The summaries of these Traffic Committee Minutes, covering the book RAIL 186/38 at the National Archives, are now complete. They start in November 1844 and run to September 1849.  Final update: 18 April 2012.

On the ECR CD, this is File G.

If you have not yet sampled the Minutes summaries, these might be an excellent place to start. They contain much fascinating information about how the routines of a new railway were being built up from scratch. Detailed instructions are given about the staffing of the Shoreditch terminus, even down to the time the stationmaster should have his lunch! There are also glimpses of the attitudes of the period (Among the porters “one … should have one shilling p. week extra not only to give him authority over others and to be called on when anything [is] wanted or has gone wrong but also to give every and each porter a something to look up to as a trifle better than that which he has at present”)

This file will be available to download as soon as payment has been made. You go to your account and click on ‘Downloads’. New customers create an account as they place their order.