The Water cress line:

– It’s a non profit organisation that has been funded by their supporters and visitors.

– They got their name from them transporting watercress from Alresford to London.

– They operate steam locomotives.

– The railway runs 10 miles between Alresford and Alton.

Eastleigh works:

– They repair and build locomotives, carriages and wagons.

– The company works by allowing customers to pay to use their facilities, this allows smaller companies to access facilities that used to only be available to major train builders.

– They work closely with the watercress line.

Women on the railway in WW1 and WW2:

– Male dominated jobs were offered to women as the men were sent to war.

– Women held nearly all of the railway industry jobs by 1918.

– Women’s employment rate increased from 23.6% to 46.7% between 1914 and 1918.

– These women working on the railway opened up a path for women today to have the opportunity of working in the railway industry.

The Canadian Pacific:

– The Canadian Pacific is a Merchant Navy class locomotive built in 1941 at the Eastleigh works.

– She was named after the Canadian Pacific shipping line that travelled from Canada to Liverpool to Southampton.

– She is the oldest and fastest surviving locomotive in her class.

– About half of the workforce that built her were female.

– Most locomotives were redesigned in the 1950’s, including the Canadian Pacific, however she still has some of her original parts from the 1940’s like her boiler.