It’s been great to look at historic images of the people who ran the railways…
There are lots of photo images. You can imagine how delighted I was to discover that Salgado had been invited to document the life of the SNCF through its employees.
In France, the generic title for a railway worker is cheminot…an in the old days, the association with the railway provided for a secure and permanent employment. In fact, the French railway recruited, like the old British Civil Service, by examination.
One of the key roles on the railway was to look after the rural roads…and employees were given a small house of standrad form, next to a lvel crossing and wwith a vegetable garden attached.
I’ve been interested in the specific history of these vegetable plots for a while. I love it when various interest come together.
PS
I discovered that Robert Doisneau has also taken lots of ptictures of trains and people.
Brilliant.