Oral History Project -  Railroads

Every evening, the blast of a train horn reverberates past the stout red brick houses towards my home in Altofts, West Yorkshire.

This noise, in some form or another, has lulled the residents of Normanton and Altofts since the coming of the railway in 1840. The sound is a sole survivor, the echo of an industrial world which has vanished since the closing decades of the 20^th century and the opening of the 21st.

Over the past six months AgeUK Wakefield District has started a Heritage Lottery funded oral history project, which between 2025 and 2027 will document the memories and lives of five Wakefield communities. This is a project that has enormous importance, not only to the people of Normanton, Featherstone, Knottingley, Hemsworth, and Wakefield; but in documenting memories of an industrial age which began in Britain and changed the course of global history.

 Despite shaping communities, building industries, and pioneering art and culture, statistically working-class people in Britain are less likely to engage with museums and cultural institutions. Through documenting the voices of older residents, we hope to not only preserve the memories of a vanished industrial way of life, but to create exhibitions which will inspire people to think about their shared heritage and new futures.

The present Normanton station is a small open-air commuter stop, buoyed by the recent reopening of historic lines to Manchester and York. For visitors today, it is almost impossible to visualise the enormous Victorian station, junction, and railway yard that led Normanton to be nicknamed the ‘Crewe of the coalfields’. Work began in 1837, overseen by the father of the railways George Stephenson, and in 1840 the station opened. Stephenson had, in 1825, created the world’s first passenger railway, and Normanton was to become a focal point of the new transport system transforming Britain. The town was strategically located and became a hub for the meeting of three important lines from across the country. In the mid-1850s, Normanton boasted the world’s longest railway platform, a quarter of a mile long.

The building of the railways brought new people and new opportunities. It allowed for the movement of coal across Britain, and new collieries connected by the railway opened across the Normanton and Altofts area. Trains also brought migrants from across Britain and Ireland, turning these small farming hamlets into industrial boomtowns. My own family like that of many locals, was drawn from the Shropshire, Staffordshire, Lancashire, and Somerset coalfields to new opportunities in Normanton.

By the late 1960s, the railway station and junction began to change. New trains no longer had to be powered by steam, being replaced by diesel fuel. Local collieries were closed, and national demand for coal started to change. Shifting priorities led to the creation of a new yard at Healey Mill in Ossett, leading to the closure of Normanton yard in 1968. Passenger services were cut leading to the decline of the grand Victorian station, which was to be demolished in the mid-1980s.

Through oral history interviews and collaboration, Age UK Wakefield District is helping to preserve local and nationally significant stories such as those of Normanton railway and the community based around it. Allan, was one of the last of Normanton’s railwaymen, witnessing the end of the steam age and the closure of Normanton shunting yard. Starting as an engine cleaner aged 15 on the 14^th May 1962, Allan remembered:

 ‘We had 20 engines of various ages, a few were built in the 1920s and were showing signs of their age with rust and peeling paint…Some of the engines, after having worked in collieries taking empty wagons and bringing away full wagons of coal were surrounded by coal dust especially when the weather was very dry, with the dust settling on the engine’s moving parts covered in oil…cleaning all this off was our job as cleaners’

On 26^th August 1964, Allan became a fireman, responsible for shovelling coal on steam trains. At that time, trains travelled from Normanton station to destinations across northern and central England:

‘I worked to York, Leeds, Manchester, Bradford, Sheffield, Chesterfield, Derby, Burton upon Trent, Westhouses, Toton, Preston, Darlington…We operated 24 hours a day, I could be signing on for duty at 02:00am on a Monday morning having cycled from Pontefract, then next day signing at 10:00am.’

When he began at Normanton, Allan was given small notebooks by the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF), the train drivers trade union. He used these to keep a diary of life as a Normanton railwayman between 1962 and 1968, providing a remarkable insight into the closing years of the yard’s 120-year history. Allan also had the foresight to document life at the yard with his camera, photographing himself and his workmates.

Reflecting on his work at Normanton, and the transition from steam to diesel, Allan said:

‘For us firemen, the diesels meant no more backbreaking shifts throwing coal about…Working conditions greatly improved, still did the same hours every day. I had a lot of happy days even though the signing on times were a bit cruel to your social life!’

Allan continues his passion for the railways through volunteer work on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, passing on his knowledge of steam trains. His story has now been preserved as part of Age UK Wakefield District’s Stories From Wakefield project. It will form part of an exciting new exhibition both locally, and at heritage attractions such as the National Coal Mining Museum For England and Nostell Priory.

For now, the search continues to collect stories across the communities of Normanton, Featherstone, Knottingley, Hemsworth and central Wakefield. Age UK are particularly keen to hear memories of the region’s industrial past, whether of transport, childhood, community, home, or work. To learn more, and hear about where we’ll be visiting next, keep an eye on Age UK Wakefield  District’s social media or website at Welcome to Age UK Wakefield District.

Photographs taken by Allan at Normanton railway yard & station between 1962-1968, and used with his permission.