THE latest book by an acclaimed railway author tells the stories of the GWR’s apprentices and trainees.

Rosa Matheson had the idea for the book, called Doing Time Inside, when researching an earlier work, Railway Voices.

She said: “Aprenticeship and training was going to be a chapter in Railway Voices. I started writing it as a chapter but it grew and grew and became too big.

“I said to the publisher, ‘This needs a book in its own right.’ I suppose the book took two years, including the research.”

Already filled with respect for the Great Western Railway and its history, Rosa came to admire even more the pioneers of the industry who made Swindon their home.

“I learned an incredible amount about the emergence of these institutions,” she said.

“We all think of the institutions as having been there all the time, but the research brought alive to me the fact that these men only had their gut feelings and their instincts, and the basic knowledge that they had to do all these great things.

“There was no shared experience because everything was new. I found that really touching.”

Rosa lives in Highworth and is married to Ian, a retired GP. The couple have four children.

She discovered a fascination with the GWR while studying for a Master’s degree in women’s history, and cemented her interest when she chose Women Of The GWR as her PhD subject.

Her latest book, her fifth about the GWR, details the long history of apprenticeship and training for the various trades at the Railway Works, ranging from engineering and machining to carpentry and bricklaying.

It covers the evolution of apprenticeship and training from the 19th century to the closure of the Works in 1986, a period during which tens of thousands of teenaged boys grew to manhood while striving for the certificates that set them apart forever as skilled artisans.

Rosa said: “Men gave up so much of their lives for this special piece of paper that was so important.

“The reason I had to tell the story from the beginning to the end was that I found when I was speaking to men about their experiences there would be things that happened in some people’s time but not others.

“The oldest people I interviewed are in their eighties and nineties, and the youngest are in their forties.”

The author’s research also included seeking out old documents, photographs and memoirs.

Rosa said: “I always write from the point of view that history is exciting, and I want people to be excited when they read it.”

Doing Time Inside, published by The History Press, is available from all good bookshops and online sellers at £14.99, ISBN 978-0-7524-5301-9 Signed copies are available from the author herself, and she can be contacted on 01793 764979.