For one set of workers, clocking on was exactly that.
They are pictured making railway station clocks in one of 60 early 20th century glass lantern slides which provide a window into the now long-lost way of life of the railways.
The box of 60 slides was left in Humshaugh station in Northumberland when it closed in 1958. It is labelled Mr Wilson, Humshaugh, who was the station master.
The slides show many aspects of the railway industry, from track laying and locomotive building to steam and diesel engines.
Estimated at £200-£300, they are being sold by Chris Fewster at Anderson and Garland’s Newcastle base today.
His grandfather, Jimmy Fewster, bought the station and converted it into a home, where he lived until 1995. The box was among the station’s fixtures and fittings.
“I presume the slides were sent to station masters as a promotional move at a time when there was keen coemption between railway companies,” said Chris.
“They may have been used by the station masters to give public magic lantern slide shows, which would have been a big event in a rural village at that time.”
Humshaugh was one of the stations on the 42-mile Border Counties line from Hexham, which followed the course of the North Tyne river, calling at Wark, Barrasford, Bellingham and Kielder before terminating at Riccarton Junction.
The station yard is now home to Bellingham heritage centre.
The first section of the line from Hexham to Chollerford was completed in 1858 and Riccarton was reached in 1862.
The showpiece on the line was the Kielder viaduct, decorated with battlements and false arrow slits to complement the 18th Century Kielder Castle.
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In 1969, the viaduct was preserved for the public by the Northumberland and Newcastle Society, and is now a scheduled monument and forms part of a footpath.
It is a rare – and the finest surviving – example of the skew arch form of construction, where the arches are built at an angle. This requires each stone in the arches should be individually shaped.
The line carried the seedlings from Aviemore to help create Kielder Forest.
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