My Railway Era
Northampton Station
In the 1990's British Rail issued new uniforms under the name of 'The Corporate Collection'.
The picture shows the range of clothing issued for female Trainwomen and Conductors.
Every year we had a certain amount of points to 'buy' clothing on top of a basic issue.
We were provided with everything except underwear but the navy blue tights were not at all glamourous.
The first issue of blouses shown were nice to look at but awful to wear and were full of static, eventually females were issued with double breasted blouses made from the same fabric as the mens shirts and were white with blue stripes.
To start with I wore trousers but when the new blouses were issued I ordered a skirt and was very comfortable in it even when climbing in and out of cabs down the carriage sidings and when ever required as the skirts had a hidden pleat.
The shoes and boots issued had steel toe caps and were very uncomfortable so I did resort to wearing my own shoes.
The picture shows the range of clothing issued for female Trainwomen and Conductors.
Every year we had a certain amount of points to 'buy' clothing on top of a basic issue.
We were provided with everything except underwear but the navy blue tights were not at all glamourous.
The first issue of blouses shown were nice to look at but awful to wear and were full of static, eventually females were issued with double breasted blouses made from the same fabric as the mens shirts and were white with blue stripes.
To start with I wore trousers but when the new blouses were issued I ordered a skirt and was very comfortable in it even when climbing in and out of cabs down the carriage sidings and when ever required as the skirts had a hidden pleat.
The shoes and boots issued had steel toe caps and were very uncomfortable so I did resort to wearing my own shoes.
321 Unit passing Kingsthorpe, Northampton
Northampton Signal Box
Bletchley Station taken from the Flyover
Bletchley Station taken from the Power Box
After many accidents where drivers were found to be over the alcohol limit, British Rail bought in a 'Drinks and Drugs' policy. At one time it was acceptable to drink while on duty as there were bars at main stations like Euston and Birmingham where train crew could drink alcohol.
'Rush Hour' at Euston