At the height of the railway age, more than one million people worked on the Britain’s railways. They were employed in a wide range of capacities from porters and labourers, to those who worked on the footplate and in the board room. All of these people were essential to the smooth running of the industry. Drawing upon the extensive archives of the Great Western Railway now housed in Steam: Museum of the Great Western at Swindon, Tim Bryan had written a book which provides a vivid portrait of life as a railway worker during the age of steam, and adds much to our knowledge of the social history of an age well within living memory.
Whilst countless generations of small boys may have dreamed of becoming engine drivers, and the top-link driver on the great named expresses of the age of steam may have been the pinnacle of the railways, in terms of popular perception, these individuals could only have got there with the assistance of myriad other trades and after years of progressing through the more junior grades of footplate staff. From the humble junior porter through to the chairman of the board, the railways employed a vast array of different trades, all of whom were essential in keeping the trains running. Some of these jobs, such as that of the track gangs, are still an important part of the maintenance of the modern railway, but many others, such as blacksmiths, have now disappeared.
If to the outsider, life on the railways may have seemed glamorous, the reality was often that the work was harsh, dirty and dangerous with poor pay and limited expectations for promotion. First published in hardback in June 2004, and now new in paperback, this book provides an evocative portrait of an era that will have a resonance for all those countless families with relatives who once worked in the railway industry. Whilst this is based on the GWR and the Western Region of British Railways, the picture it presents is typical of life on the railway, right across the British Isles.
Author: Tim Bryan
Title: All in a Day's Work: Life on the GWR
Format: Paperback 160 pages
Publisher: Ian Allan Ltd
Pub date: October 2007
ISBN: 9780711033009
