Help - any Railway Buffs out there?

[suedent]

My ggg-grandfather John SYMONS (bap Liskeard 8 Jun 1834) worked his way up from Brakesman (1861), Railway Porter (1871 & 1881) to Railway Stationmaster (1891 & 1901).

In the 1893 Kellys Directory for Liskeard he is listed as the Stationmaster at Moorswater which would fit as the family lived at Looe Mills/Moorswater (Liskeard Borough).

I have checked the database of Staff that joined GWR when they took over the Liskeard/Looe lines but he is not listed. As he was 66 in the 1901 census I think that perhaps he chose to retire rather than to work under the new management. Or perhaps the new management decided he was too old.

Are there any staff records for the Liskeard & Caradon or Liskeard & Looe Companies that I might search for more information on John.

Sue

[MarkJ]

I know a railway buff not far from me. Not promising anything, but if anyone will know if records exist, I think he would. I shall give him a call - I don't think he has email.

Mark

Edit: Just tried ringing him on the number I have - but it doesn't accept incoming calls :( I shall see if I can find another contact number.

[Sue Mackay]

No such company according to the listings in "Was Your Grandfather a Railwayman?" - nothing under Liskeard at all - but there was a Cornwall Railway

Records at Kew [Rail 134]
1889 Amalgamation with GWR Staff details [40]

[suedent]

There was a Liskeard & Caradon Railway that opened in 1846 and Moorswater was part of that line, that much I have found from my research. It served mainly to carry goods from Caradon & Cheesewring down to the Liskeard Canal.

GWR took it over in 1909, sadly a little too late for John to be listed.

[Mythology]

No promises, but try popping over to the TNA catalogue and searching.
That gave me zillions of hits, most of them probably irrelevant, but including things like RAIL366, Liskeard and Caradon Railway Company: Records, 1843-1909.
RAIL367, Liskeard and Looe Union Canal Company (afterwards Liskeard and Looe Railway Company), 1825-1922.

No idea what's in them, but Michael J Messenger, author of "Caradon and Looe: The Canal, Railways and Mines" (Twelveheads Press, 1978) says, with some justification, that...
"Some very fundamental mistakes have been made, even by MacDermot, and perpetuated by historians of less standing. I have assembled this story almost entirely from original or contemporary sources with but rare resort to existing published works.
The prime source for both railways and canal has been the Companies' Minute Books, preserved in the British Transport Records and now in the care of the Public Record Office."
...so that sounds the best bet to me.

(a bit of speculation to add, but fingers need a break)

[suedent]

No promises, but try popping over to the TNA catalogue and searching.

Thanks for that, I've got to hand the PC over to my daughter just now, but that looks like a good way to spend my evening.

Sue

[Mythology]

Now, this could be a red herring, but...

In those 1909 staff records that you looked at, is there another Symons listed with the initial "J."? If not, then perhaps he changed jobs and, as you say, then retired at the take-over.
There is no specific mention of him in the text, but Mike Messenger's book does include a photograph (a group one, so recognition is probably not on) of "The 53 staff of the Liskeard & Looe Railway posed in front of the engine shed at Moorswater, December 1908, immediately prior to the GWR take-over."
At the end of the back row, we find "J. Symons, shed man."

[Mythology]

In support of the rather tenuous theory that he may have changed jobs...

The steep spiral from Coombe Junction to Liskeard opened just after the 1901 census. Trains actually began running over the new line on 8 May 1901, but the "official" opening, with all the ceremony, using their nice new carriages instead of the old LCR stock, was 15 May 1901.
From the opening of the new line, Moorswater ceased to be a *passenger* station, so the post of stationmaster there would presumably have disappeared.
(Edit - and at that age, maybe he wasn't interested in moving to Liskeard even if they offered?)

[suedent]

Now, this could be a red herring, but...

In those 1909 staff records that you looked at, is there another Symons listed with the initial "J."? If not, then perhaps he changed jobs and, as you say, then retired at the take-over.
There is no specific mention of him in the text, but Mike Messenger's book does include a photograph (a group one, so recognition is probably not on) of "The 53 staff of the Liskeard & Looe Railway posed in front of the engine shed at Moorswater, December 1908, immediately prior to the GWR take-over."
At the end of the back row, we find "J. Symons, shed man."

There were several Symons mentioned. The trouble is that several Symons families lived in the Moorswater area, some more closely related to me than others. My gg-grandfather was Joseph, he had a brother John & a few cousins called John.
There were also several unrelated Symons families in the Liskeard area.

It looks like I'm going to have to wait until the 1911 census to discover if the J Symons in the photo is one of mine.

Sue

[Mythology]

My gg-grandfather was Joseph, he had a brother John & a few cousins called John.Oh, blast - it probably is just coincidence then. :(
Oh well, back to the drawing board, crossed fingers, Kew and Colindale I suppose. I don't know what the paper was like by that time, but back in the 1860s you couldn't sneeze on the railway without the Cornish Times reporting it - and if the shortlived Liskeard Gazette had still been going it would probably have made the front page.
(OK, OK, I exaggerate just ever so slightly ;))

[suedent]

I generally spend a couple of hours or so in Liskeard Library when I make a trip home. They have the Cornish Times archives on film. My latest list of look-ups is growing rapidly, a couple of inquests are top priority.

The trouble is when trawling through the CT archives I'm easily distracted & end up reading the articles which seriously eats into my research time! Oh that the CT was as interesting today.

Little snippets about "well respected" citizens being caught riding pushbikes without lights & then trying to flee the police just wouldn't make it in todays paper.

Dad particularly liked that article as he knew the farmer in question & had been in awe of him as a child - quite a suprise & good for a giggle.

Sue