It’s funny the part that chance plays in things. In early June 2026, a fortuitous conversation led on to another Railway Work, Life & Death project collaboration within the heritage railway sector. This time, it’s with the Llangollen and Corwen Railway, in north Wales.
Courtesy Peter Dickinson.
We’ve been working with a few heritage railways over the last couple of years – you can read more about that here. We’ve been using our database of accidents to railway staff before 1939 to help co-produce interpretation. So far that’s included museum displays, leaflets, posters, and a walking tour of Didcot Railway Centre. In this case we’ve done something similar – in the first instance, exploring the lives of some of the staff who kept what’s now the Llangollen and Corwen Railway running in its pre-preservation days.
The importance of people
Visiting the Llangollen and Corwen Railway in June, we decided to get off our return journey at Berwyn and walk over to the nearby horseshoe falls. We ended up chatting to Berwyn station master Peter Dickinson. Needless to say, he was very willing to talk about what he was doing, which appeared rather curious – hence the initial discussion. So, the first importance of people – talking with volunteers and staff at heritage and museum sites will always mean you get more from your time there. They are very willing and able to share, and can tell you more than you’d otherwise find from the static interpretation.
We talked with Peter as he was at work in the underpass leading from Berwyn station. This was perhaps not the most obvious or attractive of locations to be busy with a container of water and a cloth. As it turned out, though, it was a really significant place. Peter was conserving names written on the walls of the station underpass. As local men left to fight in the First World War, they left their names and messages on the underpass walls – a sad testament to the reach of War, into every corner of Britain. The importance – to the local community, for the Railway and to visitors – of these names has long been understood by the Railway. Since we visited, permanent interpretation has been installed to help contextualise the underpass and the personal stories it contains. That includes working with the excellent History Points, a Welsh History organisation installing QR codes at locations across Wales to enable sharing of histories specific to those places.
And there’s the second importance of people – the human connection. Through the human stories we can better understand people in the past. The bricks and mortar of a railway underpass take on new meanings when we think of the individuals who passed through that same space over 100 years before. Similarly, being able to put names and stories to the people who worked in what are now preserved railway spaces can provide new appreciation for visitors, volunteers and staff. For the Railway Work, Life & Death project, being able to share the stories of past railway employees by working with heritage railways is a great opportunity to help ensure those staff are remembered.
Past staff on the Llangollen and Corwen Railway
How we share those stories is a real challenge. How can we interest visitors (especially), particularly given a key objective of a heritage railway visit is most likely to ride on a train? We think providing a snapshot of a few people’s stories, with the opportunity to follow up and find out more, is a good approach. And luckily, Peter Dickinson agreed.
Working with Peter, and with funding from the University of Portsmouth Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, we put together a leaflet (available here!). It gives a very brief outline of the lives of four workers – lad porter Jones of Llangollen, timber loader Rogers of Glyndyfrdwy, ganger John Edwards of Carrog and fireman Edward Hughes of Corwen. For each, we’ve linked through to more detailed life stories on the Railway Work, Life & Death project website, via a dedicated Llangollen and Corwen Railway page. It’s brilliant to see those leaflets now available on the Llangollen and Corwen Railway, helping everyone who picks them up to find out more.
Courtesy Peter Dickinson.
We wanted to chose a range of locations on the Railway’s route, and a range of roles. Naturally this has meant some selection – there were plenty more people who had accidents at work and who we could have included. As we continue to work with Peter and the Llangollen and Corwen Railway we’ll consider how we might add in some more people and their stories. Ideally this might include community collaboration; we’ve also been talking about a potential exhibition in 2027. There are plenty of options – but pleasingly the key thing is the Railway is aware of the importance of its past. It has already included some detail on its website (available here), and is shortly to celebrate its 50th anniversary of preservation. We’re looking forward to continuing to work together to help put names to the people who kept the railway running in the past.
All in all – not a bad outcome from a chance conversation!
Our particular thanks to Peter Dickinson and Bob Gwynne at the Llangollen and Corwen Railway for their hard work and support. Without them this collaboration would not be possible.