Genealogy Chat

Have a lot of connections in the family to the railways. Would be interesting to try and link in peoples movements on the census records with the railways development.

this is something I have been looking into very recently myself. So far the best source i have found is Wikipedia - which shows a lot of information about when stations were opened. To understand how people moved about in teh late 1800's, you have to understand where the railways ran, it's a good idea for everyone to research the railways :-)

The wikipedia site gives interesting information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rail_transport Also http://mikes.railhistory.railfan.net/ I bought this book, because many of my family came from Suffolk and, having visited some of their villages, I wanted to see how they travelled. An Illustrated History of East Suffolk Railway

Great minds think alike, obviously :-)

Oh yes :-) And I even stayed at a B&B at Woodbridge Station in Suffolk - brilliant that was!

Thats why I'm looking. My great great grandfather was a train driver and his father in law worked on the railways, guess thats how he met his wife. The children are then born all over the country. Suspecting he was based at different stations!

One of my ancestors came from Fernham, near Swindon, and ended up living in Paddington and working as a signalman.... Swindon of course was where Brunel chose to site his main train depot on the Great Western Railway, and Paddington was its London terminal...... :-) Must have been fascinating for him, being there at the start of something big like the railway :-)

Don't forget the canals. In about 1832 a whole heap of Suffolk poor were transported by rail to London and then by canal to Lancashire as a labour force. Nobody under the age of 12(? may have been 10) was taken. Wif the kids were lucky Gran looked after them if not ... oh well, they were only kids weren't they? Clive

Good point. Alison, perhaps your original question should mention canals as well.... That's a scarey story, do you think that sort of thing happened often?

Yes Nicola I have labourers in the family born in Devon and Somerset that came up to Eastham to start working on the ship canal and then ended up moving towards Manchester as the work took them and thats why I've ended up being a Manc!!! Always been partial to the cider... must be my roots!!

My fiance is a bit of a railway buff - he's wanting to ultimately produce an interactive map of what railway lines opened where and when (and when Beeching closed them as well) Anyone whose family research has taken them in the direction of railways might be worth getting in touch with him via me to pool resources. Initially he plans to start with the Great Western Railway. :-)

There is a really easy to follow website detailing Growth and Impact of Railways at www.dspace.dial.pipex*com/town/terrace/adw03/peel/railways/railways.htm (Remember to replace * with .) Helen

Thanks Helen, an excellent starting point for what's going to be a mammoth undertaking!!!!

Thanks for all the tips. I have an ancestor who was born in Devon in the 1800's, got married in London and started his family in Chester, Cheshire. He became the manager of a railway works there. I didn't think they travelled so far in those days!

You have to remember that motor cars were purely for the very rich. Train travel was a cheaper way to go for the masses, and railways and stations were far more widespread in the late 1800s than they are today.... When you think about how your ancestors travelled about, you have to think about where railways and canals were, not so much roads :-)

For anyone else interested in the links between their family history and the railways, I have come across a map - Google 'New Adlestrop Railway Atlas' and you will find a PDF map of much of England and Wales showing all stations and branch lines that have ever existed. It's still a work in progress, many of the smaller stations in and around London are not shown yet, and there are gaps in coverage in the north and northwest of England - Scotland has not been done at all yet. Although it does not give dates of opening and closing of stations, it is an excellent starting point for finding out whether an actual station or line existed pre-Beeching. I've found that my signalman ancestor from near Swindon actually had a station much closer to home than Swindon itself :-)