Ken Watts, in Steam, asked me if I knew about the Materials Inspectorate Swindon.

Before I could answer he pushed a booklet into my hand and, in his polite no-nonsense way, he said “read this.”

It is a mine of information and though it is a small booklet it sums up the work of the inspectorate – accuracy, brevity and speed.

Founded in 1899 by the GWR to ensure the company obtained value for money, and that materials were satisfactory before they were issued, more than 50,000 consignments to the inspectorate were dealt with each year.

Everything from shunting poles to yarn was tested.

This was done with accuracy as some items were safety related and had to be carried out with brevity – in as short as time as possible – which was difficult with some items as they had to be prematurely aged.

The time frame was always short as the demand from the works and networks was ever pressing on this little group of inspectors who carried out this critically important role.

Lamps, cable, rubber, paint and even the hardness of files for use by fitters were tested on a daily basis.

The work was repetitive and yet this team stayed together for years and I am sure they were the unsung backroom boys of the GWR.

Testing shunting poles – what a strange thing to do, but the shunting pole was a quick, safe way to hook on and off wagons.

It saved the shunter from scrabbling under the wagon and, as was normal practice, wagons were loose shunted.

It also meant that shunters did not have to stand between wagons as they were loose shunted.

Every individual pole was tested in a special jig and there must have been many thousands in use at any one time.

Jill Greenaway contacted me about her father Edwin Charles Porter, who was known as Ted, seen standing tall and proud in the photo with his dependable shunting pole.

Ted was born in 1896 and lived in Suffolk Street and joined the GWR as a lad shunter, which was possibly when he was aged about 12, as this was quite normal in that era.

He saw service in the latter part of the First World War in the Royal Navy and was present at the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow at the end of hostilities.

He returned to shunting at Transfer Yard and remained there until he retired as head shunter/ inspector in the early 1960s. He worked shifts throughout his life and also kept an allotment near to Plesseys factory. In his spare time he would enjoy a drink with other railway workers in the Princess, Bright Street.

Jill told me that her father was given a fob watch for 50 years service on the railway and it was one of his prized possessions.

However, she fondly remembers Christmases as a youngster as Christmas Day started depending on what turn/shift her father was on. If it was 6am-2pm then it was after 2pm before they could sit down with dad and open their presents.

This was very much like my own childhood, as life very much ran to a railway timetable!