Photo Credit: Australian government licensed under Creative Commons

An in-person only event. No need to sign up, just come along – all are welcome.

The talk considers and contrasts the public and company changes in attitudes to safety and risk of injury from Railway travel, starting with the early plateway and tramway period. The changes in attitude when main line railways arrived in 1830 through to the end of the 19th century are analysed. It reviews how safety for the public and employees of railways evolved as society’s perception and acceptance of risk and injury changed. As railways developed, how did those managing and checking railways react? How did rail companies, writers, literature, newspapers government and society influencers respond? It will not re-cover ground already described in popular texts on railway accidents but will indicate where experience, company management and popular literature influenced safety on the railways. The way the government’s railway acts and the railway inspectorate responded is outlined.

It takes a generic rather than a detailed technological approach and suggests subjects requiring further study.

This talk was first given in a shorter form at the Early Railways 8 Conference in Sept 2025.

About the Speaker

Ivor Lewis is a member of the Manchester Branch of Newcomen and a former computer hardware and software engineer and IT consultant. He studied Physics at London University but spent his working life in Computer and IT engineering. His longstanding interest in the history of railways and particularly railway mechanical engineering evolved into a wider interest in all forms of engineering history.

Ivor is a member of several railway and line societies and has volunteered at the National Railway Museum behind the scenes on railway archives. He is a past Chairman of the Historical Model Railway Society and has spoken at three of the Early Railway conferences. 

Ivor is married with two grown up children and two grandchildren and lives near Crewe in Cheshire.