OLDEST NUR BANNER UNVEILED

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: february 2022 :: RMTnews 22 RMT general secretary Mick Lynch did the honours unveiling what is believed to be one of the oldest National Union of Railwaymen trade union banners in existence in the country earlier this month. The Shildon Railway Institute, founded in 1833, in Country Durham is believed to be the world’s first such institute and is currently operating as a thriving social club and community venue. The return of the 1919 Shildon Works 2 banner began with a donation from the NUR’s successor RMT to help restore it to its former glory. The National Union of Railwaymen was formed in 1913 from an amalgamation of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, the United Pointsmen and the Signalmen's Society and the General Railway Workers Union. Mick Lynch said that the union had strong connections with Shildon which had thousands of members when it was a major railway manufacturing town. “It is important that we keep that heritage alive and the idea of this country continuing to develop a manufacturing base,” he said. Shildon is also home to Locomotion one of the largest railway museums in the country and contains many NUR artifacts. Opened in 2004 it is sited near Timothy Hackworth's Soho Works on the world's first public railway, the Stockton and Darlington Railway opened on 27 September 27, 1825 with a train hauled by Locomotion No 1 which took two hours to complete the 12-mile journey from Shildon to Darlington. The town was to become a major centre for British railway engineering thanks to the Shildon wagon works, which closed in 1984. OLDEST NUR BANNER UNVEILED One of the oldest National Union of Railwaymen banners unveiled at Shildon Railway Institute UNVEILED: Shildon Railway Institute secretary Shaun Thompson, Gerald Slack of Auckland Railway Group and Mick Lynch in front of the restored Shildon banner