This year is the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway.
As part of the celebrations, researchers are looking for names and information about the women who worked on two of the railway lines — the Stainmore line from Darlington to Tebay, and the Eden Valley line from Kirkby Stephen to Clifton, near Penrith.
The intention is that all the information will be published in a book, Railwaywomen across the Northern Pennines, in August this year, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Researchers from Ravenstonedale Parish History Group and Upper Eden History Society are behind the ambitious project.
They have visited archive centres and studied census returns, railway books and journals but have found that often there is local information which goes unrecorded, such as old photographs and family stories, and that is what they are looking for now.
“We know about Amy Wearmouth (née Bell), the attendant at Smardale Halt, in the 1930s,” said a spokesman for the project.
“We have the names of many women workers at Tebay station, from Margaret Johnson who sold beer and cake on the platform in 1865, to Martha Wilson who was the station master’s clerk in 1950.
“However, the only woman we know about on the Eden Valley Line is Jane Cherry. She was the crossing gate keeper at Waitby Crossing for over 40 years, until her death in 1916.
“Surely there were other women working on the line — running refreshment rooms, selling tickets or even cleaning the engines during wartime?”
The group of researchers say any information about either line would be helpful in progressing the project.
“We would like our book to cover as many of the railwaywomen as possible.”
Anyone with information on the subject is asked to contact Anne Taylor by email on kseonlineshop@gmail.com or write care of The East Station, South Road, Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria, CA17 4LA.
