Tribute to Mr Penwarden, ex Chief Goods Clerk Kingswear Station – “Good Old Pen” !

Tribute to Mr Penwarden, ex Chief Goods Clerk Kingswear Station.

 Good old ‘Pen’

It must have been in the Autumn of 1953 that I first met Mr. Penwarden. I had just joined the staff of British Railways at the local station of Kingswear in Devon.

Mr. Penwarden, known to everyone as ‘Pen’ was the Chief Goods Clerk and had been a Railwayman most of his working life. To look at Pen there was nothing special about him, at least not at first sight, perhaps the more discerning observer would spot the gleam in his eyes, which belied his age – his creased ample face, which within an instant, would light up signalling all was well. A thick pair of spectacles set firmly on his nose.

I was fifteen years of age and I had joined the railway as a Junior Booking Clerk, and so it was Mr Penwarden entered my life. He was the Chief Goods Clerk and not his immediate job to teach me in the ways of the Booking Office, that duty had been assigned to a Doug Weeks, who was only a few years older than me, but was an experienced clerk.  Pen would be seen drifting around the station seemingly going about his business, the exact nature of which I could not discern.

Every two weeks or so, a sea going coaling coaster would enter the river and tie up alongside the jetty ready to discharge it’s cargo of coal. The vessel (usually “MV Similarity”) had left Goole some three days earlier and sailed down the east coast to Devon. Two electrically operated grab cranes usually took three days to unload the ship.

The assembled coal train would then be taken to Torquay gasworks.

A few yards from the water’s edge was the goods shed, in which, was incorporated the goods office. It was in this office that Pen recorded the comings and goings of the goods yard in the form of goods received and prepared accounts. In the case of boat coal traffic he worked in close contact with a Mr Bovey who represented the local coal agents, Renwick Wilton and Dobson whose premises were in Dartmouth.

By the early fifties, competition from private road haulage was taking its toll of rail traffic, so by the time I arrived on the scene, the only traffic of note was the coal boats. As soon as the boat departed on its return journey, activity in the goods yard slowed dramatically, leaving Pen free to pass the day.

Pen would be seen drifting around the station, stopping every now and then to doff his ever present Trilby hat and smile his greetings to all who passed. It was on such occasions that he would find his way into the Booking Office and pass many a pleasant hour.

I took an instant liking to this man, who was nearly old enough to be my Grandfather. He was a kind and generous man with a great sense of humour. He must have taken a “shine” to me because there were many examples of his generosity and kindness, which he showed me during the next few years. He had a tremendous store of tales to tell, he would hold me spellbound with tales from his past, especially when he was in the First World War as a boy of only sixteen where he was gassed and invalided out of the army.

Rejoining the Great Western Railway he eventually found himself at Kingswear.

This is ‘Pen’ with Pauline in his boat, (me taking photo) out fishing for Mackerel between the yacht club and the castles c1964.

Eventually, I bought a boat. An immediate problem was, where was I going to keep it moored?  No need to worry, Pen was on hand not only to find me a place to keep it but also provide the seemingly endless equipment needed.  Ropes, chains, pulley’s and the like, which were all necessary to make up the moorings. He himself had owned a boat for many years, and made generous his fund of knowledge readily available to me. Thanks to Pen I enjoyed many idyllic days on the river messing about in My boat.

A few years later my Mother wrote to me telling me Mr Penwarden had died!

Good old ‘Pen’