The Enginemen, Chapter 17/1

Chapter 17: November 1962

James, in his drunken stupor, had forgotten to set his alarm when he had dragged himself to bed the previous night. He did not wake until nearly half past eight and then he experienced a severe hangover, feeling nauseous and suffering from an acute headache. He went through the motions of washing himself and scrubbed his teeth for a long time trying desperately to rid his mouth of the foul taste. He got himself a black coffee, dressed and still feeling fragile, crept down the road to the Oval tube station and set off for Willesden Junction. He had compounded his problems for he knew that he was going to be late for the police interview, and his nerves were not easing his unsettled stomach.

He arrived outside the Shedmaster’s office at twenty minutes past ten, breathless and panicky. It was just his luck that on this day of all days there had been disruption on the Bakerloo line - apparently someone had been under a train earlier that morning and the service was still in tatters. This would have been an acceptable excuse for his lateness but in his state of mind it didn’t even occur to him to make it. Nellie ushered him through the sanctuary door saying, “Go straight in, Mr Peplow, they’re all waiting for you.”

The Shedmaster himself was there, of course, and George Munday, the Union Organiser was there, but there were two other men whom he did not know. He’d expected a couple of uniformed policemen, after all he’d been told the interview was to take his statement. Who were these men and what was their role?

Doig spoke first. “Mr Peplow, this is Detective Inspector Cresswell and Detective Sergeant Buller. They’ve been asking us a few questions about the tragic death of Alec Mytton yesterday and they want to ask you some questions and take your statement.” Doig sat behind his desk and the Detective Inspector drew up a chair beside him and motioned James to a chair in front of the desk. The other two remained standing.

James blurted out, “I’m sorry, I’m late, I wasn’t feeling well this morning, it was the shock, I think.”

Cresswell ignored this remark and began his questioning with a statement that at this stage of their investigation they were treating Mytton’s demise as a suspicious death. Having checked Peplow’s identity and confirmed for the record that he was the driver on the 9.15 Paddington to Worcester and Hereford from which Mytton had fallen to his death, Cresswell asked Peplow to recount exactly what had happened from Mytton joining his engine at Old Oak Common until he brought the train to a stand in Evesham station.

“I booked on at 7.45 and found I’d been allocated a rough old ‘Hall’…”

Cresswell interrupted him. “I’m afraid you’ll have to explain railway terms to me. Assume I know nothing about railways.”

“A ‘Hall’ is a mixed traffic steam locomotive, but we don’t usually run them on fast passenger services like the 9.15. We should have had a ‘Castle’ – that’s an express locomotive – and I went in to the Running Foreman to remonstrate at the unsuitability of 4917, the engine he’d allocated me, but he told me I’d have to lump it, it was all he’d got. I met Alec Mytton on the engine, I hadn’t worked with him before, but the Foreman had told me he was an experienced fireman and had done express turns. We prepared the engine together and went up to Paddington, hooked on to our train, which was a light one of only eight coaches. We left on time and all went well to Oxford where we arrived on time.”

“Take your time, driver. Don’t skip over anything. What was the journey like? How did Alec Mytton seem? Was he in a good mood?”

Nellie interrupted at that point and came in with cups of tea for everyone. James left his standing on the desk while he continued.

“Well, 4917 was a bit rough…”

“What do you mean, ‘rough’? Do you mean in poor condition?”

“No, not really. I mean the engine rode badly. It vibrated and rattled and jolted us around and would give a wild lurch from time to time. It was high mileage too – I mean, it had run many miles since its last repair in Swindon Works, so it was a bit run down – but it steamed okay and Alec Mytton kept steam pressure up well, so we had no real problems until Oxford.”

James noticed that the Sergeant was scribbling fast in his notebook.

“Tell us what happened at Oxford.”

“We were delayed for ten minutes because the police had been called to remove some passengers.”

“How did you know the reason?”

“The Platform Inspector came up to the engine and told me.”

“He came right up to the engine?”

“Yes.”

“And what about Mytton? How had he coped with the run so far?”

“He was fine. He kept pressure up well. I said before, he was an experienced fireman.”

“He didn’t seem annoyed or upset by anything?”

“No, he grumbled like me about the engine – that was all.”

“Okay, carry on.”

“Well, we set off then and stopped at Charlbury. We were now running late so I pushed the engine bit harder. She rode more roughly but I didn’t consider it dangerous. We’d picked up a couple of minutes and I thought if I left steam on down the bank from Chipping Campden tunnel, we could get some more time back. Anyway we picked up speed and she started lurching a bit, then near the bottom of the bank I heard a shout and turned round and saw Alec falling backwards between the cab and the tender. There was absolutely nothing I could do.”

“Why didn’t you stop immediately?”

“It would have taken me a mile to stop. I thought I could get help quicker if I went on to Evesham station.”

“You could have stopped at Littleton and Badsey signalbox and reported the fall there. The signalman could have called the ambulance.”

“Perhaps I was already too close to that Box, I can’t remember. I just wanted to get to a station.”

“What speed do you think you were doing at the moment Alec Mytton fell?”
“I’m not sure – around 75-80 mph I should think.”

“Would it surprise you to know that your guard was so anxious that he timed the train and estimated you were doing 88mph?”

“It would surprise me. I didn’t think that engine was capable of that speed.”

“Not even on a steep downhill section like that?”

“No, you need a free running engine to touch 90 - a ‘Castle’ in good condition would. I’ve never done more than 80 on a ‘Hall’.”

“Was there any particular jolt or lurch that you felt just before or when Alec Mytton fell?”

“Yes, we went over some points and the engine rolled and kicked.”

“When did you shut off steam?”

“When I heard my fireman cry out I think.”

“Was that before or after Honeybourne Junction signalbox?”

“Before I think.”

“The signalman’s statement says steam was still on as you passed his signalbox and that it was a long time since he’d seen a train going so fast.”

“Well, I’m a bit confused. Perhaps Alec fell after the junction. I thought it was before.”

“You said that you felt the engine roll and lurch as you went over points. Wouldn’t those have been at the junction?”

“Yes, I suppose so. I told you, I’m confused.”

“The Honeybourne signalman says that the fireman was still on the engine as you passed his box and that he seemed to be grappling with you.”

“That’s rubbish. How can he say that? If we went past him as fast as you say we did, he’d have had a job to see what was happening on the footplate.”

“Okay, I grant you that might have been difficult, but he has put it in his statement and we have to test that out.”

“It’s nonsense, I tell you.”

“What we you and Mytton quarrelling about at Paddington?”

“We weren’t quarrelling.”

“The inspector at the station says he heard raised voices and overheard some of the shouting between the two of you.”

“I don’t know what he’s talking about.”

“He said he thought he heard Mytton calling you a ‘poofter’. I’m not surprised you were upset.”

“Absolute rubbish!”

“Are you a homosexual?”

“No, I’m not! That’s nothing to do with the issue. It was an accident. Are you accusing me of killing him on purpose?”

“I’m just asking you some questions. I have to check out statements that have been made.”

“Don’t listen to gossip. I’m not popular around here because I refused to go on strike. Some of them want to cause trouble for me.”

“Well tell me what happened at Oxford then. The Inspector there tells me that you and Mytton were arguing when he came to advise you of the reason for the delay.”

“How could he tell what we were saying?”

“You said he came right up to the cab. He says you were shouting at each other.”

“You have to on a steam engine or you can’t hear each other. I was probably telling him to fill the boiler as I wanted all the steam he could get once we got on the move.”

“Okay, that’s enough for the moment. My sergeant will go through his notes with you and would like you to sign a statement. I’ll need you to come down to the station for more questions later. In the meantime, don’t go far without telling us.”

Cresswell had a confidential word with the Shedmaster that James couldn’t hear and both the
detectives then left.

“Don’t go for the moment,” said Doig, “or you, George. We have questions we need to ask you too.”

Peplow had stood up ready to go and reluctantly sat down again.

“There is no doubt that your speed with that engine down Honeybourne bank was excessive and downright dangerous. This is the second time you’ve been accused of dangerous speeds – you’ve only just had your appeal on the first charge. It looks as though we were too lenient with you then. But this time it’s much more serious than that. Were you fighting with Mytton and is that why he fell? All the staff who’ve given statements are convinced that something was wrong on the footplate, there was argument and tension. Did Mytton object to your speed on that rough engine as Barnett did on your Severn Tunnel incident? Did he tell you to slow down and you objected?”

“They’re all cowards, no stomach for the job, some of the younger ones. Yes, we did argue a bit, I was only trying to regain time lost and he tried to dictate to me what I should do. He tried to shut the regulator as we were descending the bank and I just pushed him out of the way. How was I to know the engine would lurch at just that moment and throw him completely off balance?”

“Peplow, you could be in serious trouble, you could find yourself accused of manslaughter. You need a lawyer urgently.”

George Munday intervened. “I’ll arrange for an ASLEF solicitor to meet with you and give you advice. I don’t think anything so serious can be proved but you need good advice now.”

“I think that’s it for the moment. You are of course suspended at least until the police decide whether you have any case to answer. Apart from anything else, it would be dangerous for you to be in charge of trains when all this is on your mind. You’ll be paid while you’re suspended although if the police charge you everything will be reviewed. And if the police take no further action you’ll need to answer further charges about excessive speed. Obviously that was a major ingredient in Mytton’s fall.”

“It was management’s fault for giving me such rough engine to work that train.”

“It’s your job as a responsible driver to work safely with the resources you are given, putting safety above all else.”

“You don’t say that when we receive complaints about bad timekeeping.”

“Enough for now. I’m not arguing your case at this stage. Go home and make an appointment with a lawyer – George Munday will give you a number to ring.”

James Peplow left the room.

Philip Doig gestured to George to remain a moment.

“George, you’ll set him up with a solicitor, won’t you? I don’t think the police will prove anything as long as Peplow gets a good lawyer and doesn’t say anything more than he has to.”

George nodded.

“But that doesn’t mean that I don’t think he had a lot more to do with Mytton’s death than he’s letting on. We’ve got three men at Paddington and Oxford saying they heard arguments between the two men and the Honeybourne signalman is pretty certain that he saw both men on the footplate struggling with each other if not actually fighting. After the Severn Tunnel incident and now this, it’s clear the man is a menace and letting him back on the mainline is out of the question. I trust you’ll support me on this?”

“What if the police find there is no case to answer?”

“That’s why I’m saying we need to take action anyway. Frankly, I hope the police drop the case. It won’t look good for the depot if he faces a manslaughter charge in court and we’re vulnerable to criticism that we were too lenient with him before. He’ll make a thing about being given 4917 and expected to run the Worcester to time which frankly was not good. I protested when we got orders to store or withdraw all those ‘Kings’ and ‘Castles’ at the end of the summer timetable – some of them were still in reasonable condition and had plenty of mileage left in them. But I’m not taking the risk of having him out on the mainline again. If anything else were to go wrong, we’d be crucified. And I gather he’s none too popular. If the rumours get around that he contributed or even caused Alec Mytton’s death no-one will work with him.”

“What do you propose? Do you want to sack him?”

“If a serious charge is levelled at him, I’d have little choice. However, if the police take no action, I would not be satisfied with anything less than his reduction to the diesel shunting link. He’d be on his own at least.”

“You’d better send him a Form 1 charge straight away. I don’t want to have to defend him on the technicality that he didn’t receive the disciplinary charge until after the deadline.”

“Good point, George. Thanks for the reminder.”

There was a silence between the two men and George made as if to leave. As he reached the
oor, Philip Doig suddenly asked,

“George, what do you really think? Do you think he actually pushed Mytton from the footplate? Do you think it could have been murder?”

“I think we should be careful before coming to any conclusions. I’ll admit there are a number of plausible scenarios. I find it hard to believe him capable of cold blooded murder but I can envisage manslaughter – an argument breaking out leading to a fight, or a certain amount of pushing around which combined with the excessive speed on a rough engine, could result in the fall. A number of people at the depot believe he’s a homosexual – some firemen refused promotion to fire to him when Ashcroft moved on because they thought he was queer. I don’t know whether he is or not, but I imagine if Mytton accused him of being one as the Paddington inspector alleged, he’d be pretty riled and if something else went wrong, it could have boiled over. There again, they could be quite wrong – as Peplow said, it’s only too easy to mishear if you’re being deafened by the noise of the engine. At this moment I’m prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt and I’ll help him defend himself. But I agree with you, his status here is pretty untenable. No-one will fire to him after this. The diesel shunting link is the only option. It’ll kill him though. He’s been down ever since his own engine was withdrawn. You know he even pinched 5008’s brass numberplate from the Stores. I told the storeman to forget it, we can tell Swindon it was lifted by a trespasser. I felt he had as much right to it as anyone and the railway was hardly going to make a fortune from a bit of scrap metal.”

“You’ll have the auditor after me, George. You’re too soft. No, I’m not serious. I’ll live with that. I wish the accountants would get their minds round something more important than penny-pinching.”