The National Union of Railwaymen was formed in 1913 by the merger between the Associated Society of Railway Servants, the General Railway Workers’ Union and the United Pointsmen and Signalmen. Its membership consisted of guards, signalmen, ticket inspectors and the like, that is all railway workers apart from the drivers (who had their own union in ASLEF and the clerks with the Railway Clerks' Association).
Noted for forming a mutual assistance pact with the Miners’ Federation and the Transport Workers’ Federation in 1914 known as the Triple Alliance where the three unions agreed to support each others strike actions.
The National Union of Railwaymen ceased to exist as such in 1990, when it merged with the National Union of Seamen to create the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers.