The railways were highly ordered and regulated spaces. They had to be, to ensure they ran and that (for passengers at least) they ran safely. But that doesn’t mean illicit travel wasn’t a problem. The railway companies employed their own police forces, to keep order, protect company assets and reassure the public. Of course, railway […]
Archive | Explore your Archives
Eagerly anticipating travel
As a project we’re keen on archives! No great surprise, given the records we rely upon are cared for in archives – and one of our partner institutions, the Modern Records Centre, is an archive, and another, the National Railway Museum, contains an archive. We also know that not everyone can get to physical archives […]
Explore your Archive week – a case from the archive: pinched feet
As part of Explore your Archive week (see yesterday’s post here) we’re going to be bringing you a couple of cases taken from the Railway Work, Life & Death project spreadsheet of railway worker accidents between 1911 and 1915. The spreadsheet was compiled by volunteers at the National Railway Museum, one of the project partners, […]
Explore your Archive week – what is wanted?
It’s all very well being aware there are institutions known as archives, which collect together, preserve and make available records from our past. Another piece of the puzzle is knowing what’s actually held in the archives – and The National Archives ‘Discovery’ catalogue is a great starting point for this. What happens after that is […]
Explore your Archive week – a case from the archive: road safety on the railway
As well as this being ‘Explore your Archive’ week (see yesterday’s post here), it’s also Road Safety Week, run by the charity Brake. Road accidents remain a major source of casualties in the UK, and a part of this relates to occupational road risks. Although we might not expect it, road accidents are a source […]
Explore your Archive week – making invisible archives visible?
This is our last post for Explore your Archive week (see the previous post here) – next week we’ll be returning to our usual weekly post, typically discussing a case from the project spreadsheet: do keep checking. In the meantime, we wanted to pose a challenge to our readers, to help us find railway worker […]
Explore your Archive week – our invaluable archives: thanks NRM!
This week is ‘Explore your Archive’ week, an initiative of The National Archives and the Archives and Records Association. It’s designed to raise awareness of the UK and Ireland’s rich archival holdings and encourage us to make more use of them – something the Railway Work, Life & Death project is keen to support. Our […]
