Gary Cook interviewed by Robert Aitchison

Oral history interview with Gary Cook conducted and recorded by Robert Aitchison on 22 April 2004, as part of the Time Tracks oral history collecting initiative. Duration: 30 minutes 30 seconds. Apprenticeship (last apprentice at Shildon railway works); apprentices pecking order; end of apprenticeship, pneumatic braking, testing brakes, new construction, voluntary work in Kenya, soda ash wagons [00:05:00]; work conversion, social sciences Master course at Sunderland college; move to [Nutgen]; unemployment, work as machinist at forge, work at Milton Keynes; travel permits, destinations to anywhere [00:10:00]; Margaret Thatcher on railways; freight on motorways; gaffer brought in to shut down Shildon works [00:15:00]; apprentices were craftsmen; saddle makers; made injury worse; social network at works; Shildon railway works, most efficient works in Europe [00:20:00]; Michael Foot visited; friends at works; good wage for 16 year old; trained at Newton Aycliffe; basic training then decide trade; family influence in getting job at Shildon works; measure a square piece of metal [00:25:00]; comparison with Derby railway works; social service qualification at Sunderland college, teachers, socialist learning at college [00:30:31] [end of interview]

Time Tracks, Shildon Railway Village Community Project was an initiative funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund that encouraged members of the public to bring photographs and documents at Locomotion to form a community archive, when Locomotion museum was opened in Shildon, 2004. Over 50 oral history interviews were also recorded with members of the community. They shared their memories of Shildon as they knew it in their childhood and throughout their lives, from as early as the 1920s, as well as their work experiences in local factories and industries, including Shildon railway works.