When did BR staff gain International travel facilities?

[dazzler]

(Mods: Please feel free to move this thread if there is a more appropriate location. Thanks.)

As per the thread title.

My mother asked my father (retired railway man in his 80s) if he knew when BR staff first gained international rail travel concessions. Sadly, he didn't know. I was wondering if any of the assembled hive mind of the forum could remember when this occurred? My mother's best guess is some point in the 1950s.

Many thanks.

 

[Roger1973]

I also don't know - a former colleague (not on the railways) had worked in an office based railway job in the 1960s and from what he told me, they had international travel then.

I've also read (I can't remember which ex railwayman's memoirs) that there was some European travel before 1939, which came in useful knowing which locations / junctions would be strategic targets when they were on enemy controlled territory in 1939-45. I think this may have been an arrangement between railway operators in different countries to share ideas, rather than a leisure travel concession to all, though.

 

[mailbyrail]

I think it varied by type of employee - I seem to remember guards and wages grades got it around 1977, or maybe they had to do a lot of years service up until that time before they qualified for it.

 

[Route115?]

When I was a trainee in 1981 BREL staff didn't get the standard international facilities as they were not considered railway staff by our European cousins, although most BR staff did. BR did pay for international tickets in for BREL staff in lieu. I can't remember exactly how it worked.

Presumably there were various agreements with different European administrations which is as retired staff I still get free travel on a few railways such as the Dutch & Belgium, and used to get it on two occasions per year (as salaried staff) on NS. Families could get free travel on BLS but not SBB.

In some countries you only get free travel on the state operator. It used to be that you had to to get a separate coupon for each Swiss rail operator, later that was rationalised to SBB, BLS & Swiss Private. ATOC cover all UK operators but unlike the rest of Europe, I believe that unprotected staff not working for a TOC are excluded. (Hopefully GB Rail will end this. Looking ahead, could we end up with GBR & British Private for Open staff working for access operators?)

Complicated!