Lionel Noble
At the age of 16 Lionel began work for the South Australian Railways (SAR) at the Islington workshops on September 6, 1941. He was employed in the heavy machine shop where he operated a large radial drill. Up to that time he had made numerous attempts to enter the railway service where he hoped to be a fireman, but he was always unsuccessful because of his age. His path to being a fireman eventually began when he transferred to the Mile end depot and trained as a cleaner.
In 1943 Lionel was temporarily transferred to Mount Gambier and then, at the age of 19, was transferred to Peterborough where he remained until being transferred back to Adelaide in 1975. At the time the Peterborough division was very busy with many troop movements as well as the regular freight between the Broken Hill mines and the Port Pirie smelters. Lionel qualified as an engineman at the age of 23, the youngest driver in the SAR at the time. In 1954, after a number of years working the lines in the Peterborough division, he was offered the role of relieving Locomotive Instructor. He became a full-time instructor in 1960. He approached this job with a high degree of diligence, undertaking extra study in his own time. He ultimately instructed hundreds of men on both the T class locomotives and the 400 class Garrett.
In 1963, in preparation for the arrival of diesel locomotives on the Peterborough Division Lionel, along with two others, was rostered to attend a diesel locomotive instruction course. He again spent many hours of his own time studying the technical details of the diesels so that he could be well-prepared when having to instruct drivers. He drove the first 830 class diesel (number 856) on the Peterborough division, delivering it from Cockburn to Peterborough. Lionel passed his Locomotive Inspector’s examinations in 1968 and was appointed to the position on August 8 that year. He transferred to Adelaide in August 1975.
Because of his experience with the 830 class, he accompanied the first diesel to Tasmania when the railway system was taken over by Australia National. He was to travel there numerous times to train drivers in mainline operation. Just prior to retiring, he was given the task of rewriting the Consolidated Book of Instructions and to write an air brake manual. He retired on March 30 1984 after 43 years of service. Lionel spent all his retirement years in the Reynella area of Adelaide, South Australia. He died shortly after his 90th birthday on September 10, 2015 at Bethsalem Nursing Home, Happy Valley.
Lionel was a keen amateur photographer and the photos on this website are the bulk of thousands that he has taken and collected over the years. The photographs vary significantly in quality but those of lesser quality have still been used as they add to the sense of living history. Lionel also loved Peterborough and its history, spending many hours in his retirement undertaking extensive historical research. All his photographs and research material have been donated by the family to the Peterborough History Group and can be accessed there. His historical artefacts relating to the South Australian Railways are on display in the Peterborough YMCA Museum. In the mid-1970s and 80s he also accumulated well over 100 hours of interviews with current and former residents of Peterborough. Those tapes are now held in the collection of the State Library of South Australia.
Contact
This site is run by Lionel's son Jeff. Feel free to make contact through the adjacent form if you would like further information or requests for copies of photos.