The Stationmaster
John with Ann, who herself has worked on the railway since 1970.
John Hayton
John Hayton has been working at Longleat for almost 42 years, the first 10 years employed by Minirail and then as the manager/stationmaster employed by Longleat itself, following Minirail's departure from Longleat.
John comes from a railway background, his father and two brothers worked on the railway. In 1956 John began working at Appleby West Station and then in the Signal & Telegraph Department on the Settle to Carlisle line, between Appleby and Carlisle. In the mid 1960's the railways, as a whole, seemed to be in decline so John sought employment elsewhere. He began working for a company called Osmonds, based in Grimsby, who wanted a manager in the Castle Cary depot. Having married his wife Ann earlier in 1965, he left her in Appleby and headed south to stay with a cousin, travelling home at weekends. This proved too tiring and so he started returning home every 3rd weekend. It was on one of the weekends he didn't return home that he visited Longleat, and obviously the railway. After chatting with Les Anderson, he found he now had something to do at weekends.
With John working as a vetinary manager week days and Longleat Railway at weekends, John decided to buy a house. Ann came south in December 1965 and saw the house for the first time on the day they moved in !!
Minirail's lease from Longleat expired during 1975 and new terms could not be agreed between the two parties and so Minirail departed to start up a railway elsewhere. Longleat now needed someone to run what was left of the railway once Minirail had departed with their equipment. The obvious choice was John Hayton, who became manager in 1976. He has overseen and driven forward some major changes while he has been manager, firstly changing the single line out & back into a loop, having new engine sheds built and bringing a feel of 'the golden age of steam' to the whole station area, to mention some. He has been fortunate enough to meet some of the biggest names in the narrow gauge railway world, Rev. W. Awdry, Rev. Teddy Boston, Ivo Peters, Robin Butterell. There have been many famous passengers on the railway from the world of politics, cinema and television
One of John's proudest moments was the naming of the new 0-6-2 pannier tank engine in 2005. It was officially named John Hayton, by the 7th Marquess of Bath, as a tribute to the decades of effort and hard work he has put in to Longleat Railway. Although he retired in 2005, this only meant doing one day less a week and he is, very much, still the driving force behind the changes taking place today.
Gallery
John and the rest of us doing trackwork in the snow during winter 2006.
Relaying track in Feburary 2006.
It wasn't snowing but it was biting wind during January 2007.
Pulling out of the station on the back of the train in 1981. John, myself and Alan going to empty rubble from the small wagon. We don't do it like that anymore !!