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Seventh Generation
244. Living. Ellen
Edith Amelia HILTON and Ernest VIGARS were married.428 Ernest VIGARS was born on
14 Mar 1924.436 He died
on 29 Jun 1989.436 He
was a train driver/manager.436
He and his ancestors can be found on Vigars website http://website.lineone.net/~vigars/f18.htm.104 Living and Ernest VIGARS had
the following children:
Ellen Edith Amelia HILTON and
Roy Ernest VIGARS were married on 9 Jun 1945 in Holy Trinity Guildford Surrey
England.437 Roy
Ernest VIGARS (son of Alfred Ernest VIGARS and Annie Elizabeth LYFORD) was
born on 14 Mar 1924 in Guildford Surrey England.438 He was baptized after 14 Mar 1924 in Guildford Surrey
England. He died on 29 Jun 1989 in Guildford Surrey England.104 He was buried in Crematorium
Guildford Surrey England.439
He was a Train Driver/Manager.104
I remember my father Roy speaking of cycling some distance from Guildford to
a Boys' Brigade group at Godalming for whom he played soccer.
On leaving school Roy stated that he first worked at Burns Laundry to learn the
engineering side of the laundry business. After being there 4 weeks the government
decreed that employees in the engineering side of the industry had to be 16 years
of age. He then went as an apprentice electrician, but due to the war all building
stopped so he had to find other employment. And so entered the "family
trade" the Railway (by then the Southern Railway) in July 1940 as a locomotive
cleaner - the first rung on the ladder within the Motive Power Department to
the "foot-plate", to becoming a train driver (locomotive engineer).
He started at Guildford Loco' sheds which I remember as a child before British
Rail ended all steam traffic. The site is now a car park beside the tunnel
through the Downs on the Portsmouth bound side of Guildford station. Whilst
working there a train ran over his right foot which then had to be "reconstructed".
I remember well its strange shape and lack of toes.
In a talk to St.Saviour's Church Monday Club (in late 1987 or early 1988) Roy
said this: "I started as an Engine Cleaner which was the lowest form of
life in the Motive Power Department. The duty of an Engine Cleaner was to clean
engines & this was done on a seniority basis. Gangs were made up 2 senior
cleaners, 2 intermediate cleaners & 2 junior cleaners. The dirtiest work
of cleaning the wheels & motions (crank rods & coupling rods) was done
by the juniors; outside the boiler & cab by the intermediates; and the easiest
& the cleanest, the tender, by the senior cleaners. The foot-plate, inside
the cab, at that time remained the prerogative of the Firemen & Drivers who
kept them spotless. You could fry breakfast on the shovel! Other duties included
taking calls out to Drivers & Fireman who were required for duty; assisting
in the stores; assisting the Steam Raisers, who lit the fires in the engines
& maintained their steam while berthed in the sheds awaiting duty; and (considered
a "perk") acting as messengers if required, for example, to collect
parts for the fitters from Eastleigh Depot - a whole days work which was better
than one as a junior cleaner! After a short while I became a Cleaner-Fireman
which meant that I had passed rules & regulations & could be booked to
go out as a Fireman starting first on shunting engines at Guildford, Woking &
Shalford Yards. A large Yard was built at Shalford to deal with war traffic.
Then on to the local freight trains; then stopping passenger trains; & finally
mainline passenger trains. All this was still in keeping with pre-war practice
that senior men did senior work. An "Appointed Fireman" on a Yard or
local freight train link would be put on a mainline or stopping passenger or
troop train and the Cleaner-Fireman would take on his duty in the lower link.
I was appointed a regular Fireman in July 1942, however from the time I became
a Cleaner-Fireman I was out permanently as a Fireman due to the war traffic.
Before the war it was common for men to be cleaners up to the age of 30 years
or more & to be stood off work during the winter months when traffic slackened
off. Some of the Drivers I worked with had been stood of 5 or 6 times but they
still came back
to the railway"
He served with the Home Guard during the war but his injury insured that when
he volunteered for the army he was turned down on medical grounds. He could have
avoided conscription being in an essential or "reserved" occupation.
However, the injury did not stop him being accepted, in June 1943, for air crew
training for the Royal Air Force's Bomber Command. (Extracts follow from Mynarski's
Lanc by Bette Page) He started at the Air Crew Reception Centre (ACRC - Arcy
Tarcy) at St.John's Wood, London. "All aircrew trainees were billeted in
the surrounding hotels & blocks of flats, with our main parade ground on
the hallowed green of British cricket. Lord's Cricket Ground. I was posted in
the middle of June to No.21 Initial Training Wing (ITW) at Torquay, Devon"
(?staying at the Imperial Hotel), "to enjoy summer weather square bashing
& learning the rudiments of airmanship. Then on to the Engineer School of
Technical Training (ESTT) at St.Athans, South Wales. The 6 month course passed
all too quickly. On passing out I was a fully qualified flight engineer"
(?with the rank of sergeant) "for a Handley Page Halifax Mark III bomber.
Strangely enough I never did fly in a Mark III. After leave earned for passing
out I was posted to No.1664 Heavy Conversion Unit (HCU) (where crews from medium
bombers "converted" to heavies) at Dishforth. On 13th March 1944, one
day before my 20th birthday, I reported to the Engineer Officer and, along with
other engineers from the course at St.Athans, was taken to a large hangar where
other crew members were gathered. We were given an introduction to a group of
pilots who were looking for flight engineers for their conversion to 4 engine
aircraft. The Engineer Officer's introduction was brief & to the point: 'Here
are the engineers.' With that he left the proceedings. A very tall pilot came
over to me & said, 'I'm de Breyne. Would you like to join my crew?' I replied,
'Yes please, sir,' & gave a RAF parade ground salute. With that the pilot
said, 'Take it easy. My name's Art. What's yours?' This was a bit different than
how I had been taught to address officers so far. After this Art said, 'I'll
introduce you to some of the crew. See those mad-brains over there (referring
to two chaps playing dirt track on bicycles). They are Pat Brophy & Ken Branston.'"
"The course at HCU was very intense. The sole object was to familiarise
the crew as quickly as possible with the Halifax they would be flying on operations.
In a two & a half week period they put in 27 hours of day & night flying,
mostly without an instructor ... They made their first flight as a crew on 26th
March 1944 in a Halifax." (These details do not entirely agree with Roy's
Flying Log Book which lists just over 36 hours on flights from 22nd March to
8th April in Halifax Mk I & V's - see picture Flying Log Book 1.) "On
10th April 1944 they arrived as a new crew on No.419 Squadron at 5pm" (Thus
it was that Roy joined 419 "Moose" Squadron (RCAF) based at Middleton
St.George, now Teeside Airport. He was the only non-Canadian in his crew.) "
... their first operation as a crew was a bombing attack on the railway marshalling
yard of Laon, in eastern France," (80 miles north east of Paris) "a
6 hour trip which was relatively uneventful for them, but considerable fighter
action was observed involving others. This was their one & only operation
in the Halifax Mk II (D-)HR925." (22nd-23rd April) "The now famous
picture of the crew in their flying suits & parachutes was taken in front
of a Halifax II series 1A after a daylight air test." (Probably in J-XH129
on 21st April 1944 - see Flying Log Book picture 2.) "The aircraft went
missing that night but fortunately they were not aboard. The new Canadian Lancaster
Mark X's arrived on the station from Canada & the next few days were taken
up getting used to them" (8 flights 22nd to 30th April in 5 different Lancasters
- Flying Log Book picture 2) " ... The newest members of the crew by this
time had integrated very nicely. Roy Vigars .. with whom Art had to work most
closely, was completely familiar with all the controls even in complete darkness."
"Their arrival on the squadron coincided with the start of the softening-up
operation designed to destroy all railway communications in preparation for the
invasion of Europe. These targets consisted mainly of marshalling yards, which
were mostly in friendly countries, necessitating low-level bombing from 1500
to 2000 feet to improve the bombing accuracy & limit the damage to the civilian
population. This meant that the approach to the target concentrated the stream
within about 1000 feet difference in elevation as the target was approached,
making it very easy to track from the ground & to direct night fighters to
the bombers, who were vulnerable in these attacks. Losses were heaviest at this
point ... Things were going well for the crew, probably too well. They had done
a number of operations without serious incident & had not caught too much
flak. Their 1st operation in the new Lancaster KB718 VRJ (this aircraft went
MIA on 4/5 July near Villenueve St.Georges with another crew) was a raid on St.Ghislain
marshalling yards on 1st May 1944. According to Art's logbook it was "Bang
On" DCO (duty carried out). Future raids took them on trips to Belgium,
France & Germany. The targets of these raids were Gent (Ghent), Bowline (Bolounge
?Boulogne) & Leaven (Louvain) marshalling yards. On the raid of Leaven"
(in Belgium 15 miles east of Brussels) "they did not drop their bombs as
the target was obscured by smoke & as that city was an old university town,
Art told Jack Friday (the bomb aimer) to hold off just as he was about to press
the bomb release 'tit'." (Art was of Belgian descent) "They returned
& landed very gently with their full load of bombs aboard. The only German
city they bombed was Aachen." (the marshalling yards 24th-25th May) "The
raid on Bourg Leopold was very successful & was against a German military
camp in Belgium." (27th-28th May) "They evidently caught the Germans
napping, & though the raid only lasted from 02:05 to 02:08 hours, they achieved
heavy casualties according to reports received later from the Belgian Underground.
They bombed Mt.Couple, a German radar station near Cap Gris Nez," (between
Boulogne & Calais on 31st May-1st June) "they flew Lancasters KB712,
715, 718 & 736 on these raids." (Flying Log Book picture 3) "During
this time their squadron suffered the loss on average of one plane per raid &
the flight roster had new names continually added to it."
"D-day came & they were called upon for a maximum effort, 3 nights in
a row." (Flying Log Book 4) "The 1st was the bombing of heavy coastal
guns at Longues, 5 miles west of Arromaches (later a Mulberry port)," (Merville-Lougue
15 miles NW of Caen) where they bombed through a low layer of cloud from 1500
feet at 4am just before the landings on 6th June. Very shortly after the bombing
& on their way back to base the bulk of the invasion fleet became visible
to them with the first light of day. A most magnificent sight to behold. They
had to divert to a base at Colerne, near Bristol," (14 miles east) "due
to bad weather at Middleton St.George (this is pictured by Robert Taylor in his
painting "Early Morning Arrival"). This was the first of 4 operations
they would make in their brand new Lancaster KB726 with the squadron code VR
A & which had only 25 hours on it. The next night they took out the bridge
& cross-roads at Coutances, in west Normandy," (40 miles south of Cherbourg)
"from 1200 feet, to slow the advance of tanks heading north to the beaches.
On the third night they raided the Acheres marshalling yards on the western outskirts
of Paris. Each of these raids lasted about 4 to 5 hours, so the aircraft had
only 46 hours on the airframe when it went down in their final mission. Their
4th & final operation on 12/13th June in KB726" (their 13th as a crew
although Roy's Log Book only has 12) has all the indications of being a repetition
of previous rail-yard attacks. They had done a fighter affiliation & radar
test flight of 1.25 hours duration that day ... But now, 1 week after D-day,
the German night-fighter squadrons had moved to northern France in force &
accounted for most of the losses that night. This operation was to be against
the railway marshalling yards at Cambrai" (30 miles south of Lille) "&
provided more action than they bargained for. Roy Vigars recollects that things
had gone well for them on their ops. & they had nothing serious to report.
On this op, like many previous ones, they would sit around the kite joking with
their ground crew, waiting for the word to climb aboard & take up their traditional
positions & duties. When they finally took off at 21:44 hours he remembers
never having seen so many planes in the air at the same time."
"Their plane was attacked by a Junkers 88 night-fighter & when they
were hit & losing height the pilot Art de Breyne gave the order to bail out
while he kept the plane steady. The bomb aimer Jack Friday, was knocked unconscious
opening the front escape hatch when it caught the force of the airstream. Roy
Vigars remembered, 'I made my way to the bomb-aimer's position & found Jack
Friday slumped on the floor unconscious as if having a nap. He had a gash over
his eye. I rolled him over, clipped on his parachute pack & slid him over
the escape hatch & dropped through the opening while holding onto the ripcord.
This was a risky manoeuvre as pulling the ripcord too soon the parachute could
wrap around the big tail wheel of the Lancaster which was non-retractable. But
Jack made it OK.' Jack floated down in a state of slumber, landing beside a chateau
at Hedauville. Art de Breyne, 'While all this took about a minute, it seemed
an eternity to me ... Before Roy Vigars could finally jump he had to remove the
escape hatch which had become jammed in the opening after he had dropped Jack.
It evidently took some time to kick it out. It seemed ages, but was probably
only seconds. While he was trying to kick the escape hatch free he remembers
that Bob Bodie was behind him & patted him on the back in a way of encouragement.
After Roy finally jumped he was followed closely by Bob Bodie, the navigator,
& Jim Kelly, the wireless operator. When I saw the last one go, I throttled
back the starboard engines to keep an even keel, plunged through the escape hatch
& immediately pulled the ripcord' ..."
"What those at the front didn't realise was the drama that had happened
at the rear of the plane. When mid-upper gunner Andrew Mynarski went to the
rear exit he discovered Pat Brophy stuck in his gun turret with the hydraulics
shattered and the manual mechanism broken. He walked through the flames and attempted
to free Pat. When he was unable to he reluctantly left Pat and saluted him before
diving from the plane with his clothes ablaze. He was alive when he reached
the ground but died of his burns. Miraculously when the plane hit the ground
with its full load of bombs Pat was blown clear unharmed apart from the loss
of all his hair which never returned. When Andy's bravery was revealed he was
awarded the Victoria Cross (VC) posthumously. The award was promulgated in the
London Gazette on Friday 11th October 1946. Roy was told of this & his picture
taken in some RAF workshops where he was working. In 1956 Andy's mother visited
England for the 100th Anniversary of the awarding of the 1st Victoria Cross.
The family has photo's of her visiting Guildford. In 1965 Roy & his wife
Ellen visited Canada for the 10th Anniversary of the Winnipeg High School named
after Andrew Mynarski. It was the first time the crew had been altogether since
their final flight. Roy & Ellen spent time in Canada with various members
of the crew.
In 1981 Roy & Ellen attended a ceremony near Amiens. Art de Breyne: "On
13th June 1981 5 members of our crew arrived in Amiens to be greeted by a group
of Resistance members known as 'Les Passeurs du Nord' who had passed airmen down
the line. It was also the day of their reunion. At a ceremony in the village
of Gaudiempre, where our plane had crashed, 1500 people gathered to pay homage
to Andrew Charles Mynarski VC, our mid-upper gunner, & Les Passeurs du Nord
who had died trying to protect the
Allied airmen. It was an impressive ceremony during which a bronze plaque from
the crew was unveiled."
The plaque was inscribed with the following words composed by Art de Breyne:
(translated) "In this village on 13th June 1944 a Lancaster of the Royal
Canadian Airforce marked 'VR.A KB726' crashed. This plaque, dedicated to the
memory of Pilot Officer Andrew Charles Mynarski VC, was unveiled on 13th June
1981 by his fellow crew members in homage to & in recognition of the Passeurs
du Nord affiliated with the Royal Air Force Escaping Society assembled here on
this day, & all French citizens who have helped those allied airmen forced
down on this soil of France."
The crew also visited Andrew's grave at Meharicourt & paid their respects
to their fallen comrade. Roy & Ellen also visited Canada again in June 1984
to attend the dedication of the Mynarski Memorial Lancaster at Mount Hope &
the crew flew in it. In June 1985 there was a reunion of No.419, 420 & 428
Squadrons at Middleton St.George airfield, now Teeside Airport, from where they
operated. This was attended by some of the crew including Roy & Ellen &
his son Tony & his future fiancee Isabel Manners.
However, back to June 1944 - Roy Vigars: "As I went out I did not know what
height we were so I pulled my ripcord as soon as I thought it was safe to do
so. I soon hit the ground so we could not have been at any great height. I landed
rather heavily on my left side & twisted my hip but otherwise was OK."
(He told his son, Tony when a child, that he landed in a field where a bull was
grazing and had to "run for his life" - but Tony suspects that this
might be an elaboration for a young child) "I had evidently landed very
near to a German airfield, as I saw some Me 110's (twin-engine night-fighters)
taking off. Not wishing to meet any airfield defenders I crept into a clump of
bushes & slept until dawn."
"Four from the crew made contact with the French Resistance and found their
way back to allied lines. These were navigator Bob Brodie, Jim Kelly, Pat Brophy
and Art de Breyne. Jack landed safely but woke up several days later a Prisoner
of War (POW). When Roy woke up the next morning, after sleeping in the bushes,
he continued his journey. "I made my way from the airfield & came to
a small village called Varennes. I knocked on the door of a house on the edge
of the village. The door was opened & I was pulled very quickly inside. The
lady of the house could not speak English & I could not speak French, so
a lot of hand signs were used. An older man later appeared & he could speak
English of sorts. He had served in the 1914-18 war & picked up the language
from the British Tommies. The woman was his daughter & her husband was a
French POW in Germany. After giving me some food, they showed me into their best
bedroom & I slept for about 5 hours, after which more food was produced.
As they had no contacts with helpers of the Underground I told them I would be
on my way so as not to endanger them. A suit of overalls, beret & a haversack
with some food was produced & they were disappointed when I insisted that
I have some water for my water bottle instead of wine. I offered some money from
my escape kit to compensate them but all they wanted was the box of matches in
my escape kit because it had a Union jack on it. I did not ask their names so
that there would be no possibility of betraying them after all their help."
"I made my way south during the day, by-passing a number of villages with
the help of a fine map my helpers had torn from a phone book. At 10pm I made
a big mistake & ended up in the middle of the town of Corbie, which was a
garrison town for the Germans. I decided the best thing to do was carry on walking.
During the journey through the town the local pubs were closing & the scene
was the same as in England, serviceman & girlfriends walking arm in arm.
The only difference being that the men wore German uniforms. The older women
of the town were talking over their garden fences, just like home. I am sure
my overalls & beret did not fool some of them; by the look in their eyes
& their smiles, they knew who I was. On the outskirts of the town my heart
rose even higher in my throat when 2 German Army Service Police stopped me &
started asking questions. I managed to bring my only knowledge of French to use,
'Pardon?' They repeated the question & I thought they wanted directions,
so pointing the same way that they were walking, I said 'A oui.' They said thank
you in German & continued on their way & I made my way in the opposite
direction, not daring to run in case I caused anyone to suspect who I was."
"My left hip was stiffening up a bit so I decided to find somewhere to sleep.
I found a good shelter in some trees & settled down to sleep. After about
10 minutes air raid sirens sounded & some JU-88s took off from a nearby airfield.
I stayed in my hideout until dawn then started walking again. My left hip was
getting stiffer the further I walked. I was close to the little village of St.Saviour
where I hoped to cross the river Somme & was in a small copse from which
I could see a small anti-aircraft gun platform. While trying to make up my mind
whether to carry on or to rest my hip 2 German soldiers from the A/A platform
must have seen me in the copse. As they approached I hid the overalls & the
other gear I had been given. I thought that as they both had rifles & fixed
bayonets it was not wise to argue. I was taken to their HQ in the village. The
officer in charge shared his soup with me but he had only one egg so I was unlucky.
A member of their secret police (a branch of the Gestapo) arrived to interrogate
me. After about half an hour of questions from him and name, rank & number
from me, he declared that I was a soldier & therefore a prisoner of war."
"I was taken to Amiens Prison - the one bombed by de Havilland Mosquito
bombers in February 1944 to release French Underground members. I stayed there
for 5 days & was then moved to a POW camp in Germany. While waiting for transport
a party arrived from another Amiens prison & to my surprise Jack Friday,
our bomb-aimer, was one of them. I found out from an American airman that Jack
had been unconscious for 3 to 4 days. We were taken by bus to Brussels where
POWs were collected & sorted out. All RAF & Commonwealth aircrews were
taken to the Dulagluft Interrogation Centre near Frankfurt. The journey from
Brussels to Dulagluft took 2 days & the night of 23/24 June we spent in an
air raid shelter in Cologne hoping that the RAF was having a stand down &
going into town for a few beers! After about a week in Dulagluft a party of about
400 aircrew were marched from Dulagluft transit camp to Wetzlau railway station
to embark on our journey to Stalagluft 7 at Bankau near Breslau on the Polish
border." (in Silesia now in Poland) "First-class travel was in cattle
railway cars (10 chevals, 40 hommes)!" Stalagluft 7 was a new camp. So new,
in fact. that it was not ready for occupation. We were housed in small sheds
which held 6 men - a good job it was summertime. After a few weeks the main camp
was ready & we moved in & started to organise it as a permanently run
camp. Things continued to run satisfactorily, with excitement every so often,
& with instructions that once in POW camp attempts to escape after D-day
were only to be tried after very careful consideration by the escape committee.
It was considered safer to be inside the camps than wandering around the countryside
so far from the front lines. However, tunnels were started & after a while
sand was deposited where the guards could see it. This caused pandemonium to
break out & the camp was turned upside down keeping a large number of guards
(goons) from other duties & giving us something to break the monotony."
"On 17th January 1945 all hell broke loose. At 10:00 hours it was announced
that the camp has to evacuate as the Russians were coming - the Russians were
coming! Panic subsided as we stayed for 2 or 3 days. On 18th January at 20:30
hours the main camp was marched out north-west. Jack Friday went with this party
& we parted company until our eventual return to England. I stayed to assist
with the stretcher cases of the hospital party. With the patients on lorries,
the rest of the hospital party had to march to Krelisburg, about 7 to 8 kilometres.
This was a civilian POW camp housing civilians & merchant seaman. Our party
was to move on again to Stalag 344 at Lamsdorf. 2 motor trucks arrived, a covered
one for stretcher cases & an open one for about 40 others."
"At Stalag 344 we were put in the RAF compound as this was basically an
Army camp. There was very marked activity by the Russians all around the camp.
We got reports all the time from the camp radio. We heard that Breslau was all
but surrounded & Breslau was our only way out to the west. On 21st February
the main camp marched out to what the Germans said was a safer camp. (Was any
part of Germany safe now?) On 3rd March a train loaded with all the RAF in Lamsdorf
left for an unknown destination. The German High Command had decreed that all
RAF POWs were to be sent to the southern redoubt of Bavaria to be used as hostages
for bargaining purposes."
"We arrived at Stalag 7B at Memmingham near the Swiss border. This camp
had Poles, Serbs, Russian, French & American Army POWs. I spent my 21st birthday
(14th March) here. On 19th March we were on the move again, this time to Stalag
383, until 18th April when all the camp were marched off again but the hospital
party remained behind. 22nd April was the day of our liberation at Stalag 383.
During the day the German Camp Commander surrendered to the Senior British Medical
Officer who was by then the most senior officer in the camp." (My father
told me that the camp guards had surrendered to the prisoners in fear of what
the Americans would do to them.) "At 16:10 hours 2 American jeeps arrived
outside the camp. When they came in they could not believe that we had the German
guards as our prisoners. We had to show them proof. The Yanks evacuated us to
Frankfurt Air Base & put one Air Force man in charge of 23 ex-POWs (i.e.,
24 to a plane party) & flew us out in Dakotas to Rheims in France. Being
from a RCAF squadron I reported to the RCAF interrogation office. From Rheims
the same 24 in a group were flown to Wing in Cambridgeshire England in a Lancaster
Bomber. Home Sweet Home!"
"I arrived back at my own home" (unannounced as news of his liberation
had not proceeded him) "on V-E Day, 8th May 1945, having been a POW for
about ten & a half months. While Jack Friday was waiting in Bournemouth to
be shipped back to Canada he paid a visit to my home in Guildford & unfortunately,
as the pubs were closed, we had to reminisce over a 10 year old bottle of elderberry
wine! It was during this reunion that I found out that Jack had been liberated
by the Russian Army in April after many forced marches & temporary camps.
Thus ended a very eventful part of our lives."
After Roy returned home from POW camp he married in June 1945 his fiancee Ellen
Hilton, an evacuee from London and munitions worker, whom he met at a dance
at the Stoke Hotel, Guildford. Whilst considering a career in the Air Force
or even emigrating to Canada he remained in the RAF until March 1947, attaining
the rank of Warrant Officer. Roy attempted to join the Police Force but at 5'
8" he was deemed too short.
His talk to the Monday Club continued, "In May 1947 I returned to his former
job at his old grade of Fireman. On 1st January 1948 the Southern Railway became
part of the newly nationalised British Railway as the Southern Region, comprising
of the existing Southern Railway & some branch lines of the GWR (Great Western
Railway), notably the Reading to Basingstoke line. In February 1952 I sat &
passed my exams to become a "Passed Fireman", an interim position which
meant, though still a Fireman,
if there was a Driver required but no spare Driver or Passed Fireman senior to
me available I would be booked to cover the Driver's duty. The seniority of pre-war
days did not exist so much now & a Passed Fireman could be booked a senior
duty. So you could be "firing" one day & driving a mainline passenger
train the next."
"My next promotion came in July 1957 to be a Driver. As I had already passed
the driving exam to become a "Passed-Fireman" I only had to pass a
medical examination before taking up my position as a Driver at Guildford. To
obtain quicker promotion it was possible to move to another depot (e.g. to Exeter,
Nine Elms, Salisbury & others came to Guildford from Salisbury, Faversham).
A vacancies list was issued every 2 months & still are. The successful applicant
would be the most senior. In April 1958 I was in a position to apply for a vacancy
as a "Dual Driver" - a position created with nationalisation. I would
be trained to drive electric trains as well as steam trains, the first step to
becoming a Motorman at an electric depot. In March 1962 I moved to Farnham to
fill a Motorman vacancy & so said goodbye to driving steam trains. Steam
trains were dirty & a Motorman's job a lot cleaner! I had expected to be
at Farnham for about one & a half years but due to the 42 hour week being
introduced on the Railways in place of the 44 hour week depots had to be staffed
up & I moved to Woking, my first choice out of six, in April 1962 after only
4 weeks at Farnham."
"1967 was the year that steam trains ceased to exist, although they had
started to be phased out before this. Guildford Steam Depot closed & was
transferred to Woking. This made Woking a "Mixed Traction" Depot, with
both electric & diesel trains, instead of just an Electric Depot & there
was just one grade of Driver. In 1970 I took a course to enable me to drive diesel
locomotives as well electric trains (EMUTs). In October 1973 I gained promotion
to the position of a Motive Power Supervisor, after being on the relief panel
of MPS from 1965. Relief Supervisors were Drivers passed to act as MPS when there
was a duty to be covered. A MPS was in direct charge of all the foot-plate staff
in the Woking area (Woking, Guildford, Farnham & Effingham), of all foot-plate
staff working into the area & control over diesel locomotive & E.M.Units.
A MPS job was quite easy all the trains ran normal & all staff reported for
duty on time. In the event of a train failure or bad weather it became quite
a challenge to revise trains & find drivers to cover services. A lesser challenge
was revising driver duties to cover men sick or delayed for some reason or other."
"On 1st January 1983 reconstructing of the Railways took place with local
Traffic Management replacing Division control. An Area Manager was appointed
for the Woking area taking over responsibility that was held by Divisional Staff.
Also all Guards at the four Depots were placed under the "Depot Master"
who was then renamed "Area Train Crew Manager". As the Depot Master,
Mr Denton, at Woking was appointed ATCM at Portsmouth I being the senior MPS
(now Area Train Crew Supervisor in control of Guards
as well as Foot-plate Staff) I was given the job of setting up Local Traffic
Management from November 1982. I was confirmed as acting ATCM on 1st January
1983 &, having applied for the position, was confirmed as ATCM in March 1983.
One of the biggest problems to overcome was taking over control of the Guards
who up to then had been under the Station Masters. As the Guards were members
of the NUR (National Union of Railwaymen) they had quite different conditions
of service & agreements compared to
the Foot-plate staff who belonged to ASLEF (Associated Society of Locomotive
Engineers & Fireman). After a little hostility from the Guards at first they
soon found that they were treated as equals with the foot-plate staff instead
of second class as it always appeared before LTM was introduced. One other problem
was the LDC (Local Departmental Committee) consisting of management & employee
representatives (4 men from the staff, ATCM & his chief clerk plus up to
4 co-opted specialists). There were 4 meetings for the Motive Power Depots but
with the addition of the Guards these increased to 8! I had to get through 2
or 3 a week as there were 8 in 1 month plus additional ones. Issues would be
discussed & if agreement could not be reached, which was rare, it went to
the higher Sectional Council & from there to the Rail Board for the final
decision."
"In March 1987 after 4 years as ATCM I had to give up the position due to
ill health. When I officially retire on 3rd June 1988 I will have served 47 years
11 months & 2 days. One of the biggest drawbacks to railway work is the unsociable
hours. The worst was as a "Passed-Fireman" filling in for others' duties
which could be anywhen! But I progressed from Driver (all-hour shifts) to MPS
(3 fixed shifts: 3pm, 11pm, 7am) to ATCM (9-5, Monday-Friday). Ellen thought
it was heavenly: evenings & weekends at home, except if I happened to be
called out when on-call which was very seldom."
In answer to questions: his longest journey as a Driver was Waterloo to Bournemouth
but the area covered Tonbridge, Gatwick, Alton, Portsmouth, Salisbury, Bournemouth,
London Suburban (42 stations in an hour!). He last drove a train on his own in
1973. There was a great difference between driving a steam & a diesel locomotive.
With a steam engine you relied on your fireman to keep steam up, otherwise the
vacuum brakes would apply until enough head of steam was produced. All experienced
"rough-trips" but you usually could nurse the engine along. On Electric
Trains you missed the company of the Fireman. He enjoyed driving but enjoyed
more the experience of managing 200 staff as a MPS & 400 as a ATCM. He didn't
particularly want, as a little boy, to be an Engine Driver & was quite happy
before the war until work ran out. Life might have been very different otherwise.
Roy & Ellen at first lived at 19 Cooper Road with Roy's parents. After the
birth of their eldest son Jeffrey Andrew (after Andrew Mynarski) in February
1947 at St.Luke's Hospital they moved to a flat in Westborough, Guildford -
81 Roundhill Way. At Easter 1950 they moved to a brand new council house on
the Bellfields Estate - 9 Willow Way. Their second son, Anthony Roy, known as
Tony, was born at Jarvis Maternity Home in 1954. After nursing both of their
mothers there before their deaths in 1975, they moved in 1976 to a council flat
in the centre of Guildford - 53 Bedford House.
One very significant development in their lives was a new involvement with St.Saviour's
Church, Guildford. They started attending there regularly with their son tony
in the early 70s and Ellen was confirmed. It was here that they made many good
friends and have been on many holidays.
In 1988 Roy had heart trouble and retired through ill health from his job. He
died from a stroke in June 1989 after being visited by his grandson Richard &
family on route to their holiday. Living and Roy Ernest VIGARS had the following
children:
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