Indeed, it was a good Board, but the Chairman,
though a shrewd far-seeing man, had, like John Gilpin's spouse, "a frugal
mind," and Lord Pirrie's bold commercial spirit quite eclipsed his
cautious ways. One instance will suffice to exemplify this, and also to
illustrate the novelty of my new duties, which were delightful in their
diversity and activity to one whose life hitherto had been confined to
sedentary work.
It was the rolling stock that demanded the most urgent attention--engines,
carriages and wagons and especially carriages. Of carriages there were
not enough for the traffic of the line, and many were in a very sorry
condition, particularly those which had been taken over with the Holywood
and Bangor Railway, acquired by the company the previous year. One
weekend, soon after I joined the service, I had all passenger carriages
brought into Belfast, except those employed in running Sunday trains, and
early on the Sunday morning (it was in the summer) with the company's
locomotive and mechanical engineer I examined each carriage thoroughly
from top to bottom, inside and out, above and below, and with his
practical help and expert knowledge, noted carefully down the defects of
each.
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