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Title: Hello from Nottage_Halt Post by: Nottage_Halt on October 22, 2008, 08:42:38 Hello all, and thanks for letting me into the Coffee Shop - mine's an Americano with an extra shot of coffee, please.
I use FGW occasionally to travel between Evesham and London. The service level is shockingly poor, in my experience. Sometimes, I drive to Warwick Parkway and take the Chiltern train to Marylebone. It takes longer, is less convenient, less of a rip-off and far more reliable. When the re-doubling work has been accomplished on the Cotswold Line, perhaps the service will improve and I'll use it more often. In another life, I was a signalman at Moreton-in-Marsh in the early - mid 1970's, although my job these days is well removed from railways. Nottage_Halt Title: Re: Hello from Nottage_Halt Post by: Lee on October 22, 2008, 08:52:20 Welcome to the forum, Nottage_Halt
Title: Re: Hello from Nottage_Halt Post by: G.Uard on October 23, 2008, 01:46:53 Amen to that! Even though I got a frosty stare for calling a signaller, the signalman t'other day ;D ;D
Title: Re: Hello from Nottage_Halt Post by: Nottage_Halt on October 23, 2008, 12:46:33 Well in those far-off days the railways and the rule books etc were full of "men" - signalman, secondman, P-Way man and so on. There were some female signalmen on the railways, and I think I remember something in the Rail News about a female secondman at Inverness, working the Mallaig line. Times have changed and there are now many more women in operational jobs on the railway and the rulebook terminology has changed. I do know one present-day signaller quite well who always refers to his job as "signalman".
Before my time, the real Great Western employed lots of women "signalmen" in WWII, I believe. Title: Re: Hello from Nottage_Halt Post by: Super Guard on October 23, 2008, 12:56:27 Amen to that! Even though I got a frosty stare for calling a signaller, the signalman t'other day ;D ;D What did she look like? ;D Title: Re: Hello from Nottage_Halt Post by: Chris from Nailsea on October 23, 2008, 20:32:46 Signalmen, rather than signallers, according to a previous debate here, regarding the correct term to be used: see http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=1965.msg18696#msg18696
Quote Signallers are chirpy cockney chappies who hang around the back of warship bridges (usually played by David Attenborough) and are the first to be killed when in action. ;) :D ;D Title: Re: Hello from Nottage_Halt Post by: Btline on October 23, 2008, 22:08:18 Yes, a word like signalman is not gender specific, just like human, policeman and fireman.
I think these new terms like "operator" and "officer" (two favourites in the PC brigade) are tacky and devaluate the meaning of the words. Title: Re: Hello from Nottage_Halt Post by: Hafren on October 23, 2008, 22:13:08 If they want to be consistent, perhaps 'woman' should be changed to 'woperson'!
Title: Re: Hello from Nottage_Halt Post by: TerminalJunkie on October 23, 2008, 22:47:28 Quote Signallers are chirpy cockney chappies who hang around the back of warship bridges (usually played by David Attenborough) and are the first to be killed when in action. Dickie Attenborough, surely? Title: Re: Hello from Nottage_Halt Post by: Chris from Nailsea on October 23, 2008, 22:52:12 Good point - Richard Attenborough it is! :D
Title: Re: Hello from Nottage_Halt Post by: G.Uard on October 23, 2008, 23:33:30 If they want to be consistent, perhaps 'woman' should be changed to 'woperson'! Or even woeperson... I'll get my coat. Title: Re: Hello from Nottage_Halt Post by: Chris from Nailsea on October 23, 2008, 23:45:58 Erm ... fetch mine as well: http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=3695.msg28682#msg28682 ;) :D ;D
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