kinbrace story by steve brown

8/17/2019 Kinbrace Story by Steve Brown

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Situated in the County of Sutherland, 418 miles north of Glasgow. 118 miles

north of Inverness and the nearest town of any size Helmsdale 18 miles away. It

lies at the juntion of three Straths ! "aver. #ildonan $ Halladale. It had a

%ailway Station, sho&, garage, 'rimary Shool, 'ost ()e, two hurhes and a

emetery. *djaent to the station there are eight houses and others s&read

throughout the Straths. +he station was the ommerial area for the StrathHalladale and a us -ougall/s0 ame in weedays from the north oast

-2ettyhill0 to meet the morning train and tae &assengers a. It also rought

in goods ! 3sh, eef and venison to send south ! and delivers any &arels arriving

with the train for Strath Halladale.

#inrae is situated on the Helmsdale to +hurso5i line and was an old

Highland %ailway station. *long with the signalman, I shared the signalling

duties. +he station was a rossing &oint, where two trains old &ass, efore

returning to the single line railway. +his meant o&erating two sets of signals, with

ontrolling levers and lo instruments situated in the ooing o)e. +he

ontrol of the line was y 6+oen 2lo./ * train was given a toen efore leavingthe station and give it u& at the ne7t station. +o save onfusion, the southound

train was given a 6ey toen/ and the northound train a 6talet toen./ 2oth were

housed in a leather &ouh, attahed to a wire loo&.

+he e7hanging of toens was an art form in itself +hey were e7hanged

etween the Station 9astersignalman and the driver, y holding u& the &ouh in

one hand and reeiving the other with the other hand. :ortunately, the s&eed of

the trains was restrited to allow this o&eration.

+here was another a&&aratus for non!sto&&ing trains travelling at s&eed. * set of

jaws were &laed on a stand at the lineside, into whih the toen was &laed. *

similar set of jaws were on the steam engine into whih the driver &ut his toenand as the train &assed the toens were e7hanged. +o s&eed u& o&erations,

when trains were rossing, I would yle etween the two signal o7es. +here

was a safety &roedure that had to e arried out, when the trains were rossing,

whih meant that one ame to a standstill to allow the other into the rossing

loo&. (nly then was it safe to &ass.

(ther duties that I had to &erform inluded shunting and marshalling wagons. In

s&ring there were the loal and ;airg shee& sales. +he ;airg sales were y far the

usiest with u&wards of uired me to don overalls and was to do with

shee&, was the annual loading and trans&ortation of ?eees, at shearing time.

@et another duty I had to undertae as station master, was to ensure the hours

wored y the staA were reorded and that they reeived their wages. I was

res&onsile for myself, the signalman and eight linesmen. (ften in the winter the

station had to e manned B4 hours a day, whih meant overtime and an inrease

in earnings for all, whih we all found most welome ut we didn/t lie woring

the e7tra hours

+he staA would feel the snow, when it 3rst started to fall to see if it was good

>uality, for they new they would e getting overtime. +he 3rst winter we were


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at #inrae it was e7tremely ad, so muh so that helio&ters were dro&&ing

su&&lies to the remote steadings. 5e were snowed in for a wee

* train had to e aed into the station one day as the snow was so heavy. It

was soon loed in and des&ite the est eAorts of the station staA in digging it

out, we ouldn/t release it. (n oard the train there was a young woman in the

advaned stages of &regnany and it soon eame a&&arent that she would soon

deliver. 5e ouldn/t get a dotor, nurse or midwife, so rememering my

advaned 3rst!aid training, I had to do my est.

5e got lanets and towels and I managed to deliver a healthy ay girl. 2ay

delivered we managed to get them oth over to the station house as one of the

linesmen had dug a &athway to the door. *fter aout three days a snow&lough

arrived with a dotor on oard. *fter heing the lady was 3ne the dotor said

oth were 3t to ontinue their travels.

+he snow&lough went in front of the stranded train and too it forward to 5i.

*lthough a glori3ed signalman at #inrae, I learnt all the sills of a stationmaster. 2eing so far from the ontrol &oint at Inverness, meant deisions had to

e taen, right or wrong So after a short &eriod of two years, the wor had

eome routine and so it was time to move on.

ntertainment was entred on the Dillage Hall. very wee there was darts,

snooer, illiards and a 6sheiling oard./ +his is a long oard laid out lie a urling

rin where you had to &ush small wooden diss u& towards a target. +he ladies

had there sewing irle and various other hoy nights. +he Highland and Island

:ilms Guild gave a show one a fortnight and there was the moile lirary. +here

were the danes and singing onerts. 5e never wearied in the winter. +hen it

was all outdoor in the summer. +here was a ommon &lot where the vegetales

were grown it had to e hand dug ! &lanted and e&t free from weeds. *ll the

men too &art. +hen there was the &eat E digging, drying, turning, staing and

ringing them home. +hey were &ut in a large &ile inside, in ase of snow. +his

was the fuel that e&t the home 3res urning with and the ash was agged and

sent to 6Cotty/ to mae fae &owder. +he other soure of fuel was to leave the

arrow outside the house at night and the fairies 3lled it with oalF

+he house was situated on the station &latform with the main door ne7t to the

o)e. +he a door o&ened to a small garden and station yard. *t station

level there was a living room, ree&tion room, ithen and athroom with two

atti edrooms u& stair. +here was hot water su&&lied y the 3re a oiler.

+he ithen had shallow and dee& 62elfast Sins/ and a hand wringer 3ttedetween them. +here was also a Calor Gas Cooer. *t 3rst we had to iron and

&ress lothes with a ?at iron heated at the 3re, later we got an oil &ressure iron.

5e were luy we had running water, most of the houses in the surrounding

village, had to ome to a ta& on the station wall to draw water and arry it a

to their houses. +here was an o&en 3re in the ree&tion room and in the living

room a omination 3re with oven at the side and hot &late on to&. +here was

unfortunately no grate on the 3re and ean used to &ut the ettle in the oven. It

was a whistling ettle and when it lew oA everyone who did not now,

wondered where the whistle was oming fromF

+he house was lit y oil lam&s ! two in the living room, one in the ithen andone &ortale to tae to other rooms as neessary and we always had andles and


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torhes for a u&. +he lam&s hung from the eilings and they also generated

heat. +hey were 6+illey/ &ressure lam&s mainly e7e&t for the athroom whih

was a wi lam&. uite often it eame so warm with the 3re and the lam&s on,

we had to o&en the outside door, even when it was 1= elow, and more.

5indows were looing out onto the station &latform so they had to e urtained

at all times, es&eially at train times.

"o refrigerators, we had a old store at the a of the house, outside. +his

was a doule ri uilding with a s&ae etween the walls whih were 3lled with

water to ee& the inside ool. Sometimes there was very little inside and other

times it was full and the water had to e re&laed regularly. 5e would maye

have two haunhes of venison, salmon, game irds and raits -efore

mi7amatoeses0.

+o get su&&lies we had to de&end on the train. 2uther meat had to e ordered

y tele&hone. 5e didn/t have one at the house or station so we had to go to the

'ost ()e. 5e told the 2uther what we wanted and it was sent u& on the

afternoon train. "ormal daily groeries we got from the loal sho& owned y 2en9aenzie. 9il ame daily from 5i on the morning train.

(ur radio was wored of atteries. (ne was a dry attery the other was what

they alled an aumulator, whih was full of aid and had to e harged every

seond wee. *gain the train was used to trans&ort these to the garage in

Helmsdale. +he radio was also useful for hearing the railway signaling system,

when I was in the house for meals.

very Seond wee on a Saturday, the 65ife/s +rain/ was run. +his om&rised of

one oah and engine, the oah eing half seated and half guards van. In the

main it was the women who went out on a Saturday to 5i or +hurso. If they

ought anything they had it delivered to the station and it was rought a

home on the train. In addition to the stations, the train sto&&ed at the line side

ottages. It was a slow journey ut handy for large items lie furniture.

9ost Saturday evenings were s&ent either visiting the 6Shielding,/ Geordie and

*nnie 9a#ay/s house, where we mainly &layed ards and listened to reords.

(n a Sunday night the young ou&le from the sho&, "any and 2ennie 9#enzie,

ame to our house. ean would have een usy aing and maing talet.

"any would ring s&earmint toAees and we would devour them and the talet

whilst &laying whist.

Sunday 9orning we went to the loal hurh where the servie was taen y a;ay 'reaher. +he 9inister only ame every seond month to give Communion.

+here was no musi in the hurh. * man got u& at the front to lead the hymn

singing and was alled the 'resenter. +he servies were very dry and long and

did not give you an inentive to go. +he 'ost ()e was on the other side of the

line and there was a tele&hone ios outside whih allowed you to mae ontat

with the outside world.

+he highlight of the day was the early morning train to Inverness. ougal

(/2rien/s us arrived in time with &assengers from 2ettyhill and Strath Halladale.

ougal went to the 'ost ()e or sho& for his reafast, while waiting the

morning train to 5i and of ourse he had to tell all the gossi& from the Strath.

@ou had to see who ame oA the train and where they were going. +he rest of


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the day was &retty routine whilst waiting for the afternoon trains to and from

5i.

+he duties at the station were shared etween me and the Signalman, 2ennie

9aenzie. I looed after the day time and he looed after the night. His main

tas was to see to the freight trains and shunt oA wagons where neessary.

"ot long after arriving in #inrae we had a snow storm and it lasted until ean

and her &arents ame u& in anuary. *fter her &arents left we had a linding

snow storm and we had to dig our way out of the house. 5e then found that the

snow had om&letely overed the station &latforms and there was a reef -snow

drift0 1= foot high overing the rossing gates. 5e went out for a wal and on

returning found that the snow was so dee& we were waling on the house roof.

"othing moved for two days and then we got word that a train with a snow

&lough in front had left Inverness to travel to 5i and lear the line.

+he loal ganger and his men had left the railway to join the road men to try and

lear the roads. ;ater on the seond night we got word that a snow &lough withtwo engines ehind was oming through to try and lear the heaviest snow drifts.

+he ganger and his men ame a to the station and hand ut a way into the

&latform to allow the engines in. *fter hanging the 6talet/ to allow them

&ermission to go on to :orsinard, they reversed a out of the station for three

miles, sto&&ed and uilt u& a head of steam to ram their way through the snow

los. ean and I overed the house windows with wood and it was a good jo

that we had done so. +he engines &ushing a &lough aused the snow/ whih

had een hand ut to rise in the air to some eight to ten feet and as they fell

they omarded the house. ean was in the house and after the engines

&assed we dug our way into the door and on entering the edroom learned there

was no ause for alarm as she had sle&t through the noise.

2efore leaving the wor wagon, the men on oard had a arter system going

with the loal sho& E they had &lenty of tea and sugar on oard whih they

e7hanged for venison. It too them another days to reah 5i.

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home to the station house and was on view to the &uli, even the guards and

drivers of the trains sto&&ed to s&ea to him. +he whole village turned out to

see him.

kinbrace story by steve brown

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