. My Dad fell in love with trains and railways from that moment on! In 1947, just two days before the nationalisation of the British railways, he started working on the railway and remained there for the next 47 years. His first job on the footplate was on the Alloway railway line. During his time as a rail worker, he experienced, amongst other things, a silver bullion robbery and he was the most requested driver for the English side of the Orient Express at that time.
The April 2024 issue of the magazine “Steam Days” includes an article by Douglas McNaught about my Dad and traces his history “From Hurlford Shed Cleaner to Orient Express Driver”
My Dad was the fireman looking out of the cab on the ‘Last steam train from Dalmellington’ in Derek Cross’s photo of 4 April 1964.
When he retired, my dad said “I’m the luckiest person in the world, I was paid to do my hobby”.
However, working for the railways was not Dad’s very first job! He always wanted to publish his experiences on the railways, and during his lifetime he meticulously typed up his life story. Here is a short extract from one of his files.
“It was at the Shows [in Kilmarnock] that I made my first day’s wages, at the age of eight. It was done this way …One of the roundabouts was one of those suited for children, but it was different in this way … it had no electric power so it had to be pushed around. This is where I, and another boy of about the same age came in … we got offered the job of pushing it around. There was one little trick in it …we both brought our little brothers. We sat them both on one of the seats, and told each other “he’s paid”, and said the same to the man who sat on a seat in the centre of the roundabout. The presence of our brothers acted as a magnet to all of those who would have just walked by. The roundabout was busy the whole time I was there. When it came time for us to go home for our tea, the man (who had sat on his seat the whole time) paid us the princely sum of nine old pennies each.”
Here is a link to another blog about my dad; Ayrshire Coast, the best holiday I have ever had!
My mum met my dad while he was doing his National Service at RAF Wyton. She decided she would write to my dad once he was back in Scotland. They only exchanged a couple of letters, before my mum made the brave decision to travel up from Essex to Kilmarnock to meet him. He took her to Culzean Castle, and they decided there and then that they wanted to get married, which they did just six months later. During those six months, they exchanged letters and postcards, sometimes twice a day.
I am privileged to be in possession of their love letters and the postcards they sent to each other and I get to meet my 24/25-year-old parents, just like stepping into a time machine.
Having this wealth of memorabilia from my parents gives me great comfort. My Dad had dementia before he died and I used to read sections from his memoirs to him, or play a video of his favourite poem, Tam O’Shanter.
My Mum is still alive, in the early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease. With the aid of video calls, I read her the letters she and Dad exchanged, show her photos of their travels, or just talk about various memories together.
When I was four, I moved from Kilmarnock to Kent, with my family. Three years ago, with a grown-up family of my own, I moved back to Ayrshire.
Although I lived for over fifty years in southern England, I frequently came back to Scotland on holiday, and never forgot my Scottish roots. My husband and I had both always dreamed of living in Scotland. We longed for the beautiful countryside and fresh, clean air, in contrast to the busy city way of life in the south of England.
For my husband’s sixtieth birthday celebration, we booked a holiday on Islay. We finished off with a few nights at The Turnberry Hotel. While there, my husband surprised me by saying “by the way, I have booked for us to view a few houses while we are up here”. The rest, as they say, is history.
My memories of my early life in Ayrshire are full of beaches and parks and constant sunshine. Kilmarnock was one huge park to four-year-old me. There was the pitch & putt at Annan Hill, Dean Park behind my gran’s house, and the Howard. Then there was Kay Park, where a kind lady at the Burns Monument got some of Robert Burns schoolbooks out of the safe to show me, when I was about ten years old. She told me all about the teacher shortages of the time, and how Robert Burns had had to teach himself Latin, or at least that’s how I remember it.
I also remember that, as a child, my parents used to bring me down to the beaches at Greenan Shore and Ayr. I had a lot of fun on these beaches with my family. We also used to visit the beach at Barassie. I remember we were able to drive our car, a Morris Traveller, right along the shore there.
The Alloway Railway Tunnel is an integral part of the National Cycle Network Route 7 cycle path, which runs near to my home.
My son works at the beautiful Brig O’Doon Hotel and gets to cycle to work through the Alloway tunnel on his way there. He loves his commute, on the Alloway to Burton cycle path, looking across at the Carrick Hills. Being out in the beautiful Ayrshire countryside, away from traffic noise and fumes, is in stark contrast to his previous commute into London by train each day. I just wish my Dad had lived long enough to see his grandson cycle to work along the old railway line he travelled on to work at Knoweside. This area around Alloway was always so special to him.
I love the idea of the mural commemorating local people, local places and local events. Railways, and the former railway through Alloway, were very important to my Dad and it would absolutely make my day if he could be commemorated in the mural somewhere. The Alloway Railway Tunnel will be a wonderful place for everyone to visit and will greatly enhance this part of the cycle/footpath.
I love living near the old railway cycle path and look forward to the Alloway Railway Tunnel Mural adding another feature to this historic location. This area has meant so much to both sides of my family over the decades. I feel that by moving back to Ayrshire from the south of England I have come home.
Helen Gabell
