Railwaymen working on census day?

[Peejay56]

Thanks jbml. I wonder if union records may give a little info?

[jbml]

Union records, if they still exist, and if the union is willing to divulge them (bear in mind that trade union membership is classed as "sensitive personal data" for the purposes of the Data Protection Acts, so you're likely to meet a blanket response to enquiries of "we cannot reveal that information about anyone" ... even though it's only "personal data" of ANY description if it relates to an identifiable person still living) then it is not likely to tell you what link they worked or where they lodged on away turns ... it will be limited to their name, date of joining (and possibly leaving) and an address ... whcih may well have been updated on a "living document" basis so will only be last known address.

[Peejay56]

jbml. good information - thanks. Actually I'd love to know his start date, if he was in from right from the start of his working career.
Cheers.

[Redroger]

Union records, if they still exist, and if the union is willing to divulge them (bear in mind that trade union membership is classed as "sensitive personal data" for the purposes of the Data Protection Acts, so you're likely to meet a blanket response to enquiries of "we cannot reveal that information about anyone" ... even though it's only "personal data" of ANY description if it relates to an identifiable person still living) then it is not likely to tell you what link they worked or where they lodged on away turns ... it will be limited to their name, date of joining (and possibly leaving) and an address ... whcih may well have been updated on a "living document" basis so will only be last known address.

The historic Trade Union records are held by Warwick University and are available.

[Peejay56]

Thanks for that Redroger.

[cbowley]

If it is any help, one of the main candidates for my GGF is also missing from the 1911 census. In 1916, when he married, his occupation was engine driver. In the 1921 census he was an out of work engine driver, also for the L&YR. My grandmother was born in 1910 in Bromsgrove. The candidate GGF was based in Manchester. I have speculated that working on the railways enabled him to spend time around Birmingham to meet my GGM. The other candidates were in Wales so just as far to travel but less likely to do so.

[Peejay56]

Thanks for sharing that cbowley, I hope you are successful with your search. Mine appears to be what they call a brick wall, and I'm not confident now of finding him.

[Redroger]

My grandmother was born in 1910 in Bromsgrove. The candidate GGF was based in Manchester. I have speculated that working on the railways enabled him to spend time around Birmingham to meet my GGM.

Very probably, the ideal work day a digram as it is known to those who use it consists of signing on, up dating daily safety notices and then driving a train for some 3 hours to a distant point, taking a person break, food, toilet etc and then returning to home depot with another train and signing off duty.
Needless to say few diagrams meet this standard, it is frequently the case that there is and was a long blank period in the middle of the diagram at a distant point. In this case on arrival report to the supervisor and if he has nothing for you he will allow you to go off into town provided you do not drink and come back at the appropriate time.
Plenty to meet a friend or befriend a lady! Often someone who works in the staff canteen if it is a large depot, station buffet or WHSmith news stall.
At Doncaster c1910 Mr Gresley agreed to buy a pack of dominos to keep crews waiting their return train out of the pubs near the station..
So still oan ongoing problem partly addressed by the 1990 Transport and Works Act which introduced mandatory random breath tests for transport staff, failures result in dismissal plus likely prosecution.