I had begun research from 1900-1910 for a Patron who was looking for an article detailing his great granny’s demise on a Glasgow railway. I ended up coming across so much information that I thought was, yes, sometimes gruesome in the detailed reports, but super interesting too and that others would like to be able to read and search through the information for themselves. The smaller incidents that were merely responsible for delays aren’t included; though incidents of derailing, without injury, where substantial damage has been done, are. There are parliamentary reports keeping up with legislation surrounding making railways a safer work environment that seems to be fairly stalled in talks when it becomes apparent the Railway companies don’t want to foot the bill for the proposed changes, e.g., the addition of automatic couplings to make life easier and safer for shunters, &c.
I’m aware of how useful this information could be for those seeking information on ancestors as articles include, names, ages, and addresses of victims as well as witnesses, on occasion. So the article(s) for each event are chosen for their information. If I’ve typed up an article, then come across one with more information, I’ll swap it in favour of the more detailed report. Sometimes a couple of articles relating to the same incident will be necessary in order to flesh it out more as well as follow-up articles for those unfortunates who died or had a change in circumstances later on. Sometimes two separate articles can have a differing spellings of names, too, so it can be helpful to have all options. There’s also the odd, interesting, anecdote included.
If you’d like a copy of RSH’s publication of this information complete with Alex’s artwork head HERE for the first of four volumes (1900-1903).
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