The extent to which railways were a “family” has been reinforced on the fourth and final week of the course about life on the railways in Victorian times.

The main focus this week has been on the clerks who dealt with all the office functions and administration.

There were as many as 60,000 men and women working as clerks for the railway companies by the end of the 19th century. For some of them, it was their first job after leaving school and many of them stayed in it for the rest of their working lives.

The Future Learn course on the Working Lives of the Railway in Victorian times even highlighted someone who rose through the ranks from lowly clerk to become the chairman of a railway company.

There was great camaraderie in the office and a lot of socialising as well. It seemed railway companies took care of their staff.

What I found particularly interesting was a report from workers from the Great Eastern Railway locomotive works at Stratford who had been on their annual works outing in 1912 and then produced a write-up for their staff magazine.

This was 1912 remember. Where do you think this trip was to? Clacton or Skegness perhaps? Brighton or Hastings maybe? No, it was a trip to Paris including visiting all the tourist sites. Quite an adventure for those times, I imagine.

This was the age when the idea of the railway family came about. It wasn’t just fathers and sons working together for the same company but there was also a less literal “father-son” relationship as an older and more experienced railwayman helped to steer the career path of a younger apprentice.

Railways were also very good at finding other jobs for people who could no longer carry out their designated responsibilities. Drivers whose eyesight had deteriorated might then take on the task of unlocking the locomotive shed or helping to maintain records. Retired signallers often ended up as level crossing guards.

And as more women joined the workforce, so the wider railway family spread.

It’s thought the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) employed 111,000 people just before World War I and was the largest employer in the world at the time.

Much has changed in the 100-plus years since then not just on the railways but in society as a whole.

Overall, the four weeks of the course have given me a wider understanding of how the coming of the railways and rapid advances in technology changed the fabric of Britain in Victorian times.

A lot of it was pioneering work – there is no doubt we have a safer and more extensive railway network today because of the efforts of the men and women of the 19th century.