In this week's blog, Costume Society member Anthony Dawson talks us through the experience of curating a railway uniform fashion show to mark the 200 year anniversary of Stockton & Darlington Railway.
2025 sees national celebrations to mark the bicentenary of the opening of Stockton & Darlington Railway in September 1825. Although whether the Stockton & Darlington Railway was actually the ‘first’ of anything – early railways historian the late Andy Guy referred to it as ‘better than the first’ – is open to debate, but as in 1875, 1925 and 1975 the opportunity has been taken to mark its opening. As part of this, local and national events have taken, and will be taking, place around Britain.
As someone who has written on railway uniform and occupational clothing, and is currently in receipt of a research grant to write a monograph on the subject, I was approached by Dr Louise Moon from Transport for Wales in 2024 with an idea to create a railway uniform fashion show. Originally intended as an in-person event, it will now consist of a website and a series of blog posts with photographs and videos.
The fashion show would tell the story of 190 years of railway uniform: as I argued in 2021 the provision of uniform, which was then termed ‘livery’, by railway companies to their staff with the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway in September 1830 was a defining moment in the history of railways, and indeed, occupational clothing.
‘Hurry up and Wait’ models and photographers gathering at Wakefield Kirkgate, while Anthony instructs the 1840s Railway Constable how to signal with his flags. Image courtesy of Dan Nash.
The Liverpool & Manchester Railway set the mould for what was to come in many ways, not least providing its customer-facing employees with a uniform. This included the police constables, who were responsible for not only maintaining law and order on the railway but operating the points and signalling trains using flags and lamps. Passenger guards who, like today, are responsible for the safe running of trains had very elaborate uniforms and for the opening day even the engine crews had uniforms. Thereafter, however, engine crews like the majority of Liverpool & Manchester Railway employees had to provide their own clothing. Employees in jobs away from the public view, or which was particularly dirty, were not provided with uniform or occupational clothing. This became one of the causes of the very first railway strikes in 1836 when engine drivers on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway went on strike because their work ‘destroyed their clothes’ which they could little afford from their small pay packets. Thereafter engine drivers received a cap and an overcoat for the rest of the century; it was only thanks to Trades Union involvement that anything was done to provide overalls in the years before WW1.
Because the fashion show would be portraying 190 years of railway clothing it meant that garments representing nineteenth century railway workers would have to be researched and made. These garments are incredibly rare in the preservation record and obviously could not be worn! Roles chosen included an 1830s-1840s railway constable; a railway passenger guard from 1860-1890; and a railway porter wearing green corduroy depicting the traditional dress of those very lowly members of staff from any time from 1840 to the 1920s.
For the police constable, a uniform was created based on a specification issued by the London & North Western Railway in 1846. Dark bottle green broadcloth and serge were used to create the tailcoat which was made from an 1830s draft. The coat was entirely hand-sewn using linen thread and was decorated with silver-plated original buttons. It was accompanied by a pair of fly-fronted trousers made from fustian; a leather neck stock; and hand-embroidered silver collar badges. Accoutrements included a hand-sewn waist belt together with a replica truncheon and signal flags and a pair of original nineteenth century iron hand cuffs.
Finding an appropriate 14 or 15oz dark green corduroy for the porter’s uniform was far trickier. None could be found in the UK so 4m was imported from Europe. We know historically railway porters and others who wore these green corduroy uniforms hated them. Suffice to say, whilst making the ensemble of jacket, sleeved vest, and trousers, I came to agree with them. The cloth is stiff and heavy. It doesn’t drape well and my long-suffering Singer hated machining it. It was finished with a hand-made kepi and original nineteenth century buttons. Although only a moderately warm day (17ºC) wearing the corduroy uniform produced a profusion of sweat, and upon washing my shirt the day after found that, as per the original garments, the green dye had leached onto what had been a pristine white shirt.
The passenger guard and a ticket collector were dressing using clothing made for a previous practice which was published by Exarc in 2024.
Original garments from 1920s – 1990s were carefully worn to depict railway workers from later periods, combined with some modern replica garments. These included a railway porter wearing original garments from the 1920s; a goods guard wearing 1950s-1960s uniform; a passenger guard c.1950; and a pair of drivers representing the steam era up to 1968 and the diesel era 1960s -1990s.
A day-long photo shoot was held at Wakefield Kirkgate Railway Station on 5 July 2025, which saw six practitioners/models gather to record their experiences of wearing these garments, and to model for photography and videography. It was a long day, but one which was a lot of fun!
Certainly taking place on a busy mainline railway station we drew many admiring comments, and the models were often mistaken for professional railwaymen by members of the public looking for where to catch their train from. Wakefield Kirkgate is a well-preserved and recently restored example of Victorian railway architecture built in 1854. The replica and original garments all looked very much at home and complimented the heritage aspect of the building.
The story which emerged was one of moving from natural fibres (wool, cotton, linen) to man-made materials such as rayon (1960s uniforms); and from stiff, regimented formality – and indeed discomfort from the leather neck stock – to increase comfort and less formality, ending with railway uniforms of the modern day which are entirely about comfort and safety at work: polo shirts and padded hi-visibility garments, safety boots and bump caps. One constant, however, was other than the use of peaked caps 1920s – 1960s, railway hats were pretty much the same shape, with the kepi giving the railwayman his distinctive look for well over a century – throughout the nineteenth century and the final quarter of the twentieth.
