Glass salt dish

I inherited the dish from my godfather Mr. Reginald Garlick of Kirby Muxloe. His father was signalman at Kirby Muxloe Station for many years and this dish functioned as an ashtray in the signal box. When he retired Mr. Garlick took the dish with him as a keepsake. The story goes that it was from Glenfield and was originally a salt dish that was part of the luncheon set for a platform collation in honour of the distinguished guests on the first train in 1832.

However this may not be entirely true. Accounts of the opening on 17th July 1832, when Planet Class locomotive "Comet", built by George Stephenson at his works in Sunderland, transported to Leicester by sea and river, and driven that day by Stephenson himself, confirm that "Comet" lost its chimney in Glenfild Tunnel and that it stopped at Glenfield Station for passengers to wash the soot off at Rothley Brook. However they clearly state that the stopping point for a collation to be served to the dignataries was the then terminus at Bagworth - not Glenfield. So the folk memory that comes down to us with the dish may be out by a couple of stations.

Stuart Bailey