OTD - 7th February in various years past

[whole diary]

[grahame]

7th February - a veritable pot pourri of events have happened on this day in history including ...

7th February 1855    Boiler explosion, Gloucester    
(report) and (summary)

7th February 1880    Formation of ASLEF^» (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - about)      
(link)

7th February 1909    Timber Ferrybridge replace by steel bridge
(that's on the way from Weymouth to Portland)
(link)

All three events form part of the pattern of railway development

- early boiler explosions remind us of the dangers of steam, and we see today how the regime of boiler tickets is the modern way of helping to ensure that such events are history.

- unionisation and worker representation was and (sadly) still is oh-so-important.

- Timber bridges, built in the construction phase of railways had a limited lifespan and were replaced over time by something of longer duration. Few remain - the magnificent bridge between Barmouth and Morfa Mawddach requiring regular structrural replacement work ...

[grahame]

7th February 1880    Formation of ASLEF^» (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - about)      
(link)

From that link - quoting to add a thread of information about an organisation which remains very relevant to us today.

On 7 Feb 1880 William Ullyott of Leeds and 55 colleagues formed the first registered lodge of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) in Sheffield. The founding delegate conference of the new Society was held in the Falstaff Hotel, Market Place, Manchester on 3 Jan 1881. It was set up as craft union, one in which workers were organised according to the particular craft or trade in which they worked. It contrasted with industrial unionism, in which all workers in the same industry were organised into the same union, regardless of differences in skills.

Within a year, ASLEF had established a central executive - based for convenience on the Leeds branch - and had registered under the Trade Union Acts, its head office being the Commercial Inn, Sweet Street, Holbeck, Leeds. The first general secretary was Joseph Brooke. By 1884, membership exceeded 1,000.

In the course of the next two decades, the union’s membership grew from hundreds to thousands. ASLEF held its first strike on the Midland Railways in 1887. Its first monthly magazine was published in 1888.

By 1904, when the union had 12,000 members, train drivers and firemen had mostly achieved a ten-hour day everywhere except Scotland and Ireland, where shifts of 12 hours remained common. ASLEF took part in many strikes, including the national rail strike of 1911, the 1919 strike to help the National Union of Railwaymen win standardised pay, 1924 strike against the new large regional railway companies, the 1926 General Strike, and the 1955 strike against British Railways regarding a pay dispute.

ASLEF is still active, being Britain's trade union for train drivers. At the time of writing (Jan 2018) it has over 20,000 members who are employed in the train operating companies, the freight companies, London Underground and some Light Rapid Transport. Its members belong to one of 180 branches that are spread throughout the UK^▸ (United Kingdom).

Administrative history based on the History of ASLEF taken from the ASLEF website http://www.aslef.org.uk/history.html [accessed 13 Jun 2017].