2024’s Disability History Month theme is ‘Disability livelihood and employment’. This is directly relevant to the Railway Work, Life & Death project. As many of…
On 10 November 1840, a steam locomotive named ‘Surprise’ exploded in Bromsgrove. It killed its crew, Joseph Rutherford and Thomas Scaife. The incident might perhaps…
Last week’s blog post looked at Railway 200, and we speculated about how people might get involved, including through the Railway Work, Life & Death…
By now, hopefully you’ll be aware of ‘Railway 200’ – a partnership campaign marking 200 years of railway travel since the Stockton & Darlington Railway…
10 September 2024 is the 150th anniversary of the Thorpe railway disaster. Two trains met head-on, two miles east of Norwich. Twenty-five died and 75…
It’s not often there’s the chance to tell the story of an ordinary railway worker’s accident on a national platform. James Welland’s 1898 injury offered…
Next week we’re heading north – sufficiently so that there aren’t any railways that feature in the project. We’re off to Shetland and Orkney, off…
June 2024 saw the 40th anniversary of the closure of Shildon Works, in County Durham. The closure, in 1984, hit Shildon hard, with the loss…
Earlier this month, Darlington’s railway museum opened in its revamped and reimagined format: Hopetown. Previously known as Head of Steam, it occupies the site of…
Railway Work, Life & Death Co-Lead and Library Manager at the National Railway Museum (NRM), Karen Baker, talks about the Museum’s use of the RWLD…