Unfortunately, the Railways Archive cannot help you with your genealogical (family history) research - it simply isn't that kind of archive. We do not hold railway staff records, or records relating to accidents in the workplace. We only hold train accident reports, i.e. those relating to trains colliding, derailing or misbehaving in some other way. These accident reports do not usually mention the names of those killed or injured.

So if your great-grandfather lost a big toe to a coal train in 1864, I'm afraid you won’t find any answers here.

Every week, we receive numerous requests from people researching their family history. With regret, we do not reply to them.

This may seem unfair, but the reality is, we do not have the time or resources to do so. The Archive is a volunteer project, run by individuals in their spare time. If we answer one genealogy request, we have to answer them all. If we did this, there would be no time for the core purpose of the archive, which is scanning, collating and publishing accident reports and other key documents. As you can imagine, this is a time-consuming process.

There are, however, a number of resources which are more likely to be able to assist with your research. Most railway company records are now deposited at the National Archives, and this would be the sensible place to start any genealogical research.

National Archives
The National Archives, based at Kew, is responsible for looking after the records of central government and the courts of law for England, and making sure everyone can look at them. The collection is one of the largest in the world and spans an unbroken period from the 11th century to the present day.

National Archives of Scotland
The NAS is the main archive for sources on the history of Scotland. The NAS holds records spanning the 12th to the 21st centuries, touching on virtually every aspect of Scottish life. The NAS is the repository for the public and legal records of Scotland but also holds many local and private archives.