Papers relating to British railway history, especially that of the Great Western Railway (GWR) and railways in the London area, including books, maps, periodicals, timetables and several thousand photographs, c1920s-1980s. The books represent a strong collection on British railway history from earliest times to the early 1980s. The collection is less strong in periodicals but there are some substantial runs of major titles. There is a large collection of early railway maps including Airey and Railway Clearing House (RCH) maps; also Ordnance Survey maps and railway junction diagrams, and a substantial collection of Bradshaw guides, and working and passenger timetables, with the following archival material:

Clinker Collection comprising notes and correspondence relating to the publications of Charles Ralph Clinker on railway history, particularly his Register of closed passenger stations and goods depots in England, Scotland and Wales, 1830-1977 (1963, revised 1978) and papers relating to his 1982 revision of the History of the Great Western Railway (London, 1964) by E T MacDermot; timetables, including those for the Bristol area, 1880s-1970s; General Strike, 1926; timetables during other strikes, 1920s; Great Western and Midland, various notices; Midland and South Western Junction Railway timetables, 1885-1947; operation instructions, GWR, London Midland and Scottish (LMS), London and North Eastern Railway (LNER), Southern Railway (SR); GWR working of stations, 1939-1965; LMS Railway train marshalling, 1943-1944; LMS timetables, 1890s-1940s; train arrangements during World War One and World War Two, 1914-1918, 1939-1945; papers relating to Broadgauge conversion; papers relating to Golden Valley Railway and Leominster-Kington Railway; ephemera relating to the Hay Railway, 1811-1977; Southern Railway plans for stations west of Salisbury, 1905- (mainly 1920s-1930s); Severn Bridge, General Manager's file, 1936-1943; logging of train performances, 1918-1927; books and periodicals, including rare and 19th century printed material on the early railway system, particularly guidebooks and station instructions.

Garnett Collection, mainly comprising railway maps, particularly those produced from 1869 by John Airey, an employee of the RCH, and subsequently by the RCH itself, and also includes Ordnance Survey maps and railway maps produced by the various railway companies; catalogues and research notes by Garnett, including lists of maps prepared by Airey and the RCH, 1869-1960; Macaulay [Zachary] series for Great Britain, Ireland and London, 1851-1908; notes on tramways and railways in Port Talbot area; catalogues of station handbooks, 1851-1956, and railway junction diagrams (the Airey and RCH maps, station handbooks and junction diagrams were used to determine ownership of stations and junctions for commercial purposes).

Research notes and photographs relating to Railway structures by Stuart Kear (9 vols); typescript of Chronology of the construction of Britain's railways, 1856-1922 by Leslie James; research notes by John Palmer on 19th century railway periodicals and the Eastern Counties Railway in its formative years; research notebooks and papers of Harold Vernon Borley on the history of railways in London, used for his Chronology of London railways (Railway and Canal Historical Society, Oakham, 1982).

Locomotive and General Railway Collection, featuring several thousand photographs (photographer unknown) of British locomotives, particularly steam trains, 1920s-1970s.

Wookey Collection, comprising several thousand photographs of British railway stations and signal boxes.

Mowat Collection (of Professor Charles Loch Mowat, 1911-c1969), comprising 2500 photographs in albums of railway scenes, 1926-1969 (mostly 1942-1969, with a few before 1924). These are mostly of small and medium sized railway stations (trains are generally incidental), covering most of the United Kingdom, with particular emphasis on the GWR and Wales, with coverage of Somerset and Dorset, Midland and South Western Junction, Lincolnshire, Midland Railway in the West Country, Great Eastern, Glasgow and Edinburgh Suburban, Bristol Suburban, Ireland, and narrow gauge lines in the UK such as Ffestiniog, Penrhyn, Bishop's Castle and Ditton's Prior. He also covered south east of Manchester in 1962, including the Hayfield, Macclesfield, Buxton (London North Western and Midland) and North Staffordshire lines. The collection also includes Mowat's index to his photographs and 14 notebooks containing track diagrams and notes on the stations he photographed, c1920-1969.

Papers relating to turnpike roads, comprising copies of the 1766 Act to repair the highways between Tyburn and Uxbridge... and for amending the road from Brent Bridge over Hanwell Heath, through... Hanwell, New Brentford, and Ealing to the Great Western Road; and for lighting, watching, and watering the highway between Tyburn and Kensington Gravel Pits; a plan of the Great Road from Tybourn to Uxbridge and from Brent Bridge to Brentford; and the 1794 Act to continue the term and enlarge the powers of the 1766 Act.

Records of Bedfont and Bagshot Turnpike Trust, 1763-1850, including minutes; financial accounts; grants of land; correspondence; reports and Acts of Parliament.

Records of Colnbrook Turnpike Trust, 1728-1871, including minutes; financial accounts; assignments; leases of tolls; conveyanves and other deeds; plans; correspondence; bonds and Acts of Parliament.

Minutes of the Hampton and Staines Turnpike Trust, 1826-1859.

Records of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London Limited, including minutes of Board meetings; minutes of General meetings; minuts of General Managers Conferences; minutes of the Finance Committee, Works Committee, Advisory Committee and General Purposes Committee; minutes of meetings of Stockholders; minutes of meetings of Executive Officers; registers of designs, trademarks and licences; registers of monthly expenditure; monthly traffic reports and statistics; financial reports; departmental reports; technical handbooks and staff manuals; papers relating to foreign visits by staff; diaries; and publications.

Records of UNISON, comprising minutes and papers of various branches and councils (APTEC stands for Administrative, Professional, Technical and Clerical):

• London District Council For Local Authorities A.P.T.E.C. Services;
• London J.I.C. Manual Workers/ Joint Council For Local Authorities Services Manual Workers;
• Middlesex J.I.C. Manual Workers/ Joint Council For Local Authority Services Manual Workers;
• Middlesex Whitley Council For Local Authorities A.P.T.E.C. Services;
• North Metropolitan J.I.C./ Joint Council For Local Authorities Manual Workers;
• Greater London Joint Council For Local Authority Services Manual Workers;
• Greater London Whitley Council For Local Authorities A.P.T.E.C. Services;
• Trade Union Joint Negotiating Committee For London County Council Staff;
• London, Middlesex, N. Metropolitan District and Provincial Council for Local Authorities non trading Services Manual Workers Joint Grading Committee;
• Metropolitan Education Joint Council For Local Authorities A.P.T.E.C. Services;
• Metropolitan District Council No. 5 For The Waterwork Undertaking Industry;
• Eastern District Provincial Council For Local Authority A.P.T.E.C. Services;
• South Midland Regional Council For County Council Roadmen;
• Essex County Council Local Joint Staff Committee For Manual Workers.

Papers of Professor William Cawthorne Unwin, 1856-1952, comprising correspondence, principally concerning engineering matters, 1856-1931, 1950,1952, notably with Edward Dean Adams, including the Niagra Falls Scheme, 1890-1929, Sir Benjamin Baker, including the Forth Bridge, dam schemes, 1882-1898, Sir William Fairbairn, including experiments, appointments, 1856-1874, Thomas Hardy, concerning astronomy, 1881, Imperial College, 1910-1926 (as representative of the Institution of Civil Engineers);
research papers, 1859-1924, notably Fay and Newall brakes, 1859, observations on the Thames, 1882-1883, Nile Project Committee, 1919, dam schemes, 1899-1905;
speeches and addresses to various institutions, including presidential addresses to the Institution of Civil Engineers, 1912, and Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 1916; engineering drawings, 1875-1906, of apparatus, machinery, sections of the Thames, Telok Ayer key wall, Singapore; two portraits of Unwin, undated;
additional material, comprising papers relating to Windsor Water Works arbitration, 1884; reports on compression gauges, 1886-1887; Birmingham dams, 1895; notes on dam theory, 1905; papers relating to Stockport water supply and Kinder Dam, 1905; notes relating to schemes for Niagra and central London.

Records of the London County Council Valuation Department, 1891-1965, including papers on the assessment of railways in London; press cuttings and other papers relating to transport organisation including fares and facilities, River Thames passenger services, canals, policy, railways, parking, congestion, air fares, the British Transport Commission, the London Transport Executive, pay and working conditions, bus services, arterial roads, the London Traffic Act, 1924; papers relating to town planning schemes; legislation affecting London and papers relating to road improvement schemes.

Registers of applications for mortgages and housing loans under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Acts and the Housing Acts. Returns of gross and rateable value of properties by locality; pamphlets, articles and posters relating to street and road improvements; site plans of LCC hospital properties transferred to the Ministry of Health in July 1948 under the National Health Service Act, 1946.

The collection consists of administrative papers of the Wandsworth District Board of Works. These include several duplicate runs of Minutes of Proceedings for the Board's meetings, as well as minutes of the Finance Committee. There are also Annual Reports and Reports of the Sanitary Inspector. The bulk of the collection is made up of agendas and supporting papers collected to be used at the Board's fortnightly meetings. These papers include letters of complaint and petitions from the public, planning approvals and refusals for new buildings, roads and sewers, correspondence from other Vestries, copies of Accounts, lists of Board members, copies of Reports from Board Inspectors, copies of Bills of Parliament and many other administrative papers. There are numerous papers regarding the expansion of the railways and the introduction and expansion of the tramways.

Records of the Waterloo Bridge Company comprising Annuity transfer certificates and Share Transfer Certificate from Ann Neild to William Ashton Nield, 1843.

Railway plans, consisting of two plans of Waterloo Station, the exterior and defaults of a window, and a plan of the proposed widening of Charing Cross Bridge.

Records of the Watford and Edgware Railway, comprising minutes of Board meetings and minutes of General meetings.

Records of the Watford Joint Railway Committee; including minutes of Committee meetings; general ledger; journal; cash book and financial accounts.

Papers, 1777-1782, relating to proceedings between Sir Martin Folkes, lord of the Manor of Wells, and George Chad and others, in the Court of King's Bench, concerning the harbour at Wells, annotated throughout and with sketches in the hand of Robert Mylne (see English Reports, XCIX, 589-91, 686-8). Includes a Report to the Commissioners for the Preservation of the Harbour of Wells by John Wooler, 7 Jul 1777; estimates for repair works submitted by Stephen West, [1781]; copy of the judgment of Lord Chief Justice Mansfield, [21 Nov 1782]; a memorandum in Mynle's hand headed 'Facts and Observations on Wells Harbour', with details dating from 1663; 5 maps, one by H.A. Biedermann (no.II) and one of the Wash (no. IV). The following printed matter is also included: April 28, 1781. Mr. Mylne's Report on his Survey of the Harbour (1781); The Report of John Smeaton, Engineer, upon the State and Condition of Wells Harbour (1782); and The Reports of Mess. Hodskinson, Grundy, Hogard and Nickalls on the State and Causes of the Decay of Wells Harbour (1782).

Plans made by the Engineer's Department, West Ham Borough Council, 1894-1966. The collection includes building plans, site plans, proposals for projects and Ordnance Survey maps. The maps have been amended by the engineers to show proposals or extent of works. The proposals include swimming pools, recreation grounds, public baths, sewers, new roads and unemployment relief works. There is a large amount of material relating to Whipps Cross Hospital, including contract plans. A detailed index of the plans can be found in hard copy at the LMA Information Area.

Records of the Western (Cannel) Gas Light Company, including half yearly reports and accounts submitted by the Directors of the Western Gas Light Company Limited to the shareholders; certificates of registration of the company; return of schedule to the deed of settlement, showing name, address and profession of shareholders; list of proprietors of the company, showing name, address and number of shares held by each; assignment of debts and shares as security for repayment; contract for lighting part of Notting Hill lighting district; agreements and licences for laying mains in various districts; schedule of deeds, drafts and correspondence for company premises in various locations including Kensington, Westminster, Marylebone and Kensal Green.

Records of Westminster Bridge Commissioners, comprising volume of draft contracts and papers relating to the Bridge, including 'Act for building a Bridge cross the River Thames, from the New Palace Yard in the City of Westminster, to the opposite Shore, in the County of Surry' and articles of agreement and contracts for various aspects of building the bridge and provision of materials.

The volume is a later re-binding, possibly of the 19th century. The contracts had been paginated, and so, presumably, bound together at an earlier date. The pagination runs from 153 to 261, the right hand (odd) pages only being numbered; the surviving items thus appear to be part only of an earlier compilation. From the note made and signed by Taylor White on p.207, and the endorsements on pp [194] and [208], it appears likely that the papers were among the working papers of the Commissioners themselves.

Documents relating to the Westminster Bridge inquisitions, 1739-1746. The documents relate to the acquisition of land in Westminster. For each case there is a precept for summoning a jury, a list of jurymen and their resulting inquisition. The list records the general location of the property and the owner or leaseholder concerned.

Records of the Whitechapel and Bow Railway, comprising Board meeting minutes; General meeting minutes; minutes of the London, Tilbury and Southend and Metropolitan District Railways Whitechapel and Bow Railway Joint Committee; and minutes of the Midland and Metropolitan District Railways Whitechapel and Bow Joint Committee.

Diaries of Edward Wilding, 1926-1929, comprising diary in four volumes, illustrated with photographs, postcards, etc, of voyage to South America and a journey to Corriented and Posada on the River Parana and its tributaries, 1926 and diary in five volumes, illustrated with photographs, postcards etc, of a voyage to South America and a journey up the River Parana and in northern and western Argentina, 1929.

Photograph album entitled 'Ellichpur, Berar, India, September 1893', containing 136 captioned photographs, Sep 1889-Jul 1894, including visit to Brussels and Ostend, Belgium, 1889; Mandalay and Rangoon, Burma, Dec 1889; Bombay, India, 1892; the arrival, mounting and testing of 10 inch breech loading gun, Colabra South Battery, Bombay, Mar-Sep 1892; photograph of Lt Gen Hon Sir James Charlemagne Dormer, Commander-in-Chief, Madras, India, examining large calibre gun, Beder Fort, Beder, India, Dec 1892. Photograph album containing 150 captioned photographs, Jun 1894-Mar 1908, including Simla, India, 1894; the Bhori Ghaut Railway, and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, India, 1896-1898; Burma, 1906-1907, with printed article by Woods entitled 'A motor car in the Southern Shan hills of Burmah' from Indian Motor News, Aug 1908. Photograph album containing 84 photographs on expedition in Mongolia, Apr-May 1902, with typescript report by Woods to the Deputy Quartermaster General for Intelligence, China Force, Tientsin, North China, entitled 'General report on tour to Lama Miao and back via the Wei Chang (Imperial hunting grounds)', Aug 1902; also, printed report entitled 'China Expedition - Despatches', 24 Sep 1902, by Maj Gen O'Moore Creagh, General Officer Commanding China Force, published in The Royal Engineers Journal, 1 Jan 1903. Photograph album containing 129 captioned photographs, many colour tinted, of Japan and the USA, 1904, and the UK and Switzerland, 1905. Two photograph albums containing 72 captioned photographs including Tientsin and the Yangtse river, China, 1904, and Kilkeel, Ireland, 1905.

Records of the Worshipful Company of Paviors. The records were compiled between 1565 and 1861, but they include a copy of the 1479 ordinances. They also include registers of freedom admissions; apprentice bindings from 1565; Court minute books; alphabetical lists of members, giving dates of freedom, addresses and trades; financial accounts and administrative papers.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING ACCESS: These records are stored at the Guildhall Library site rather than the LMA Clerkenwell site. Researchers wishing to access these records should do so at the Guildhall Library Rare Books table. The Library is open Monday to Saturday, 9:30 to 16:45. Researchers will need to have an Archives History Card or a Library Readers Card. An archivist will be available at Guildhall Library on Thursday mornings to answer any queries.