Footplate tales - East Africa

[John Ashworth]

Few on the FOTR forum would have known the subject or the author, but the following piece is of interest as a reflection of life on the East African railways in times past.

BRIAN YOUNG, 1930 - 2008

Brian went to Kenya as an expatriate from the UK as a Railway Driver in 1956,
having previously worked for the LMS and then BR Midland Region in Birmingham as
a Passed Fireman/Relief Driver.

He worked first in Nairobi. When he moved to Eldoret, he told me he did not like
the drivers there because they were discriminatory. In fact when in 1963 I went
to Eldoret there was still the same atmosphere of discrimination. Then he went
back to Nairobi as a Foreman in the Nairobi main workshops. He went on to
become a main line driver, which is when I was paired up with him as a fireman
in 1959 after I had been for my driver's promotion training class.

The promotion did not materialise (afterwards we were told the training was
only a refresher course) and I stayed with Brian for over a year until I again
went for my promotion training.

On return from our trips, Brian used to give me a lift to my home on his Vespa;
it became so regular Brian would be expected to stay for a meal. We worked on
the Nairobi-Nakuru, Nairobi-Makindu and Nairobi-Sagana lines with all classes
of steam locos.

On our first trip together, which was to Nakuru, he drove to Uplands and then he
told me to take over as far as Gilgil. On the return trip, at the summit beyond
Uplands, he would stop to engage the brake retainers and then tell me to drive
down to Nairobi. It became a routine that I would drive half the distance on
both directions on each round trip.

Once on a daytime goods trip to Nakuru with a pre-Giesl 58 class, when we got to
the bottom of the hill below Kikuyu, before the two main road bridges, he dared
me to beat the train to Kikuyu station on foot by running up the hill. I
accepted the challenge, jumped off the loco and managed to get to the station
well before the train and waited for him near the up water column. Maybe this
was his way of making sure he had a fit fireman!

I was promoted and started working in Nairobi yard as a shunter driver. Brian
went over to caboose working on the Nairobi-Mombasa line on 59 class locos. I
met up with him again in 1962, when I was returning from holidays on 1 Up from
Mombasa. He invited me to ride on the loco from Mombasa, and on the way he let
me drive the train up to Voi.

I was transferred to Eldoret in March 1963. Brian was promoted to Oerlikon
Braking system instructor at the Nairobi Locomotive Training School and then he
became Diesel/Electric Locomotive Inspector in 1965. I met him again in
Eldoret when he came on a test run with
No 7901, the "Explorer" Diesel/Electric Loco. An engineer from the locomotive
builders was with him and they stayed in Eldoret for about a week.

We used to meet whenever I visited Nairobi. When in 1973 my family and I were
preparing to move to the UK, Brian and his wife Betty advised and helped us.

On his UK home leave Brian and Betty would invite us to their family home in
Burnham and through Brian, my family and I had the good fortune to get to know
all his relatives and friends who have over the years been very kind and
accommodating.

Brian stayed in Kenya with the Railways as a Diesel/Electric Locomotive
Instructor. He kept me posted on the mediation exercise regarding my pension,
and I used to visit and stay with him in Nairobi once or twice a year. I only
had to call him and give him the details of my flight and he would send someone
to pick me up from Jomo Kenyatta airport and a car would be ready for me to use
during my stay with him. When he retired he stayed for a time in Kenya, but then
moved back to the UK, to Burnham on Sea, for health reasons and to be near his
family

Brian for me was a Guru (teacher), friend and a mentor.

Charan Singh Kundi

[Kevin Wilson-Smith]

A very interesting little piece - for me anyway.

When I was a kid I had a friend whose father was an engine driver, and I got to meet some of the drivers. My friends father also had a Vespa he used - it think it was probably a matter of economies, as I seem to recall they were always battling a bit.