WOMEN WORKERS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 2 September 1942, Page 3

WOMEN WORKERS

BRITISH RAILWAY EMPLOYEE;

GREAT VARIETY OF JOBS UNDERTAKEN' “1 want to be a slat ion master urn j day,” Britain's first woman railway | porter told me, when I saw her a ! Waterloo Station, great London teri minus of the Southern Railway, write jMelila Spraggs. in the Christian Science J Monitor.” She is Mrs Driver, and toI day she is one of the 50.000 women anc ; girls working on British railroads. ! But it takes a man twenty to thirtj j years to work his way up to be a sta- ! tionmaster. “1 don’t mean I want tht I war to last long enough for me to make | the grade.” she added quickly. "Wha 1 I hope is that they will keep women oi the railways after the war. and I shal ' be among those to stay.” Some of the women serving on British railroads to-day are rail veteran of the World War of 1914-18. Others an the daughters of women who did simila war jobs more than a quarter of a cen ! tury ago. Mrs Driver lias been on the railway for nine years ”1 was a carriage cleaner before the war.” she said, “bu when the men started to be called uj for the services they asked for volun ■leers for porters and I was the first t< j -tart work at Waterloo." AT HER POST IN RAIDS Blonde, petite Mrs Driver has twe teen-age children. They were evacuated to the country .but soon came badto their home in the south of London. Her husband is in tht Forces. Like many other railway workers she carried on at her post in the severest air raids. Mrs Driver wears the dark blue serge uniform which has been designed tc j blend utili’ Rh attractiveness. The i peaked ca lie S.R. initials keeps hair neat even on the gustiest days. iit slacks <or skirt) with ta and polished silver i buttons neat ensemble. The uniform d free of charge to I the wo:.. ; “In wii. have a warm navy blue overcoat—and we need it,” she added, referring to the open-air conditions on | London stations. The glass in the roofs !of most of them was broken in air raids and for safety‘reasons it has not | been replaced. ! "Part of my work is to understudy the guard.” she continued. "When the ! luggage is in. the doors shut, and the j train ready to go. I pass on the guard’s ■ signal to the engineman.” ' Mrs Driver has a twin sister who looks so like her that many people can--1 not tell them apart. She is also working for "the Southern.” I asked her sister's job. "Oh. she’s a ’closer-up.’ some of the time. She gets trains ready to go into the washing machine.” Seeing my ; puzzled look, she added. “An electric washing machine cleans the outside paintwork of the coaches. The windows and doors all have to be shut ! tightly.” ; Mrs Driver is enthusiastic about her work, though it is heavy she admits 1 "But we can always get someone to help us with the big luggage.” she : hastened to add. "The Company pro - vides canteens where we can rest and ; get a good meal. Then there is the Supervisor to look after us. So we ; don't do too badly.” I SUPERVISOR ON HAND ' Miss M. Laxton Lloyd, former Lan- | cashire County hockey player and a gold medallist for swimming, is the Southern’s Welfare Supervisor. She is always on hand to give help and advice. ! Many of the jobs which women work- ■ ers have undertaken were thought at one time to be too heavy or too intricate Cor a woman. Specialised work I like blacksmithing, girder-bridge paint - ing. signalbox duty, acetylene welding ! and electric machine in workships i the workshops are now all being done ;by women. 1 Less specialised are the duties of , goods and platform porters, van-guards. I clerks, ticket collectors, carriage cleaners, loudspeaker announcers, cranedrivers, bill-posters, painters, vandrivers. engine cleaners, and greasers. Training schools for all departments have been opened by the various railways. If the “pupils” show special aptitude for any one branch they are 1 encouraged to specialise. The woman with good enunciation, for example, is encouraged to seek an audition before the selectors of train service announc- • ers.. FIRST RAILWAY “SMITHY" The Southern Railway has the first woman railway blacksmith. She is Mrs ! Winifred Martin who has her own forge at a Locomotive Works. Mrs Martin is :a woman of many parts. During the i luncheon intervals she entertains her ) assistants by playing the accordion and j singing. Recently Mrs Martin broadj cast one of her own compositions. I Some of the railways have women i dispatch riders so that if in an emerg- ; ency the telephone wires should be cut. i interstation communication could be maintained by motorcycle, i Altogether there are half a million j I railway workers in Britain and one- ! i *enth of them to-day are women. I