cleaner; passed cleaner; apprentice fitter; fitter; temporary fitter in charge; shedman (examining fitter), alphabetical seniority; desciption of tasks; motive power depot; coal stage working; exams; rules and regulations; firing turn; "Crab" locomotive, 2-6-0 class 5, 1926 Lancashire and Yorkshire, Chief Mechanical Engineer (C.M.E.) Hughes; boiler pressurees, cylinder sizes; last firing turn; opportunities of tradesmen over footplatemen; shift work; frightening experience; class 8, compared to class 5; "soled and heeled"; fire problems, over loaded with twelve coaches; banking engines; fitter background, description of fitter tasks, comparison to footplate work; Caprotti 5 (73125), Raidinger valve gear, Vernier adjustable cams; George Fisher; local shunting; single line tokens; works time keeping rules; steam tests; Arrival of deisels, 350 hp, deisel electric shunters, refuelling problems, speeds; 0-4-0 steam engines, performances; AEC four wheeled rail cars, popularity; deisel multiple iunits (DMUs); drivers and fireman on deisels; frost fires; 4F locomotive; flat lying deisel engines; Locomotive Drivers Council (LDC); route workings; coal train stopping distances; turning engines on triangle; coal stage, water tower; coaling practice; railcars replacing steam locomotives, deisel fuel freezing; closures, vacancy lists; crew skills; broken crank pin; line clearing; passenger complaints, failed train; records burnt in firebox; 350 hp diesel shunter; new 25s, description of preparation and shortcomings; d.o.b. 1936-08-17, railway work: 1951-1965, Dudley; Burton, station, Bromsgrove; Overseal; Sheffield-Torquay; Washford Heath; Gloucester; Birmingham; Derby, Etches Park, Friar Gate; Cockshot; Stoke; Colehill bank; Castle Bromwich; Moira East/South; Drakelow; Donisthorpe; Leicester; Carden; London Midland & Scottish Railway; Derby Research Laboritory; Rolls Royce; London North Eastern Railway; National Coal Board (NCB); Ind. Coope Brewery;