In this post, long-term volunteer Philip James thinks about some of the practical issues in project work, particularly under Covid. This helps us both appreciate what it is project volunteers are doing, and how they do it – important if we’re to be transparent about how the data is created and the choices made along […]
Archive | Guest contribution
John Hurrell – rushing on a platform
This week our blog features a guest post, from Marc Treloar, a 2nd year student at the University of Portsmouth. It’s particularly nice for us to include, as he and fellow student Archie McDermott-Paintin worked with project co-lead Mike to use project data and insight. They did this as part of their work on the […]
John Pratt (1869 – 1914)
By Sarah Maczugowska on October 11, 2021 in Accident reports, Blog, Family History, Guest contribution, Linking sources, War
Earlier this year we were contacted by the author of this blog post, Sarah Maczugowska, seeking information about her Great Grandfather John Pratt’s role on the railway – in particular, the ‘special guard duty’ during the First World War that was to result in his death. Whilst we couldn’t help directly, when knew someone who […]
Suicide Incidents on the Midland Railway, 1895-1901
In this guest blog post, one anonymous project volunteer looks at a very specific aspect noticed in the entries in the volume of one railway company’s casualty records: suicide. This is a challenging topic, in many ways, which might account for its neglect so far as railway history goes. We’ve previously featured a blog post […]
Who Was Cricpante Rego?
By Chris Jolliffe on November 2, 2020 in Accident reports, Blog, Family History, Guest contribution, International, Linking sources
Around two weeks’ ago, we put out a request on our Twitter account to find out more about ‘Cricpante Rego’ – and as well as receiving some helpful ideas very quickly, one of our project volunteers, Chris Jolliffe, was inspired to dig further. She came up with this guest post, which reveals a fascinating story. […]
Ten Men Memorial, at Queensbury Tunnel
This week’s guest post seems fitting, coming after last week’s look at the 1921 Stapleton Road accident and thinking about how we remember those who have been killed or injured at work on the railways. Typically we focus on the operational years, rather than construction – but here the post, from the Queensbury Tunnel Society, […]
Barbara Stainsby: A Munitions Worker to Blame for Her Own Death
By Laura Noakes on September 13, 2021 in Accident aftermath, Blog, Gender, Guest contribution, Industrial, War
Whilst blog posts have largely reflected our project sources and focus, and looked at mainline railways in the UK and Ireland, this doesn’t capture all of the railway activity – and dangers – in our nations. Plenty of railway systems were privately-owned and operated – like the coal railways which came to be part of […]
On Track for Change: North Road Works’ Artificial Limb Bench
We’re delighted to feature this blog post from a team at the Head of Steam – Darlington Railway Museum. It focuses on a topic of great interest to our project – provision for injured staff after an accident, via prosthetic limbs. It arises from the exhibition currently on at the Museum, on this important topic. […]
Charles Stewart, 1806-1864
By Pauline Figliolini on August 30, 2021 in Accident aftermath, Blog, Family History, Guest contribution
This guest blog post, from Pauline Figliolini, came about after Pauline had found the project and enquired about early staff accident records. Sadly we didn’t have further details to help directly, but we made a couple of suggestions and after a few emails back and forth Pauline not only found more information on her Great […]
On Track for Change: Receiving an artificial limb
By Head of Steam Team on August 23, 2021 in Accident aftermath, Blog, Disability, Guest contribution
We’re delighted to welcome back the team from Head of Steam – Darlington Railway Museum, with more from their ‘On Track for Change’ exhibition. This post looks at some of the people who received artificial limbs manufactured at the North Road Works in Darlington – including one necessitated by service in the First World War. […]
