大象传媒

I was born into a railway family. My arrival into the world was on October 26th 1923, at number 1 Railway Terrace, Kemble, which is not far from Cirencester in Gloucestershire.

My father was Frank and my mother Jessie. Mother was from Portsmouth. She married my father at Tetbury parish church when she was 24 and became part of a railway community at Kemble.

We moved to Gloucester when I was three years of age, my father having taken promotion at GWR as foreman shunter. Later on he rose to the position of platform inspector.

I was 16 when the War broke out; we lost all of our 'teen' years. I knew that I would have to go into the Forces or work in an aircraft factory. When I reached the age of 17 my father asked me if I would like to become a passenger guard. The answer was "yes".

I had to go to Northgate Mansions, the regional office, which was in London Road, Gloucester. The interviewer asked me if I was colour blind; the answer was "no". He remarked that I was a tall young lady and look robust, and that due to my family connections with the railway they would employ me. It was made clear that it was a wartime appointment and that when the men returned from the Forces I would have to resign.

I was given a rulebook, which I would have to carry with me at all times and I had to learn them in order to pass an examination. One important safety rule was number 55. When a train was stopped for any reason between signal boxes, I had to put the handbrake on in the guard's van and open the vacuum brake valve to stop the train moving off. I had to climb down to the ballast and walk back about 500 yards to place three live detonators 10 yards apart on the line. I then had to return to the train and inform the driver that I had carried out rule 55. The detonators would go off and warn an approaching train that we were stopped ahead.

For my training I was put in charge of a senior link passenger guard, a Mr Charles Marchant. You can imagine what an elderly gent he looked to me. To get to the position of senior link passenger guard, it would have taken over 30 years and he had to pass examinations as he moved up through the links. I often wondered what he thought of all these young ladies coming to work on the railways.

This is only a brief history of my work on the railway. Whilst this is my personal story, it also reflects the stories of thousands of other women railway workers especially during the War years. While other women War workers are rightfully recognised, surely the role of women on the railways should also be.

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