Mike,
You will find various details of staff training and
improvement schemes encouraged by the London Underground in:
"Handling London's Underground Traffic" by JP
Thomas (then Operating Manager) Pub. London Underground, 1928.
There were also regular references to incidents in
Traffic Circulars and staff notices which offered correction of practices known
to have caused accidents or delays. For example, guards were instructed
not to change non-stop signs while the train was moving, "It is dangerous
and therefore prohibited" said the Metropolitan District Railway Appendix to the
Working Time Table 1930. Drivers were reminded to open main switches
before changing fuses and gatemen were told not to tie up jumpers between
cars (they were hung at roof level on the Gate Stock and they used to hit their
heads on them) so that they would not pull out of their sockets on curves.
There was even one from 1901 which described how a locomotive was failed due to
a wooden plug being inserted into the triple valve exhaust. In this case,
the staff were basically being told, "You won't get away with it".
Advice was also given on how to stop trains
safely in sidings, use of shore supplies (overhead leads in sheds) and, for
example, instructing drivers to operate reversers at a terminus before changing
ends. This was because the control voltage was low on long trains and
sometimes didn't operate all reversers remote from the driver. I recall
many drivers still did this in the 1960s when I was a motorman.
Another occasion documented in an old traffic
notice I once saw related to the introduction of driver to guard telephone
communications on trains in about 1927. The notice referred to telephone
failures due to pencils being pushed into the microphone. The staff were
against the system as it reduced the train crew from three to
two.
My favourite (a bit later than your period though)
was a four-page, typewritten, foolscap notice which was issued by Northern Line
management in 1971. It was titled "Issuance of Corks to Trainmen".
It began by asserting that, in view of the continuing increase in requests by
trainmen for "Physical Needs Reliefs" (PNRs in LU speak and a widely abused
facility for getting off a trip), action was being taken with a
new requirement for the issuance of corks to trainmen. It went on to
describe how any trainmen phoning for a PNR at Kennington or Camden Town was to
be met by the Yardmaster who would issue the man a cork.
There was a lengthy description of the procedures,
including a requirement for the trainman to sign for the cork and to return
the cork at the end of his duty and then how to have them sent to
Lillie Bridge Stores for replacement and subsequent return to trainmen's
depots. New corks could also be requisitioned from Lillie Bridge Stores
with the appropriate form (copy attached), completed in triplicate with a copy
sent to the divisional office and one to be retained by the Yardmaster's office
concerned.
It was dated 1st April 1971.
Kind regards
Piers Connor
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2005 4:56
PM
Subject: Mutual Improvement Classes
Dear all,
I am currently researching occupational safety on the railways between
1913 and 1939. Part of my work
has led me to consider how workplace skills are transmitted. I am interested in how much influence
companies had over what their manual employees were actually doing (as opposed
to what they should have been doing) on a day-to-day basis. I am not thinking so much of being
AWOL or drinking on the job or similar; more I am thinking of ways in which
the companies tried to tell their manual employees how to perform their jobs
(for example, the ‘correct’ way of firing an engine, packing a sleeper,
operating a lathe etc).
I would imagine that Mutual Improvement Classes played a role in this
(at least for the enginemen; did anything similar exist for the other
grades?). If anyone could point
me in the direction of primary or secondary sources relating to Mutual
Improvement Classes or educational facilities aimed at the workers
(particularly the manual grades), I would be most grateful.
Thanks in advance,
Mike Esbester
