Moving to a new area in the 1880's

[Rainbow Quartz]

I was just wondering how my family travelled from the Chard area in Somerset, to Warrington, Lancashire, in 1878? They had a son, aged 3, and a new-born baby. I think they were quite poor. Would they have taken any possessions with them? On the 1881 Census they had a house in Warrington and he was an engine driver, which I suppose was a reasonable kind of job?
Cheers
Mand

[KGarrad]

Maybe the Railway company helped?

My Gt Grandfather moved from Essex/Suffolk are to work on the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway - I have always assumed he got some relocation money from S&D?

[mohican]

I don't know what the actual pay-rates were, but a locomotive driver was probably at the peak of his profession, at any rate with the larger companies. In the case of a distant relation of mine, some twenty years after your man, it took about twenty years to work up from a mere stoker/fireman to being a loco driver. If the company your man worked for valued him and wanted him to work from a different base, they could easily arrange transport!

[jim1]

There were agents who actively sought out labour from around the country to work in industrialised towns.
Transportation & housing were included.
The term engine driver would have included a static engine driver ie. someone who operated a steam engine that drove machinery.

jim

[Rainbow Quartz]

Thanks for the info. Warrington's main industry at the time was wire, so it might be that my Great Grandad worked a static engine in the wireworks, which wasn't far from where they lived. The town is also at the crossroads of the Manchester/Liverpool and what is now the west coast main railway line, so maybe he worked on the railways? The local wireworks may have kept employee records, I'll see what I can find at the library.
What I was really thinking about was how they actually travelled to Warrington, what route they would have taken, and what the conditions would have been like, how long it would have taken, and stuff like that. I just can't imagine what the roads were like, or where they would have stayed etc.  especially with a young family. Unfortunately the baby died not long after they arrived in Warrington, but they did have more children, including my grandad!

[KGarrad]

Surely, if he worked for a Railway Company, he would have travelled by train?!

[jim1]

Canals were also used as they were cheapest.

[KGarrad]

By 1870, Midland Railway Company ran from the South West to Manchester (& beyond).

So perfectly feasible to get a train!