Genealogy Chat

Thanks Paul I had a look at that site, very interesting (have kept addy for when I just want to be nosy LOL). Mary

Mary, I clicked on your thread accidentally, but got reading it and decided to join in! My g grandad was with the railway, and he seems to have travelled around an awful lot. He was living in Long Eaton, right next door to Sawley when his second child was born in 1884, not too long after your relative. He lived on Toton Gates, Long Eaton and Union Street Long Eaton. He was a railway foreman. Prior to this, he came originally from Ashbourne (as a horse dealer!) and was in Ripley in 1883 when his daughter was born. he eventually landed at Langley Mill where he brought up his second family. It was only when I was doing a trip back from the Records Office (tracing another line entirely) that I realised why he was moving around so much! I got none of this from census forms, but from the birth and death certificates of his children/wife. Try that route if you get stuck! Mandy

Mary, make sure you check out the 'Black Sheep Index' which has a section on railways - it's an index of names of people who featured in newspaper cuttings so your ancestor may be named. http://www(.)lightage.demon(.)co(.)uk/RAILWAY.htm#Top

Thanks for the info Roger. Appreciate your help. Mary

Mary, In about 1900 the Midland Railway had lines going through the Sawley area in five directions towards Derby, Sheffield, Nottingham, Leicester and Burton on Trent. Sawley is only just in Derbyshire, so he could have been working in Leicestershire or Nottinghamshire. Incidentally, I'm not an expert, just happen to have railway ancestors myself and a useful old atlas ! Roger

Hi Roger Thanks for the offer, unfortunately I have no idea who he worked for. I believe he was possibly in the Sawley, Derbyshire area about 1876/77 and I'm trying to get a feel for where the line(s) would have started from, to then go through that area at that time, e.g. east to west, north to south? If I could find that out I might be able to narrow him down to a part of the country on the 1871 census. So far this guy doesn't officially exist until 1879, and other than 'he worked on building the railways' I know nothing else about him. Thanks, Mary

Mary, I have a CD from the Railway Ancestors Family History Society which gives brief details of railway companies, and quite a lot of them started up in various places all over the UK within that time frame. Also some of the older companies might have been building new branches as well. So this approach is not very helpful, unfortunately. However if you can find the names of the companies he worked for I could probably tell you where they were operating as I have an old atlas that shows them about 1900 before they were reorganised into larger groups. Send me a personal message if you think I could help in this way and I will get back to you. Good hunting Roger

Thanks Heather and Darksecretz I'm just going to go and check out those sites now. Mary

try this http://www*whocarez*nl/forum/ replace * with dots is a free site

Mary, I have traced my gg grandfather through the trade directories he worked for 3 different railway companies. They the website www(.)historicaldirectories(.)org It helps if you know the county they came from. Heather

Hi Helen Little Nell I'm trying to figure out where my gg grandfather would have been in that time frame, I know he was involved in building the railways but that's all I know. Thanks, Mary

Not an expert. Any idea WHERE? What are you wanting to find out for? I believe the main railway expansion was in the 1860s, but railways would have grown everywhere.

I've tried Googling but without success. I really just need to know what Railroads, and more importantly where, were being built in 1875 - 1879. Thanks in advance, Mary