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LMS Route: Rugby to Leamington Spa (Avenue)

Marton Station: lnwrmart3100a

Close up showing the timber platform and railway staff and passengers posed for the camera

Close up of image 'lnwrmart3100' showing the timber platform and railway staff and passengers posed for the camera. The platelayer is standing in the six foot (the space between the two sets of tracks) holding a long handle sledge hammer. Porter-Signalman Thomas Baker (see image 'lnwrmart3576') can been on the platform, the second from the left. The term 'platelayer' had its origins in pre-steam days when 'plateways' were built using L shaped rails and the vehicles which ran on them did not have flanged wheels. Essentially this was to overcome the problem encountered by road vehicles running on roads which were not much better than mud tracks. Eventually, around 1830, with the coming of heavier engines and wagons, plateways gave way to edged rails and flanged wheels. Plateways were less able to carry the increased weights, and L shaped rails were prone to wear. With the coming of the first railroad (this was originally a British term before becoming primarily associated with American railways) the word 'platelayer' continued to be used to describe those workers. 'Ganger' is a term used to describe the person who would be in charge of a 'gang' of platelayers (and is still in use to day across many construction sites). On the right the point rodding from the signal box to the points controlling access from the down line to the goods yard are protected by a timber 'tunnel'.

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