This page is one of a series introducing railway staff who worked in and around Stoke-on-Trent before 1939. They’ve been researched as part of the ‘Tracks through Time’ initiative – which you can read more about here.
The workers featured were largely selected from staff who appear in the Railway Work, Life & Death project database of accidents to pre-1939 British and Irish railway workers.
Please note that a fuller life story is under preparation – coming soon!
Norman Ibbs didn’t have an easy life. Born in 1895, his father had died by the time he was six. By 1911 he had gone into the mines, working as an underground horsedriver.
He had joined the North Staffordshire Railway by 1921, as an electrical engineer. By the time of his accident, on 24 May 1938, he was a signal linesman’s assistant. This meant he was working beside the railway lines, ensuring the various signal and telephone wires were in place.
He was fetching some tools, when he and a colleague had to step between the tracks to avoid an obstructed walkway. Unfortunately a train approached – his colleague, Dorrington, heard it coming, so pushed Norman clear before jumping out of the way.
Norman was lucky, escaping with head and wrist injuries – thanks to Dorrington’s quick thinking.