The Aldershot Grunt

Wednesday morning at Moorewood Colliery high up in the Mendip Hills Derek & Clive are looking at the motley collection of 2ft 3 inch gauge tipper wagons used for transporting the coal from the colliery to the mainline. Apparently it’s rumoured that Roco based their popular HOe gauge narrow gauge wagons on the ones here, but of course that’s probably just nonsense.

Hubert the conversational Latin speaking horse over the the distance is trying to confuse Barry Bullhead, the charmless time and motion man from The Ministry of Misery by only speaking in Latin. Barry is a straightforward man, and only really fluent in what’s known as ‘Aldershot Grunt’, which mostly only consists of ‘yeah’, ‘no’, lager’ and phrases like ‘you lookin’ at my bird mister’.

Derek & Clive, whilst being men of Somerset, served their national service around the Aldershot area, so understand Barry reasonably well, but pay no attention to him whatsoever by looking confused and replying in their best ‘Zummerzet’.

For narrow gauge fanciers, they’re standing on the 19 inch gauge railway which brings the coal tubs up from the coal face 600 feet below via the pithead in the distance. Hubert today being rostered to pull them up the bank for loading in to the tipper wagons here.

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