MANY railway-related exhibitions and gatherings tend to focus, naturally enough, on engineering and technology - on the locomotives themselves, the signal boxes, the engineering works, the track.

A one day conference being held at the National Railway Museum in York a week on Saturday will, however, put the focus firmly on people: the men and women who have worked on the railways.

There are many such people in York: and even more whose ancestors worked on the railways long ago.

In many ways, in the early days, the railways really were a second 'family', says Tim Proctor, the museum's curator of archives. Generations of the same family followed each-other into the railways. Sports and social events were organised for the employees' benefit. And whole streets of terraced houses were built around the station and Leeman Road for railway workers.

Trying to find out about ancestors who worked on the railways can be very difficult, however, Tim says - because archives relating to the railways can be very confusing.

The aim of the conference - entitled Work, Rest and Play: Exploring the Extended Railway Family - will be to help local people who want to find out about their rail worker ancestors to navigate the minefield of archives and other material that is out there, if you only knew where to look.

Expert historians, archivists and genealogists will be giving talks and workshops throughout the day. "The conference will guide people through the material which can be found in archives and libraries across the country," Tim says. "Speakers will explore the 'railway family' from all angles, looking at a wide range of primary and secondary sources from railway companies, trade unions, workers' sports and leisure clubs and religious organisations. It will be the perfect opportunity form members of the public to come and explore their railway pasts."

York Press:

Three signalmen inside the water works signal box, York. Date unknown. Photo: NRM

As well as advising people on how to research their rail worker ancestors however, the conference will also aim to explore the lives of railway workers themselves through history - and what the conditions they worked under were like.

For all the magic and romance of the railways, in the early days - and certainly during Victorian times - life on the railways could be hard and dangerous, Tim says. Rail bosses cared about the health and safety of paying passengers - but probably less so about that of their workers.

The NRM has a complete set of historical accidents reports - and they can make for gruesome reading. Loading and unloading in freight yards was a risky business in Victorian times, Tim says - as was coupling and uncoupling wagons and carriages. "People could be crushed between the buffers and wagons."

It wasn't really until the 1910s and 1920s - and then even more so after the formation of British Railways in 1948 - that health and safety for railway workers began to improve.

York Press:

York Motive Power Depot, 5 November 1981. Photo: NRM

So it was often a tough, dangerous job. But the people who did it helped make York - and Britain - the places they are today.

The NRM has unrivalled access to archives and records about railway history. So if you have ancestors who worked on the railways and you'd like to find out more about them, there are few better places to go...

  • The one-day conference Work, Rest and Play: Exploring the Extended Railway Family will be held at the NRM on Saturday September 19. Tickets are £35 (£30 for Friends of the NRM), including lunch and refreshments, and can be booked via the NRM's website nrm.org.uk/NRM/PlanaVisit/Events/work-rest-play.aspx, by calling 01904 621261 or by visiting the museum in person.