Carriage cleaners, about 1916.

Women carriage cleaners on the London & South Western Railway, about 1916. Carriages got very dirty from all the smoke and ash produced by the locomotive fire.  During the First World War many male workers joined the army, so women were employed in their place, in a variety of roles that included blacksmiths, welders and electricians. Photographs, a collection of approximately 7,000 cellulose nitrate, cellulose diacetate and triacetate safety film negatives, 35 mm to 6½ x 4¾ ins and 1,050 silver gelatin glass negatives 2½ x 1¾ to 6½ x 4¾ ins, featuring copies covering the history of railways in Britain, including the Great Western Railway, London & North Eastern Railway, London Midland & Scottish Railway and Southern Railway, c1825-1960.  Also the work of Southern Railway official photographers, c1939-1948.  Part-listed on handwritten registers.  Known as the Clapham or British Transport Commission Collection.