It’s been a month since the Railway Work, Life & Death project released our newest dataset – and it’s been a busy time! The new dataset comprised 69,000 individuals recorded by English and Welsh railway companies between 1855 and 1929. There’s more on that here. They’ve been added to our free database of pre-1939 accidents to British and Irish railway employees, available here.
The new cases came from records held by The National Archives of the UK, with whom we’ve been working over the last seven years. A dedicated volunteer team has been transcribing the records – painstaking, fiddly work, and it’s produced an amazing resource. Needless to say, we’re tremendously grateful to them for the many thousands of hours of work they’ve put in. It was particularly nice, therefore, to be able to hold the first public launch of the dataset at Kew, last month, and to thank the volunteers in public and personally.
Since then we’ve also held a dedicated Welsh launch, at Llanelli Goods Shed, courtesy of project collaborators Transport for Wales. There couldn’t have been a better venue for it, and it was brilliant there, as at Kew, to bring together so many interested people and organisations. It was another chance for us to recognise and publicly thank the volunteers, without whom none of this would be possible.
A month of the new data release
The reception of the dataset has been fabulous – over 2000 downloads in the first month, and tens of thousands of website views. It’s been picked up and publicised widely. That’s ideal as we want to see as many people as possible making use of it (so do please spread the word!). The conversation we recorded for the ‘Family Tree Talk’ podcast has just come out, too – available here.
We’ve been quiet on the blog, though. That wasn’t intentional, but the sheer volume of things going on at the moment meant that was the thing that had to wait. In particular, we’re rounding off two pieces of work funded by project co-lead Mike’s institution, the University of Portsmouth (of which more soon!). And there’s the matter of gearing up to take the project to The Greatest Gathering in Derby in August … However, in this post we wanted to focus on one thing we’ve been focusing on recently – working with a heritage partner.
Heritage railways and the Railway Work, Life & Death project
In 2023, we wrote this blog post, focused on the Severn Valley Railway. In it, we think about what the Railway Work, Life & Death project might contribute to heritage railways. We also suggest that they might benefit from looking at some more challenging aspects of the railway past – like workplace accidents. It’s not easy to do, of course, but it is important and can bring some huge advantages. The blog post did this through a ‘worked example’ of the Severn Valley.
Since then the potential has only increased, with more and more records being added to the project database. This increases the likelihood of our having something or someone relevant to now-preserved routes and centres. Brilliantly, we’ve also had strong support from the Heritage Railway Association (HRA) – the UK-wide trade association and professional support body for the heritage railway sector. Thanks to support from the University of Portsmouth Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, we spoke at the HRA conference in Nottingham in March 2025, and led a well-attended workshop session. That spoke volumes to the interest in the Railway Work, Life & Death project in the heritage sector, and was hugely encouraging. We’ve since been following up with some of those organisations.
Working with the Severn Valley Railway – the new leaflet
That follow up has included active work with the Severn Valley Railway. They were enthusiastic at the HRA conference and we’re delighted that’s continued unabated since. We’ve been able to do this work thanks to support from the Knowledge Exchange Accelerator Fund, provided by the University of Portsmouth’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences – and we gratefully recognise that support. It’s provided us with time, space and funding to make the work possible so far.
Working with colleagues at the Severn Valley Railway (SVR), at this point we’ve done two key things. Firstly, we’ve researched just a few of the 100 or so railway staff identified in the Railway Work, Life & Death project database who worked on what is now the SVR route. We written just a few of them into a new leaflet, printed and delivered to the SVR. If you’re visiting, look out for copies at the stations soon. If you can’t get there for it, then you can download the digital version here. Do let us know what you think!
Obviously that leaflet can only tell the briefest of stories about a few of the workers. There’s more research to be done, and a much longer list of staff to explore. We’ve summarised that list here, so do download it and take a look: do you recognise any of the names? Do you know anything about them? Are any of them in your family tree? Do tell us if so!
We’re keen to go beyond the official accident or staff records, and find out more about the personal stories. There’s a real power to appreciating these people not just as railway workers, but as individuals, with families, in their communities.
Bringing the Railway Work, Life & Death project to Kidderminster
The second key activity recently was taking a project stand to the Severn Valley Railway. Being able to put our project in front of visitors, staff and volunteers and make those connections, as well as alert them to our existence is tremendously important. So, last weekend we took all sorts of resources – including film, the database, information leaflets and banners – and set out our stall!
It was brilliant to give out the first of the new leaflets and to talk with people. As ever, we had people with railway ancestors – sadly including some who had had accidents. There was a great response to the project and real interest in the lives of the workers that we’ve identified. It really indicates the potential value that the Railway Work, Life & Death project can bring, to the SVR and to heritage railways more widely.
Our visit also happened to coincide with the visit from ‘Inspiration’, the Railway 200 exhibition train, so it was a busy day. Between that and the trains operating, there was lots for everyone – us included – to see and do. It was also rather nice that on the station concourse, we were beside the Railway Mission stand. They offer support and pastoral care across the rail network, to staff and the public, and do amazing work. Their stand was being staffed by Andrew Hall. We’ve not seen Andrew in person for three years or so, but we worked together to remember the centenary of the Wilmcote accident in 2022. It was lovely to be able to catch up (and then, ironically, bump into Andrew again two days later in Birmingham!).
The future
The collaboration with the SVR so far has been about sizing up the possibilities and assessing whether this is something that could usefully continue. It’s wonderful to report, therefore, that the response from both partners has been a resounding ‘yes’! We’re now looking at how interpretation might be included in the SVR displays at Highley and any other opportunities.
More generally, for all heritage railway organisations, there’s great potential for the Railway Work, Life & Death project to contribute. Our existing work has demonstrated that it is absolutely possible to think about difficult histories and present them to the public, to help them understand their visits. It can (and should) be done sensitively, and in so doing enhance people’s experiences.
There are also possibilities to go beyond the heritage railway, too. Given so many of the past staff were living in those communities, there’s potential for working in and with the places along heritage railway routes. Collaborative working with wider community partners could unlock so much expertise and personal insight. That could really engage with the wider community, and help strengthen connections between heritage organisations and their areas.
These are all aspects the Railway Work, Life & Death project is keen to look at, across the heritage railway sector. We’ve a couple of other active collaborations we’re currently working on, but are always happy to hear from other organisations – so do get in touch!