One of Alex's duties at Watford was working push and pull trains where the driver made the return journey from a compartment in the rear carriage. They ran between Watford Junction and St. Albans and also on the short branch from Harrow and Wealdstone to Stanmore via Belmont. The trains were used by men from the RAF base nearby and, according to Alex, used the trains for a little "pulling" of their own with willing participants from the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. Similar liasons took palce on the late night all stations service from Euston to Bletchley, so life had its lighter side for a wartime footplate man!