The post of Station Master is one that, like many on the modern railway, has disappeared, and details of the many and various duties, responsibilities and everyday jobs that went with it will disappear too if they are not recorded. David Holmes rose to the post of SM in the 1960s, so is eminently qualified to describe the evolution of this once very prestigious grade. Using many photographs and items of ephemera, he outlines the emergence of the Station Master’s role from the earliest days and describes the job – training, pay, promotion, conditions of employment, rules and regulation, duties and responsibilities – as well as the social side of things in the days when every station had a considerable staff. He describes relationships with other members of staff, both on the station and in other areas, and takes us through a typical ‘day in the life’. ‘Station Masters’ ceased to exist in February 1970, and this is a unique record of a lost way of life whose gradual disappearance was overshadowed by more dramatic railway developments following the end of the Steam Age.

David Holmes is a lifelong railway enthusiast and photographer, and author of many magazine articles about train-watching and his working life on British Railways. He lives in Chippenham.