railway accidents

footiewidow · Post by **footiewidow** » Thu 01 Oct, 2009 9:04 pm

Hi all. I am helping out with a bit of family history. (please don't yawn and stop reading!!) My great uncle worked (we think) on the railway, most likely in Leeds. Are there any records kept of workers and the jobs they did? Where will I find them? He was killed whilst either working or travelling, also on the railway, in 1944. He was only 20 at the time and I also wondered if there would be any reports of this?Thanks all in advance for any help.

Cardiarms · Post by **Cardiarms** » Thu 01 Oct, 2009 9:34 pm

Any idea which railway company? Might narrow it down.

footiewidow · Post by **footiewidow** » Thu 01 Oct, 2009 9:48 pm

Sorry cardiarms, the info we have is quite sketchy. He would have lived in Leeds at the time if that is any help. His death was registered in Hyde in April 1944. Thanks for the prompt reply.

The Parksider · Post by **The Parksider** » Thu 01 Oct, 2009 10:19 pm

footiewidow wrote: Hi all. I am helping out with a bit of family history. (please don't yawn and stop reading!!) My great uncle worked (we think) on the railway, most likely in Leeds. Are there any records kept of workers and the jobs they did? Where will I find them? He was killed whilst either working or travelling, also on the railway, in 1944. He was only 20 at the time and I also wondered if there would be any reports of this?Thanks all in advance for any help. I have tried to look up industrial accidents from the 20's 30's and 40's after my dad who worked on canals, railways and heavy engineering told me of their occurences.I found very few in the nespapers of the time and queried this with him. he said that they were "too common" to be news in his day, albeit you'd have thought deaths would be in there.Back in the seventies I recall going bowling with a BR safety manager who said they lost nine men a year on the railways working on the trackbeds, being hit by trains.So even in that more modern era these things were not that big news.......

minimagnum · Post by **minimagnum** » Fri 02 Oct, 2009 12:15 pm

I have looked on the following site http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk and there appears to be no accidents around Manchester for the year 1944