This is a brief guide to help you with your research. Before the railway industry was nationalised in 1947 there were many separate railway companies with different methods of keeping records. Comprehensive staff records have survived from only a few, and there is no unified name index - records are arranged by company or successor company. Most railway staff records after 1947 remain with the railway industry.
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What do I need to know before I start?
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Try to find out:
- the name of the railway company
- date of birth, death, or time of employment
- place of residence or employment
- type of work undertaken
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What records can I see online?
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Railway staff records (1833-1963)
Search for selected staff records from some railway companies (RAIL) on ancestry.co.uk £There may be a charge for accessing this information. Searching indexes may be free.. Most of these records date from before 1949.
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Census returns (1841-1911)
Consult the relevant census return (£There may be a charge for accessing this information. Searching indexes may be free.) or records of births, marriages and deaths - these sometimes record employment on the railways and the names of railway companies.
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What records can I find at The National Archives at Kew?
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Staff records (1740-1967)
Refer to the table in appendix 1 of Railway workers: further research to find out which companies' staff records are held in the department code RAIL.
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Railway magazines
Browse Discovery, our cataloguea search tool with descriptions of tens of millions of documents from the UK central government, law courts, and other national bodies, for railway magazines in ZPER for news about employees.
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To access these records you will either need to visit us, commission research (£there will be a charge) or, where you can identify a specific record referencea unique set of letters and numbers identifying a document in The National Archives, order a copy (£there will be a charge).
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What records can I find in other archives and organisations?
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Records held locally
Visit the Steam Museum Library and Archive to find publications, magazines, photographs and other collections relating to the Great Western Railway. Visits are by appointment only.
Consult appendix 3 of Railway records: a guide to sources by Cliff Edwards (Public Record Office, 2001), which has a guide to railway company records held by local archives.
Post 1948 few staff records have been retained but staff records cards summarising employment have been and are distributed amongst relevant county records offices. However these record cards are subject to the Data Protection Act 1998 and may be closed.
You can also try searching for the railway company in the Access to Archives (A2A) and National Register of Archives (NRA) databases.
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What other resources will help me find information?
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Websites
Browse the Railway Ancestors website - the Railway Ancestors Family History Society can help you research your railway ancestors (£There may be a charge for accessing this information. Searching indexes may be free.).
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Books
Read Railway records: a guide to sources by Cliff Edwards (Public Record Office, 2001).
Read Railway ancestors by David T Hawkings (2nd edition) (The History Press, 2008).
Consult the British Railways pre-grouping atlas and gazetteer (Ian Allen Publications, 1976) or the Railway and commercial gazetteers to find out which companies owned or operated through a particular station.
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Births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales
Census