Railway 200 at Aston University: Launch event- Birmingham Railway Histories

David Turner

Join us for the Launch event of "Railway 200 at Aston University", a series of talks celebrating the railway's past, present and future.

Conference Aston

Tuesday, 11 March 2025, 1730, Susan Cadbury Theatre, Conference Aston.Dr David Turner (Aston University): Making Birmingham’s Early Nineteenth Century Main Line Railways a RealityDavid Turner, Lecturer in Transport and transport historian at Aston University, will firstly introduce the "Railway 200 at Aston University" series.He will then discuss some of the people that made Birmingham’s nineteenth century railways a reality. Focusing on the early main lines, particularly the Grand Junction Railway, he explores how a varied array of people flocked to invest these new enterprises; from the wealthy merchants that had made their money in international trade, through to the surgeon and hotel keeper.He will consider why people invested and the reason some of the wealthier amongst them may have sought positions on railway boards of directors. He will also illuminate untold stories of the early main line railway age, for example revealing how railway investment had links to the wealth generated from slavery, and discussing the lives of indivduals who may not have invested much and, thus, have been lost from our histories.Through focussing on Birmingham’s railways, the talk will illuminate facets of the development of the United Kingdom’s nation’s early main lines more broadly.Prof Felix Schmid (University of Birmingham): Building the first London to Birmingham RailwayFelix Schmid, Professor emeritus of Railway Systems Engineering at the University of Birmingham, will talk about the construction and early years of the London and Birmingham Railway. He will trace the history of this huge undertaking through the eyes of John Cooke Bourne, using illustrations with his watercolours and lithographs. Cooke Bourne lived from 1 September 1814 to February 1896. Cooke Bourne’s pictures document the huge scale of this enterprise. He also recorded Brunel’s construction of the Great Western RailwayFelix will discuss some of the technologies used in the construction of this first mainline railway to reach Birmingham, notably the equipment needed for the vast movements of earth required to build the railway. Felix is neither a historian nor an archaeologist but a railway systems engineer who enjoys discussing the history of railways and its pioneers.Jenny Vince (Independent Scholar): Hidden Histories; Painful Truths - Celebrating Women of the RailwayThe Railway’s relationship with women was, (possibly still is), to coin a phrase, “complicated.” In Birmingham, reflective of the country as a whole, there was an ongoing tension between a railway aligned to masculine norms and values, and its female workforce. Jenny will explore the experiences of the railwaywomen of Birmingham and consider how these fit into the broader picture of female employment on the railway. Building on these themes Jenny will introduce new research which explores how British Rail responded to the demands of Equality Legislation under the Chairmanship of Bob Reid. In doing so she offers a challenge to the popular narrative of the 1980s as the “golden years” of the railway. It is hoped that learnings from this research might serve to inform approaches to equality and diversity for Britain’s railway of the future.