The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 4 (August 1, 1928)

Women as Stationmasters

Women as Stationmasters

A dozen women perform the duties of stationmaster at small centres on the London and North-Eastern Railway Company's system in Scotland—and they are all most efficient.

An official of the L.N.E.R. made this statement to a Press representative recently, when his attention was directed to an announcement
An Historic Railway Event. Crowds lining the railway at the opening of the new extension to Tauranga and Taneatua.

An Historic Railway Event.
Crowds lining the railway at the opening of the new extension to Tauranga and Taneatua.

of the appointment in charge of the company's Eddleston station in Peeblesshire of Miss Margaret Cochrane “to succeed her father, who has completed 48 years’ service.”

“Most of them, he said, were appointed before the railway amalgamation, and their stations are mainly on the old West Highland Line and the North British. They are principally the daughters or widows of railway men who held the posts before them.

“Mind you, they are women, not ‘flappers,’ and they are efficient stationmistresses in every sense of the word. They are supplied with a uniform and on the collar and cap is the word ‘Stationmistress.’ They take complete charge. As a rule there is not much passenger traffic at their stations, but timber and other goods traffic is handled, and they give a hand with the manual work when necessary. They have porters under them and keep order about the place.”

The stationmistresses receive the same rates of pay as men in similar posts, and they are treated in every way as if they were men. There has been no difficulty with any unions about them.