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Hello
Mar 24, 2013 8:52:48 GMT
via mobile
Post by fitztightly on Mar 24, 2013 8:52:48 GMT
Hi I'm Gary. I have worked for London Transport for 28 years. I started sweeping floors, polishing brass and getting up to mischief as an Apprentice (Junior Trainee as they were known by then) and somehow I've ended up as a Service Manager running the Piccadilly Line. I love London's Underground, it's all I've ever wanted to do. It's a great environment full of great people, history, fun.... And I look forward to sharing stories, banter and fun on here too.
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Hello
Mar 24, 2013 12:12:42 GMT
Post by Nortube on Mar 24, 2013 12:12:42 GMT
Hello Gary, welcome to the forum. I enjoyed my time on the job and I agree with you about the environment, even though a lot has changed over the years. A lot of staff moan about the job, but I think it's because it's seen as the correct thing to do - like always complaining about the weather!. However, I suspect that deep down most staff enjoy at least some aspect of what they do.
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Hello
Mar 24, 2013 13:39:11 GMT
Post by Admin on Mar 24, 2013 13:39:11 GMT
Welcome aboard Gary. I may have to give you warnings for all the times you've made me submit memos.
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Hello
Mar 24, 2013 13:55:57 GMT
Post by fitztightly on Mar 24, 2013 13:55:57 GMT
:-D Thank you admin!
I'll batten down the hatches then LOL
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Post by GentlemanJim on Mar 24, 2013 13:57:50 GMT
:-D Thank you admin! I'll batten down the hatches then LOL Or tighten your Bell Bottom Lycra shorts
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Hello
Mar 24, 2013 14:00:44 GMT
Post by Nortube on Mar 24, 2013 14:00:44 GMT
The mind boggles!
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Hello
Mar 24, 2013 14:06:05 GMT
Post by GentlemanJim on Mar 24, 2013 14:06:05 GMT
Wasn't a pretty sight at 0630
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Post by railtechnician on Mar 24, 2013 14:40:32 GMT
Welcome Gary, as a former Picc Control room signal lineman its always great to see another member from the best line on the railway!
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Hello
Mar 24, 2013 15:27:40 GMT
Post by GentlemanJim on Mar 24, 2013 15:27:40 GMT
Welcome Gary, as a former Picc Control room signal lineman its always great to see another member from the best line on the railway! Obviously missed out working on the Premier Red Line.
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Hello
Mar 24, 2013 18:11:02 GMT
Post by fitztightly on Mar 24, 2013 18:11:02 GMT
Loyalty is a funny thing isn't it? My Mum used to take me to Morden to watch the trains in and out in the 1970s (when they were all still red, my beloved 1938 stock!) and I always wanted to be a Driver on the Northern. Then I fell in love with the Central, such an intricate line to control with all its branches and different running times, new stock.... But strangely enough incredibly uncomplicated when you really got your hands on it. And then the Picc.... Wow I didn't realise quite what I had got myself in to when I went to Earl's Court.... The post 'Big Bang' timetable.... 40 minutes late running if someone so much as sneezed! The Picc is an unforgiving bitch of a line but over the years I've come to love her most. When you consider what we do, the every day commuters, the night clubbers and theatre goers.... And that little airfield in the west where sometimes every 90 seconds a 747 or A380 disgorges up to 550 odd people and the majority come to us! What a responsibility.... Some of these people have saved up all their money for the holiday of a lifetime and the first they see of London is the Piccadilly Line. And we do all that with technology thought out pre-war and with wiring sometimes so fragile you can go nowhere near it for fear of disturbing it. So whilst my first love will always be the Northern Line, the Picc will probably have my heart until I retire.
Oh and the Lycra Bellbottom Cycling shorts? Just jealousy, sheer unadulterated jealousy LMAO :-D
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Hello
Mar 25, 2013 3:07:48 GMT
Post by railtechnician on Mar 25, 2013 3:07:48 GMT
Welcome Gary, as a former Picc Control room signal lineman its always great to see another member from the best line on the railway! Obviously missed out working on the Premier Red Line. I wouldn't exactly say that I missed out on the red line
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Post by fitztightly on Mar 25, 2013 10:26:56 GMT
And a Partriiiiiiiiidge in a pear tree LOL :-D
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Hello
Mar 25, 2013 14:37:52 GMT
Post by railtechnician on Mar 25, 2013 14:37:52 GMT
And a Partriiiiiiiiidge in a pear tree LOL :-D I spent 80% of my working life on the Underground, I loved every minute, the rough and the smooth, the cameraderie and the diversity but as I approach eight years in retirement perhaps it's time to let the memories fade away permanently. I'll never see London or the Underground ever again except on TV and, apart from places such as this, out of sight really is out of mind. It was always more a way of life and a labour of love than a job to me, I guess it's time to move on, I'll get my coat.
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Hello
Mar 25, 2013 14:47:46 GMT
Post by GentlemanJim on Mar 25, 2013 14:47:46 GMT
And a Partriiiiiiiiidge in a pear tree LOL :-D I spent 80% of my working life on the Underground, I loved every minute, the rough and the smooth, the cameraderie and the diversity but as I approach eight years in retirement perhaps it's time to let the memories fade away permanently. I'll never see London or the Underground ever again except on TV and, apart from places such as this, out of sight really is out of mind. It was always more a way of life and a labour of love than a job to me, I guess it's time to move on, I'll get my coat. It's fair to say that 'once a railwayman always a railwayman' so take no notice of fitzy as he's never grown up (not a bad thing in his case). I've been 6 years away from LU and like you RT it was more than a job but being away doesn't mean forgetting as it's people like your good self who did things then very differently to todays way of doing things. So you hang in there and fill these pages with your memories.
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Post by fitztightly on Mar 25, 2013 15:06:51 GMT
Hey, railtech, my comment was made out of respect for all that you described, with a little LU leg pull. No offence meant at all, actually plenty of respect. As GJ said, let the memories and stories roll.... it's so important to keep going what we have left of those wonderful days and pass it on to those who want to know today, and hopefully carry it on themselves.
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