Further Ramblings of Railwaymen - Chapter 9 - Denis Turner - Weymouth (Part 1)

Denis Turner - Weymouth We again move away from Guildford MPD to hear of some experiences from a man I first met when I was working at Surrey Police as a Crime Information System and Police National Computer Trainer in 1996. We didn’t realise it until we started chatting in the canteen one day that we had led parallel lives. Denis had started work as an engine cleaner at Weymouth in 1960 just before I’d started my career as an engine cleaner at Guildford in 1961. He’d graduated to become a fireman as I had and then after steam ended in 1967, moved to Dorking EMU depot in 1969 to obtain his driving job and I moved to Effingham Junction EMU depot in 1973. We didn’t realise it then, but we probably saw each other at various places during our initial driving career and probably had our PN break at Waterloo drivers’ room at the same time on a number of occasions! Denis’s interest waned a little being at a ‘juice only’ depot, and as it was no longer the job that he had joined as a boy, he decided to change careers (as I did later following privatisation in 1994) and he joined Surrey Police, firstly as a probationer and finally ending up as manager of No.5 Police Dog Training School at HQ, Mount Browne, Guildford. Here is Part 1 of Denis’s fascinating ramblings....