I was referring to railway operating staff - not to those who built the railways. They had to be able to read the rule book, which, with its general appendix, ran to over 500 pages.  Drivers, who started as engine cleaners, had to write a report every day.  I started work in the original head office of the Rhymney Railway in Cardiff. Taff Vale & Barry Railway staff records were kept in this office. All these companies became part of the GWR in 1923 or earlier.  Literacy was a requirement.  Jeff ----- Original Message ---- From: Gillian Taylor Shaw <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, 31 October, 2008 5:49:00 PM Subject: Re: [GLS] Rural Gloucestershire to the cities I actually disagree with what Jeff has said about people ability to read and write and those not with these skill were not involved with the railways in the early 1800's, maybe they were not involved in the engineering but most certainly labour was required and  thousand of men were employed in the creation of the railway: One of the first early trials of Wylam locomotives was watched by George Stephenson, in 1813 Stephenson as instructed by his employer to build a locomotive, when the locomotive called Blucher was completed in 1814, it was the first locomotive to be driven by adhesion, and have flanged wheels running on edge rails. Stephenson built more locomotives and in about 1819 he laid out the Hetton Collier Railway, from Hetton-le-Hole to Sunderland, as the first railway designed to have no animal traction, the route was 8 miles long. Wealthy people took advantage of railway speed having private carriages with their occupant were carried on flat wagons wherever the railway coincided with a travellers intended rote, or part of it. Second class coaches, simple but roofed, were provided, third class coaches, for the poor, were little more than open boxes on wheels, the speed must have felt miraculous in comparison to those on feet or by road carrier.  Third class passenger was entitled by law from 1844 to be carried in carriages provided with seats and protected from the weather. In 1833 flagpoles were installed at junctions and crossings and the following year 1834 saw the first fixed signals. Greenwich was opened in 1839, and the route extended to Brighton by the London & Brighton railway opened in 1841.  The Great Western opened its first section at the London end in 1838 and reached Bristol in 1841; Box tunnel had taken 5 years to make.  By 1841 the Bristol & Exeter was already open to Bridgewater, and reached Exeter in 1844.  The broad gauge Bristol & Gloucester Railway was opened in 1844, and at Gloucester for the first time broad gauge met standard gauge, for the Birmingham & Gloucester had been opened in 1840.  Most of the other railways authorised in 1836 to make a south west to north west route were completed between 1839 and 1844; the Manchester & Leeds was opened in 1840 and the Sheffield, Ashton under Lyne & Manchester in 1845.  The first trunk railway in Scotland was the Edinburgh & Glasgow authorised in 1838 and opened in 1842. British railway networks from a little over 1600 miles in 1842, the distance covered had grown to 6084 miles in 1850 and by 1860 the basic railway network of lowland Britain was in existence, the remainder of the railway system was built up over the ensuing 60 years. Regards Gillian -------------------------------------------------- From: "J GOULD" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, October 31, 2008 12:45 PM To: <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [GLS] Rural Gloucestershire  to the cities > Brian, 1841 was pretty early in Railway history. It was mostly main lines > that were operating at that time. > Railway work demanded an ability to read and write, which was not > generally an attribute of the ag labs > at this period. Jobs were advertised in the newspapers. I know for a fact > that one of my ancestors moved > from Bristol to Pontypridd in the late 1840s in response to such an > advert. Jeff > > > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: Brian Blackwell <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Friday, 31 October, 2008 11:08:40 AM > Subject: Re: [GLS] Rural Gloucestershire to the cities > > > > My Blackwell line moved from Bisley/Miserden to Birmingham around 1830, > was > there any organised method of attracting manpower into Birmingham or just > "word of mouth". > > My rural 4xgg Richard Blackwell worked for the railway on his 1841 > marriage > certificate (Birmingham) does anyone know if the railway was near > Bisley/Miserden for him to have had a railway connection before he arrived > in Birmingham? > > Richard gave Miserdine as his place of birth on the 1851 Birmingham > census. > > Brian Blackwell > Sechelt BC > > _____________________________________________ > > Have you considered adding "postems" to "your" events on > www.freebmd.org.uk , giving your contact details? Other researchers will > then be able to make contact. 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