Oral history interview with Frank Wilson recorded and conducted by Robert Aitchison on 28 April 2004 as part of the Time Tracks oral history collecting initiative. Duration 9 minutes 28 seconds. Brief history of Shildon Wagon Works, produced and repaired freight wagons, details of wagon building; timber wagons 1934; construction, works description, use of steam furnaces to power hammers, 1940 boiler replacement by electric driven hammers, 1960’s furnace conversion to gas, 1940 drop hammers description, machinery used to produce wagons; [00:02:20] wagon repair shop; 1937 repairs all done in one workshop; construction shop; frightening site to a boy, reasons, modernisation details; [00:04:00] development pf Shildon works; 1950’s bogey shop description, body shop description; Beeching Report, Shildon escaped closure, Shildon development; [00:05:00] 1960’s high-capacity coal wagon; merry-go-round (MGR) wagon, operation description, 10000th wagon built 03/12/1980; [00:06:10] 1939-1945 Second World War, increased production of freight vehicles, tank track production, mortar bomb body and other war items produced; [00:07:20] grandfather (Thomas Oliver), boiler maker 1846-1853, no knowledge about this until recently, amazed by finding [00:09:28] [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.