Summary: British women take over jobs normally performed by men on the railways.
Description: START 01:00:00 A film celebrating the work of women employees of the Southern Railways in wartime, showing how war has forced the women of Britain out of their traditional peacetime occupations and domestic duties and into the work force.
01:00:42 The film opens with scenes showing a well-to-do woman selecting a book with the title of "Women throughout the Ages" from her local library and sitting down to read it. As she does so, bold and fearless women like Boadicea, Joan of Arc, Florence Nightingale and Edith Cavell set her imagination alight. The commentary, delivered in a cut-glass upper-class accent, declares, "In all the crowded pageant of history....the roles played by women have been undeniably important. Long regarded as the weaker sex, woman has many times proved herself a worthy champion of the cause for which men have fought and died." The film contrasts the narrow range of jobs thought suitable for women in 1938 with those thrown open to women following the introduction of conscription of British women for war work in September 1941.
01:02:39 Starting with scenes filmed at Waterloo Station, women are seen carrying out a wide variety of jobs such as traffic police, luggage porter, baggage handler, station announcer, ticket sales clerk, ticket inspector, freight depot worker, welder, machine tool operator, riveter and blacksmith.
01:08:15 Women as a warehouse trolley driver, precision instrument measurers, timber workers making telegraph poles, construction workers and a heavy crane operator.
01:12:56 At the end of her working day, the woman worker resumes her traditional role of housewife and mother. The commentary sums up the role of women railway workers in this war as "keep the wheels running until the men return" but concludes, not entirely in jest, that the average woman railway employee "has taken on one task after another and has become so capable that, for the time being, she can really almost do without men!"
END 01:14:05
Production Details: Southern Railway (Production sponsor)
Southern Railway Film Unit (Production company)
Farrar, Hugh (Production individual)
Morey, Hal (Production individual)
Morey, Hal (Production individual)
Simpson, Margaret (Production cast)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: SOUTHERN RAILWAY (regiment/service)
Keywords: Waterloo, London, England, UK (geography)
Waterloo Station, London, England, UK (geography)
Home Front, UK, Second World War (event)
British Home Front 1939-1945 (theme)
British War Work 1939-1945 (theme)
Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W
Sound format: Sound
Soundtrack language: English
Title language: English
Subtitle language: None
Technical Details: Format: 35mm
Number of items/reels/tapes: 2
Footage: 1317 ft; Running time: 14 mins 6 secs
