The poem 'The Railwayman's Lament' is a 16-line single stanza poem, written in fountain-pen blue-black ink on a sheet of blue notepaper, watermarked 'Emissary Bond'. It sets out personal reactions to the Nationalisation of Britain's Railways, 1 January 1848. It is signed 'By Rodney Carne' at the end. There is some yellowing and it has been previously folded into four.

Railways in Britain were nationalised by the Transport Act of 1947 and the new state-owned company British Railways (later British Rail) operated most of the overground railways in Great Britain. This poem, 'The Railwayman's Lament' by Rodney Carne is a reaction to nationalisation. It was donated by the poet’s nephew, Mark Carne CBE, who was Chief Executive of Network Rail when it was essentially re-nationalised in 2014.