Edward Charlton my grandfather started on the railway in 1911 as a striker in Tyne Dock Sheds. He then moved on to become a relief porter at Tyne Dock and ticket collector at Ferryhill and Durham. His wife Julia White was a parcels clerk at Shields Station during the First World War from 1915 to 1919 and her sister Lily was a conductress on the NER buses from Shields to Cleadon. In 1931 he became a passenger guard at South Shields on the South Tyneside Electrics. He retired on the 20 October 1946. Edward died at the early age of 55 in 1947 due to the cumulative effects of mustard gas and a shrapnel wound which occured during his the First World War service in the railway battallion of the Northumberland Fusiliers.

My father George Charlton started his railway carreer in 1937 as a booking office clerk at East Boldon on the LNER. In 1940 he was called up for army service in the Second World War serving in the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers. He fought in North Africa where he was a sergeant and took part in the battles of El Alamein and Tobruck. He was awarded the Military Medal in 1945 when fighting in Central Italy where he was a platoon commander.

On leaving the army he quickly progressed from being a goods clerk at Jarrow to being a Relief Station Master covering the whole of the North East of England. The stations he served at ranged from Danby to Aysgarth, Allendale, Alston, Hexham, Blyth, Rothbury, Bellingham, Rowlands Gill, Chathill, Alnwick, and Kielder Forest, to name but a few. When not covering the relief station masters jobs he was goods agent at Elswick dealing with the heavey armourments sent out by Vickers Armstrongs. In 1949 he married my mother June who for a short time worked as a clerk at the Forth Goods Depot Newcastle. From 1957 to 1968 he was the station master at Benton and Backworth being in charge of twelve signal boxes and May 1968 top 1970 he was station master at Whitley Bay also covering Monkseaton and West Monkseaton. His stations were regular winners of the best kept station competitions.

During the 1970s the station masters were replaced by traffic managers and he became traffic manager for the Tyneside Area. From 1978 to 1981 he assisted with the building of the Tyne and Wear Metro tram system and eventually retired in 1984 after 47 years of railway service.

My fathers uncle Robert Charlton started as a signalman, later becoming station master at Low Fell and Bensham. He ended his days as District Signalling Inspector at Newcastle and died in 1937 whilst on duty during the installation of Newcastles east end diamond crossings. His son of the same name was a wagon examiner at Tyne Dock. My fathers other uncle George Watters was a locomotive driver at Tyne Dock and during the Second World War he was sure the German bombers used to chase his train as he opened the regulator wide leaving a trail of glowing embers making a dash for the safety of Tyne Dock Tunnel. It was common practice for my grandfather Edward and George Watters to arrange meets on the Newcastle to Shields line with George giving a blast on his whistle as steamed past. My fathers maternal grandfather George William White was a plate layer and coal trimmer at Tyne Dock.

Edward Charlton's uncle was also on the railway with John Smith Sanderson being a train driver at Heaton. His son, Jake was a carriage and wagon examiner and his daughter married William Batey who was a goods guard at Heaton. Johns other daughter married Fred Walters who was Shed Master at Ferry Hill and then Leeds. Freds son Norman Walters was a signalman at Leeds.

I (Malcolm Charlton) was introduced to railways from an early age. I lived for a number of years in the station house at Benton where my father was Station Master. I would go round the signal boxes and stations with my father where I was often allowed to pull the leavers and send the appropriate bell signals. On occassions I would have a ride with the driver and sometimes even be allowed to have a drive. I started on the railways in 1976 working at Whitley Bay as summer relief. In 1980 I started full time at Manors as a clerk and quickly moved to Hexham booking office. On passing my inspectors rules I was appointed station supervisor Preston on the West Coast Main Line. In 1983 I was back in Newcastle as a station supervisor. On passing the 'block' my next job was Traffic Manager South Tyneside in charge of the freight depot at Gateshead. Heaton Depot was my next port of call where I was operating manager. In 1986 I was promoted to Duty Station Manager Newcastle in charge of the station and all signal boxes in the Tyneside area. When privatisation occured the signal boxes were handed over to Railtrack. GNER took over the station of which I was a manager until 2003.

In 2003 I left GNER and took up a post as safety officer with a railway civil engineering firm in Appleby who made good use of my operational skills!

In 2004 I moved again back to Tyneside and am now working for Nexus / Metro as their Head of Infrastructure Control at Gosforth in charge of the day to day operation of the Tyneside Rapid Transit System.