A Touch of Nostalgia

I was reading a story about a Cow on the Wolverhampton Heritage site… and it brought back some memories that I have, of when I worked on British Rail at Herbert Street Good’s Yard in Wolverhampton.

In 1965 I went straight from school to the Good’s Yard and I had a Number Takers job waiting for me.That was down to my Mum who had squared it with her employers.

This was a great job; it meant that you met trains, steam trains in those days. As they approached the Goods Yard at Victoria Basin. The Number Taker was there pencil poised. Then a quick canter along side the train, taking the number of the goods wagon, where had it come from? and the good’s it contained.

Once that was all in your note-book a quick sprint back to the cabin enters the news into the Day-Book, telephone the goods and cartage foreman and tell him what you had got! It was a great job and I just loved it.

But among the Goods Vans would be the MEX wagon’s, these contained horses or cows, as at Wolverhampton we had cattle pens at the bottom of the Yard. Some local farmers used to have the cattledelivered from Ireland or the Cattle Market at Banbury sent to Wolverhampton by rail.

On a couple of occasions the Bibby’s who were farmers on the Wednesfield/Essington area had their cattle delivered this way. I thought that they were really tight!

Most of the local farmers has motorised cattle trucks arrive and their livestock were loaded into them…but not the Bibby’s!

As I knew them…well at that time I used to play football on their fields…they used to chase me and my mates off!

They used to ask me to help drive the cattle down the Cannock Road out to Blackhalve Lane. I used to get a couple of Bob off them for doing this.My .Forman was always compliant with their request for help I was a willing lad and I enjoyed the faces of every one as we kept the cattle in a close bunch and herded them out of the cattle siding left into Stafford Road and then down the Cannock Road!

It was usually chaos, drivers just could not believe their own eye's as 20 or so cows came trotting towards them.

Could you imagine doing that today? One day I remember when one of the cows turned down the entry between two of the houses on Cannock Road. I followed the beast down and when it burst into the back yard the woman and her friend were screaming and had been pinioned at the top of the yard. Now the cow careered around and around looking for a place to bolt. It eventually turned back on itself into the entry with all the washing hanging from its face and back….but the faces and the screams from the two women which i have pictured in my mind have me laughing even now!

How times have changed….on one occasion the cows broke the stopping light on a car that was caught in the traffic jam, in Park Village as the animals pushed around it! The driver was so upset he turned the car round and shouted about who was going to pay for the light the whole way back to the Farm.

But looking back I was lucky to be playing out ‘Rawhide’ on the streets of Wolverhampton…you just wouldn’t do it now, I bet the Mayor would have something to say about that sort of lark!!