How did railway employees learn their craft in the late 19th century and on into the 20th? For most grades it was by learning on…
At the moment, Glasgow Queen St station is undergoing a major redevelopment, which has included exposing the Victorian glass frontage, concealed for the last 40…
Yesterday our project Twitter feed (@RWLDproject) tweeted a case in which a worker attempted to apply a vacuum brake with a coupling pole. This caused…
How far could workers control their own fates? In the 19th century and well into the 20th it was believed by many – certainly the…
One of the important things that our database makes it easier for us to see is how often similar cases occur: whether it be the…
Last week I attended an interesting workshop at the University of Reading, looking at the history of freight transport. It touched upon all modes of…
In most cases, the people judged (by the companies or the Railway Inspectors) to have caused an accident were the ones who suffered. Presumably this…
Although the vast majority of people documented by the ‘Railway Work, Life & Death’ project as being injured or killed were employees of the various…
Around 20% of the accidents that were investigated by the railway inspectors and featured in this project were, tragically, fatalities. No question, then, that work…
A guest post, by Arthur Moore, one of the project’s volunteers Having spent some time inputting Board of Trade accident reports on to…