Great Western Railway 'Camp Coaches' - 1935

In the inter-war years large numbers of Victorian railway carriages were taken out of service and transformed into 'camp coaches.' One of the largest providers of these was the Great Western Railway, and in April 1935 the company's staff magazine carried a feature on them with images from one stationed at Dyffryn-on-Sea in North Wales. The article revealed that for the coming summer the number of coaches the company would be offering around its network was being increased to thirty-eight. Available for six, eight or ten people, all came equipped with a living room, kitchen and two sleeping compartments. The cost of such accommodation, which the magazine stated would not increase during the holiday season, was £3 per week for a six berth coach, £4 for an eight and £5 for a ten.

"The Guards have a Top Coat served out once a year" - Railway clothing 1848

Railway employee's working clothes in the Victorian period were usually provided by the company. However, because this was an expense for the companies, they were usually very precise in how much they provided to their employees, as demonstrated by these regulations from the Great Western Railway's rule book of 1848:

[1] The National Archives, RAIL 1134/148, General Instructions to Superintendents, Clerks, Guards, Policemen, Porters &c. &c. -1848

The Great Western before the Great Western - 1826

I was recently contacted by someone asking if I could help them find anything about the London and Bristol Rail Road. This wasn't an early form of the Great Western Railway that came to be promoted in the early 1830s, but another project that planned in 1826 that never came to fruition. Indeed, searching through the on-line nineteenth century newspapers only turned up one article as follows from the Bristol Mercury of Monday June 5 of that year:

If you have any more information on this project, please let me know!

The Expected Politeness of Railway Officials - 1848 (N.B. To be read with an innocent mind)

I went off to The National Archives last week to photograph some early railway rule books. While I haven't finished reviewing them, this rule from the 1848 Great Western Railway rule book particularly interested me. Just a warning - you should really read it with an innocent mind ;)

Examinations for New Railway Clerks - 1850s and 60s

By the 1860s if you wanted to be clerk on Britain's railways, and stand a chance of eventually joining the ranks of management, you had to undergo an examination to prove your abilities. However, different railway companies introduced examinations at different times. The first known company to introduce such testing was the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway, who, under the General Manager, Edward Watkin, introduced them in 1854 as part of his management training scheme. The test was designed to train youths who were 'superior by education or birth.'[1] A year later the London and North Western Railway also introduced exams under the guidance of Richard Moon, one of the company's directors.[2] Furthermore, by 1861 all those in line for a clerical situation on the Great Western Railway also had to undertake a short arithmetic test.[3] Lastly, in 1860 the London and South Western Railway introduced exams for new clerks in ‘writing, spelling, copying and common arithmetic.'[4] The precise content of these examinations is unknown. However, I'd love to see one at some point to find out.


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[1] Hodgkins, David, The Second Railway King: The Life and Times of Sir Edward Watkin, (Landybie, 2002), p.124
[2] Braine, Peter, The Railway Moon - A Man and his Railway: Sir Richard Moon and the L&NWR, (Taunton, 2010), p.99
[3] Unknown Author, The Hand-Book Guide to Railway Situations, (London, 1961), p.8 
[4] The National Archives, RAIL 411/4, Court of Directors Minute Book, Minute 1191, 2 February 1860

A Serious Charge Against a Station Master - 1888

In the later nineteenth century the station master was seen as a respectable member of society who was usually beyond reproach. However, occasionally I find the odd individual that betreyed this image, such as this case from 1888 of the Great Western Railway's Station Master at Yarnton, near Oxford:

'Before Oxford City Magistrate this morning George Taylor Beavington, station master at Yarnton, and his wife were charged with stealing and receiving from a brake-van on the Great Western Railway, in transit from Charlbury to Oxford on May 31st, a post office mail-bag and contents, including a five-pound note. - The evidence showed that on being questioned by the Inspector the male prisoner admitted he had taken the bag. - Both Prisoners were remanded for a week.[1]

Naturally, Beavington lost his job immediately, and when the case was eventually heard by the Oxford Assize Court on 25 June he was sentenced to twelve months hard labour. The case against his wife was not proceeded with.[2]

[1] The North-Eastern Daily Gazette, Friday, June 08, 1888
[2] The York Herald, Tuesday, June 26, 1888

Testimonial to a Railwayman - 1854

The increasingly professional early railways also saw the the development of a community spirit amongst railway workers. Indeed, this was exemplified by the testimonial, where groups of railway workers would present their colleagues with gifts to celebrate their long service or achievements. Indeed, this case, from 1854, is a prime example that shows how managers could be respected by their piers and subordinates:

"We have much pleasure in recording a gratifying tribute of respect and esteem which has been paid to Mr Ashbee, the worthy and efficient superintendent of the Gloucester branch of the Great Western Railway, by the clerks porters, and general servants on that portion of the company's line extending from Swindon to the junction with the Hereford, Ross and Gloucester line. The event to which we allude took place on Friday, at the Wellington Hotel, near the Great Western station, where a number of clerks and servants of the company, stationed between Gloucester and Swindon, assembled under the presidency of Mr Forbes, the manager of the goods department at Paddington. The testimonial consisted of a handsome silver teapot, sugur-basin, and cream-ewer, from the manufactory of Mr Mann, the Cross, and bore the following inscription:- "this tea services is presented to John Ashbee, Esq., as a token of the high esteem in which he is held by the men employed under him on the Gloucester branch of the Great Western Railway, Jan. 20, 1854"[1]

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[1] Jackson's Oxford Journal, Saturday, January 28, 1854

Great Western Railway Marriage Allowance - 1912-1920s

Usually in the front of many railway staff record books can be found the employment policies that the companies operated. Indeed, when browsing one such record book from the Great Western Railway (GWR) titled 'Locomotive and Carriage Department Female Clerks - 1910-1938', I discovered the development of the company's gratuity policy for when the company's female staff got married and were, like most jobs for women in the period, made to leave the service. The policy was laid down shortly after the company engaged its first female clerks in 1910, as follows:

'Maximum allowance £10 S.C.M. [Special Committee Minute] 254 of Sept 1912'

However, in 1922 it seems that the conditions under which the £10 was given were tightened up, limiting it to those who had served for greater than five years.

Sir Felix Pole

'Marriage Allowance - Applicable to women clerks who entered the service before 12th November 1920 provided they have 5 years service to their credit and leave the service for the purpose of getting married. (S.C.M. 670 of Novr 1922)'

Another circular on the matter was issued in 1925. Because of the Railways Act 1921, which merged Britain's 120-ish railways into four, in 1923 the GWR had absorbed numerous smaller railways. Clearly its management, and more specifically the company's General Manager, Felix Pole, took the opportunity to restrict the issuing of gratuities further, not allowing it to female clerks who had served on the newly acquired lines:

October 13th 1925 -  'Marriage allowance not payable to women clerks on amalgamated lines -Will you please note that the provision of the above minute are not applicable to Women Clerks transferred from the amalgamated or absorbed lines. - Yours truly, for F.J.C. Pole [General Manager] (sgd) H.C.A.'

Yet, the tightening up of the rules regarding the gratuity didn't stop there. In an effort to monitor them more closely, in 1926 Pole ordered that when they were given they should always be confirmed by his office.

August 5th 1926 - 'Marriage Allowance - With reference to Staff Committee Minute No. 670, will you please note in the future all recommendations for the payment of marriage gratuities should be submitted to this Office before the amounts are entered in the paybills - Yours truly, for F.J.C. Pole [General Manager] (sgd) T.B.H.'

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[1] All information from  The National Archives, RAIL 264/261, Numerical register of female clerks: 1-724

Staff at the New Basingstoke Station - 1905

Mr Prince - Station Master

In 1905 the London and South Western Railway opened their rebuilt and enlarged Basingstoke Station. This new station was a major step in the company's project of widening its main lines. Indeed, Basingstoke was a major interchange station, where the company's lines to Southampton and the West Country converged. Additionally, the Great Western Railway had its own station there, adding to the traffic. Thus, the newly rebuilt station had a large staff under the station master, Mr Prince, and the number of individuals in each position were listed by Railway Magazine in April 1905. Thus, the article gave a good idea how the staff of medium to large Edwardian stations were constituted. The numbers were as follows:

14 Clerks (goods and telegraph)
3 Station Inspectors
21 Shunters
3 Yard Foremen
9 Guards
3 Ticket Collectors
6 Parcel Porters
22 Signalmen
8 Porters and goods staff
41 Miscellaneous

Total: 130

A Drowned Express Train - 1875

Flooding has been a continual problem for railways since their inception. In November 1875 large portions of the country were subject to flooding and the picture above from The Graphic illustrates how this affected the Bristol and Exeter Railway's services - they stopped them dead. Indeed, the article stated that the Great Western Railway was under water to such an extent that the reporter was able to canoe for half  a mile along the line, and that between Oxford and Abingdon passengers were taken off trains at Radley Station, to be conveyed to Oxford by vehicles 'of all descriptions.'[1]

[1] The Graphic (London, England), Saturday, November 27, 1875; Issue 313.

The Size of a Railway Company Boards

The number of directors that Victorian railway companies had varied from company to company. The factors determining the size of boards were dependent on a range of factors, including the intensity of the company's operations, the area it served and the external interests represented at board level. 

For example, the Great Western (GWR) and London and South Western Railways (L&SWR) had very different board sizes between the 1830s and 1915. In 1834 the GWR board had fifteen directors. However, the number fluctuated between sixteen and twenty-eight until 1878, when it stabilised at nineteen until 1922.[1] Yet, the L&SWR stabilised its smaller board size earlier in its history. It started with fifteen members in 1833, but consistently had twelve from 1860 onwards. Thus, the L&SWR had fewer men sit on its board up until 1915. Between 1834 and 1915 seventy-seven  men were L&SWR directors,[2] whereas for the GWR the total was 128.[3] Why the boards were different sizes is not entirely clear. However, it is suspected this was because the companies served different geographical areas, the GWR's being larger, and there were more vested interests involved in the GWR that had to be accommodated.

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[1] Channon, Geoffrey, Railways in Britain and the United States 1830-1940, p.165

[2] The National Archives [TNA], RAIL 1110/281, 283 and 284, London and South Western Railway Reports and Accounts 1831-1922

[3] Channon, Railways in Britain and the United States , p.180

Retaining 'good' Clerks at the Cost of Innovation

I am always interested in why railway management in the late nineteenth century stagnated in terms of ideas. It should be remembered, that in the period the vast majority of companies' influential managers came from the clerical staff and from within the Traffic Department. Indeed, by the turn of the century, most senior managers had joined the companies as junior clerks in the 1870s and 1880s, had very fixed career paths and felt it was their right to advance up the promotional ladder. This meant that there were few new ideas coming into railway management as those below in the hierarchy simply filled the place of those who had left above them.

Yesterday, through the library, I acquired a copy of Michael Heller's new book London Clerical Workers 1880-1914. Heller quoted a memorandum from a Great Western Railway (GWR) manager, A.W. Solten, that explained why the company preferred new clerks and  managers to come from inside the company, rather than from externals sources; something they were considering but eventually dropped as an idea:

"Hitherto the practice has been to draw from the general staff to fill such positions, the men who, by their ability, zeal and assiduity, have singled themselves out for promotion outside the ordinary routine, and to whom the knowledge that the prizes of the service are open to all, has been an incentive to cultivate the good qualities they posses.
         The successful management and administration of a railway depend very largely on the zealous and capable discharge, by a contented staff, of duties, some of mere detail and routine, others involving in a greater or lesser degree the exercise of thought and judgement. To introduce into the service, however delicately, the mere suspicion that the chief positions are likley to be monopolized by a favoured few individuals, thereby arresting the natural flow of promotion through the service, would I feel convinced, causing a feeling of discontent which would operate to the detriment of the Company by reason of the removal to excel, which under existing circumstances tends to their benefit; and would also lead to the better men, who might leave the service for appointments outside such as would not otherwise attract them."

Therefore, Heller argued that the GWR was reluctant hire managers and clerks from outside the company because it would tie the individuals into it, mean low labour turnover and would motivate staff to improve themselves to advance up the hierarchy.[1] Yet, in a managerial sense, these things contributed to managerial innovation drying up within the late Victorian Railway, as the new managerial 'blood' simply replicated the practices of those who had gone before.

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[1] The National Archives, RAIL 258/400, Letter of A.W. Solten to G.K. Mills, 11 November 1900, in Heller, Michael, London Clerical Workers, 1880-1914, (London, 2011) p,52

PhD Snippet - Early Railway Directors

Bonavia argued the railway industry's early years that the boards of companies were formed from local individuals who had ‘a financial interest in better transport’. Indeed, he related how the formation of the Great Western Railway (GWR) was through a committee of Bristol-based businessmen representing various local bodies, such as the ‘Bristol Corporation, the Society of Merchant Venturers, the Bristol Dock Company, The Bristol Dock Company and the Bristol and Gloucestershire Railway.’ [1] Casson argued that these committees formed the basis of the early boards of directors, but those chosen for them were more likely to have some ‘practical business experience.’[2] Furthermore, Pollins stated that the directors of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway were ‘all important Liverpool and Manchester merchants, traders and civic figures.’[3]

I wrote a post on this topic in October 2010. - Commerce and Finance in Railway Promotion - To Bristol and Southampton we go!

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[1] Bonavia, Michael, R. The Organisation of British Railways, (Shepperton, 1971), p.10-11

[2] Casson, The world’s first railway system, p.284

[3] Pollins, Harold ‘The Finances of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway’, The Economic History Review, New Series D (1952), p.90

The First Pages of Railway Company Staff Magazines

I thought I'd just share some of the first pages of railway company staff magazines before World War One. The first shown is the original railway company staff magazine, the London and South Western Railway's South Western Gazette from June 1881. This is followed by The Great Western Railway Magazine and Temperance Union Recorder from November 1888. After this is The Great Central Railway Journal, from July 1905, and lastly is The Great Eastern Railway Magazine, published in January 1911. Unfortunately, I don't have an image of the final railway company staff magazine established before 1914, The London and North Western Railway Gazette, which began in 1912 (I think)

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