Women workers at Doncaster works, South Yorkshire, c 1916.

Women workers in the brass shop at Doncaster works. The women are making brass fittings for carriages. Until the labour shortages of the First World War relatively few women were employed by railway companies. They traditionally worked in poorly paid jobs, such as cleaning and catering. In wartime women replaced men in a variety of roles, including blacksmiths, welders, electricians and driving road vehicles.