Women Gallery

Women workers in the Permanent Way Dept at Reading, 1943

Three ladies from the Permanent Way Department are pictured here at Reading in April 1943 off-loading wooden blocks from a wagon. This photograph is an official Company image, with GWR Chief Engineers Office, Aldermaston. Photographic Department' stamped on the reverse. The photo may have been taken to show the work of women during the war, but equally it might have been taken to show joint working between the GWR and LMS whose wagon features in the image. Inter-railway working between the railway companies was actively encouraged by the Government during the war as a means of maintaining an efficient and economic rail service, so staff and rolling stock worked across the different networks in a way that had not been seen previously.

Production line for wartime shells in No.24 Shop, Swindon Works, 1942

No.24 Shop, on the Carriage and Wagon side of Swindon Works was fitted out with two production lines for 25-pounder shells. The refurbishment was quite a feat and required the excavation of new foundations for heavy machinery and furnaces. The Production line is in full operation in this photograph from February 1942. The various machines are fully manned by female operatives who finished, turned, weighed and riveted the 25-pdr shells and in total produced over 63,000 of them. A stack of machined shells can be seen on the floor to the left and centre of the image.