Many OHs will have seen the photograph of the steam locomotive Haileybury 30924 and its nameplate in the school Library. This engine was one of forty in the Schools class SR V, which was designed for Southern Railway in the 1930s, and named after significant Public Schools; these stayed in regular use until the early 1960s.

Reminded by reminiscences of fellow readers of RAIL magazine of their school-day memories of steam train travel, Humphrey Gillott (A 58) shares his memories of seeing Haileybury 30924:

“During the first week of the Summer Holidays in July 1961 (aged 16 years) I attended the school’s Combined Cadet Force (Army Section) camp with the Royal Welch Regiment at Crickhowell, in South Wales. We travelled from Paddington to Hereford and were hauled by steam, but I do not know what the locomotive was. From Hereford, we travelled by diesel multiple unit, to Abergavenny, and were then taken by Army lorries to the camp. As we passed Reading South Motive Power Depot, on our way to Hereford, I noticed that our School’s Class locomotive, 30924 “Haileybury”, was standing in the yard outside the depot. Quite a co-incidence! I think that this was the only occasion that I saw her. Each engine had a “shed plate” on the front of the engine, denoting which engine shed it belonged to. When I saw 30924 that day, it had just been transferred from Bricklayer’s Arms engine shed in south London to Redhill, in Surrey, and so my model has a “Redhill” shed plate of 75B.”

Humphrey has shared his photographs taken in the Library in 2023, together with his model railway Haileybury engine.

Humphrey writes: I left Haileybury in July 1963, soon after taking my “A” Levels, and started a 31-year career with Barclays Bank, three months later, in October. I worked mainly in branches in the London North-Western District of the Bank and I also had a five-year secondment to Head Office Inspection (Internal Audit), at the end of the 1970s. I took early retirement from the Bank in January 1995 and a year later joined a Christian Mission Agency, “Church’s Ministry among Jewish People”. I spent 5 ½ years with them until June 2001, and a year later, in July 2002, I joined the Railway Mission as a railway chaplain, and was with them, apart from a two-year gap, until February 2018, when I finally retired. At around 2015, my brother, Roland (A 61), suggested that I might write my autobiography, with particular reference to my time with the Railway Mission, and that he would, very kindly, arrange for the publication of it. He and his wife, Rae, did a tremendous amount for me, with regard to my script, in preparing it ready for publication, for which I was very grateful. My book was published in 2016, and the title is, “Journeys of a Railway Chaplain”.

Copies of this lovely book can be obtained from: Humphrey Gillott, 5. Haynes Mead, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, HP4 1BU, e-mail address humphreygillott@outlook.com. The price is £12 per copy, including postage and packing.

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Powered by Steam – Haileybury 30924

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