Uniforms

At our meeting of the '150' steering group last night we were talking about the possibilities for wearing uniforms at the '150 weekend' in August. Our plan has been for platform staff to wear 'period' railway costumes and we had thought that it would be possible to rent them from a theatrical agency but it seems not. I think that if you wanted anything as specialised as a 'Stockton and Darlington' or a North Eastern Railway uniform you would probably have to research it yourself and learn to sew.

Even a good old British Rail uniform might be quite hard to track down these days. I can remember when there was a 'surplus store' in a warehouse around the back of Euston where you could buy such stuff for a fiver but I'm afraid that it probably all sold out long ago.

I don't know what we'll do for the August weekend, it needs some thought. For anyone dealing with the public on those days maybe just matching blazers and flannels might work. After ten years of living in Japan where train staff not only always wear uniforms but wouldn't dream of being at work in the cab without their cap on and wearing a pair of white cotton gloves to keep their hands clean and the machinery shining it seems very strange to me these days to see anyone in charge of a railway with out some kind of a uniform on.