Just About Me 13

I have so many stories from my days on LT, lets start with the story about comfort breaks, if you worked on the underground as train staff in those days (1975), you had to tell the driver over the antiquated communication's system that you needed a pee, the driver would then inform a member of staff at the first available station and they would phone the nearest depot with staff on standby, these guys would then meet your train and you could get off and do your business. This was not quite what happened, the guard would simply open the back door whilst going through the tunnel and aim away from the power rail, for information, if you look down at the rails next time, the two shiny rails (running rails) have approx 5-10 volts in them, the two very dull rails (power rails) have 630 volts in them and really are best avoided, so basically peeing on them is a no no. If you needed a dump as a guard you followed rules, a driver would pull up in the tunnel and simply do his stuff. One day a driver had pulled up in a tunnel on the district line which is a double tunnel, and was taking a dump when in the opposite direction another driver had seen him and pulled up so the passengers could watch the first guy scrambling with his trousers and waving his fist like a madman, very funny at the time.

The main station on the Disrict Line for meal breaks is Earls Court, you always got off for breaks and then took over your next train at Earls Court, we had so many practical jokers on their, one such guy, a driver, would do some really funny things, one day he put a pair of sunglasses and held a white stick, banging and crashing as he got in the driving cab and pulled away, another time he put a schoolboys cap on and got on his knees as the train pulled away. You should have seen the passengers faces.

It was also in 1975 that the Moorgate disaster happened  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorgate_tube_crash I was at Earls Court waiting for my next train when I saw people panicking about getting onto our train, I found this a bit strange as we were not even on the same line.
I have read a lot about this and honestly believe the driver had a heart attack.

I worked on LT until late 1977, I got the sack through my own stupidity, I would rather go out with my girlfriend and friends than do the late shifts, the same diversions made me late for the earlies as well. I can honestly say that of the regrets I have throughout my life, losing my job on LT has to be the worst, I loved that job.