Genealogy Chat

Google railway museums or rail history... lots of different sites. Also try british historyonline. Stockton and Darlington was the first railway in 1820 I think. M

I have a number of rellies who work on the railways as I did at one time. The gangs that worked building the railways worked for a construction company much like working for Jarvis or AMEC today, they would complete the contract and then move onto the next and that could be anywhere. Platelayers were named after the plates in which the rails were fixed, these were first laid onto the sleepers then the rails slotted in, then held in place by wooden wedges, you would see gangs of men who were then employed by the railway company walking the line tapping in any loose wedges. With ref to 'Fogging' men were employed to put small explosive devices on the line when fog was about, to give the engine drivers advanced warning of hazards eg Fog, these devices were about the size of the base of a wine bottle and had metal straps which folded around the rail to hold them in place. These often emitted coloured smoke to identify what type of hazard was up ahead. Kevin

Thanks Margaret, Yes - I guess that was my working assumption that alot of these were 'hired gangs' and finding actual records of employment would be near impossible, thats why I was worried that I was stretching my theory too far. I suppose the fact that the Dates and Locations match is a strong indication that they at least followed the LNWR knowing there would be work wherever they were building new lines. Cheers...Paul

Paul, I don't think you'll have much luck finding records of the men that built the railways - because they didn't actually work for the railway company. My Gt.Grandfather was a tunneller, he lived in various parts of the country - I've been able to track (excuse the pun) his movements with the building of railways. M. Steer

I'm interested in this too, as I have a rellie who was a wheeltapper on the GWR

http://www.lnwrs.org.uk/Glossary/glossarypa.php Just found this...........quite a good description of occupations

I've een trying to find out a bit about Plate Layers myself as my Grandad had that job. He lived in a tiny village in Bedfordshire but the main line went through and he only had to walk through the garden and across the field and he was there. He also used to 'go fogging' at night if called and I can only assume that this was if the weather was particularly foggy he had to show some sort of light..............not totally sure and haven't been able to find a web site that tells me

Thanks Kim I have my family at different locations at each census from 1851 onwards. I also have details of individual births that also pin point them at different locations. 1851 - Winslow, Bucks 1855 - Wellingborough, Northamptonshire 1861 - Beckjay, Shropshire 1862 - Newnham, Worcestershire 1871 - Ebbw Vale, South Wales 1881 - Walsall The family splits at this time as the father dies in 1888, from 1891 they spend there time in South Wales and Sheffield. These dates asnd locations all match with some infomration I found out about the London and North West Railway. http://www.lnwrs.org.uk/Map/index.php I guess I would love to find some kind of evidence that actually tied it all up. The other problem I have is that from 1861 onwards they are only recorded as 'Labourers' it is only the 1851 census that records William (the father) as Rail Labourer. Does anyone think taht I am stretching the connection ? Cheers...Paul

Hi Paul, My family were plate layers and gangmasters. In the early days when they were laying new lines they quite often lived in tents along the lines. They also did tend to move around a lot. They used to follow the work , so to speak. I know my family worked on the GWR and some of them also worked in Shropshire at times. Once the lines were finished they settled and worked on maintaining them , quite often living in rented cottages owned by the railway. Kim

watching this thread with interest as i to have rellies that worked on the railways . one may have gone to india for a while? dawn xx

Thanks Susan I've seen the first site before, however the Chapter 2 section of the 2nd site was really quite interesting - Thanks :) Does anyone have a view as to how 'Casual' Railway Labourers were??? To prove my theory of why my ancestors moved around I would love to find a work record of some type? Is this likely? Would they have recorded payment details for the Labourers ??? (I'm talking of the period 1851 - 1881) Cheers...Paul

most of my family were railway labourers in liverpool .x

I am watching this space with interest -i have a rail plate layer in my tree! Alice

Hi All, Are there any useful sites out there that wil give me a bit more of an insight into the work of the 'Railway Labourer'. I've tried googling and found a couple of sites on Genuki. I've also found a society site for the Railway Company I believe my ancestors worked for (LNWR). The problem is most of these site focus on the drivers, conductors, station masters etc, etc. Does anybody have any suggestions on where I might find out a little more about Railway Labourers. TIA ... Paul