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Issue 97 (March 2018)

Mike G. Fell. A North Staffordshire cotton factory. 2-7.
Established by Richard Thompson in 1797 at Cross Heath, near Newcastle-under-Lyme

Malcolm Bobbitt. In the showroom... The Rover Jet Set. 8-13; front cover
Gas turbine driven car prototypes based on the Rover P4 75 family saloonl during the immediate post-World War II period. Raymond Loewt of the Design Studio, New York who had designed the Studebaker infuenced Maurice Wilks luxury car design, although the central fog lamp which earned the nickname Cyclops was not perpetuated. JET 1 was paited in Connaught Green had the turbine at the rear. The engine could run on petrol or paraffin. The offices behind are intersting for their Art Deco brickwork and Crittall windows. The colour image on the front cover, repeated in black & white on page 10, is based on Rover publicity material and Admiralty Arch is hinted at in the background. In 1952 JET 1 was taken to Belgium for tests on the Jabbeke Highway between Ostend and Ghent. The car was enhanced with Dunlop racing tyres and Girling disc brakes. 152 mile/h was attained. The T3 coupé attained a lap speed of 102 mile/h on the MIRA test track on 16 Swptember 1956.

Euan Corrie. Waterways of the Shropshire Union Railways & Canal Company. Part 6. 16-33
The Montgomery Canal — Frankton Junction to Newtown,

Paul Jackson. Horse haulage in the South Wales Coalfield: The final decade. Part 5. 34-46
Nant Fach Colliiery owned Tresgyrch Mining Co. opened in 1991 and closed in March 1998. Work for two horses Dobbin and Patch

Patch in retirement. 47-8

The Institute: [Archive's reviews]. 49-51

Industrial railways and locomotives of Kent. Robin Waywell. 458 pp.
Industrial railways and locomotives of Cumberland. Peter Holmes. 464 pp.
Industrial Railway Society, Melton Mobray. Reviewed by Ian Parkhouse
We have reviewed various IRS handbooks in the past and both of these volumes are well up to the high standards set by the society. Both are produced to the new format which, its is believed, was set by the volumes on Co. Durham. In reality these are reference volumes, rather than a good read, and for anybody with an interest in industrial history, not just industrial railways or locomotives, they are invaluable.
Kent is an interesting volume as we have covered several of the sites featured therein within the pages of Archive over the years, indeed, this very issue has a piece on Holborough cement works and quarry. In Achive we have covered both cement and papermaking, two industries that Kent is noted for, but this volume make the reader realise the full scope of industries that once existed within the county, not to mention military railway systems.
As usual the volume includes full indexes sorted by locomotive builder; by locomotive name; and by industrial location.
The Cumberland volume follows the same format and reveals many interesting industrial concerns both large and small. Notable are the various steelworks and collieries that required larger locomotives than those seen in Kent.
Both volumes are well illustrated and are highly recommended. Membership of the IRS is also worth considering.

The London, Tilbury & Southend Railway. Volume 6: The Gravesend Ferry. Peter Kay, 80 pp. Card covers, Wivenhoe: Author. Reviewed by Ian Parkhouse  
This is the sixth volume of Peter's history of the London, Tilbury & Southend Railway and covers the Gravesend Ferry which plied between Tilbury on the north bank of the Thames and Gravesend, a distance of some 750 yards.
The first chapter looks at the pre-railway history of the various ferries that served the routes across the river and their owners! operators, some apparently more corrupt than others. The military also had an interest in the ferries in connection with a fort at Tilbury which had a slipway.
In 1852 the LT&SR got an Act to construct a line to Tilbury and also planned to open their own ferry which commenced running in April 1854 with three boats. The chapter goes on to describe how other ferries were taken over and all of the various piers used over the years in Gravesend. The Tilbury landing stages are also described in detail in the next section, followed by the same treatment of the Gravesend landings.
Then follows a chapter on the ferry boats themselves, with each one being dealt with in turn and given a full history. Details of crews and captains are also given.
All in all a fascinating story of what was once a major transport link, now sadly much reduced.

Ironstone mining in the Lincolnshire Wolds. Stewart Squires. 135 pp., softback,  Lincoln: Society For Lincolnshire History & Archaeology. Reviewed by AN (Andrew Neale?)
Although most of the iron ore produced in Britain was obtained by quarrying from open pits in some areas, notably West Cumberland and North East Lincolnshire, it was extracted by underground mining. This thoroughly researched work is a detailed study of iron ore mining at Claxby and Nettleton Top between Caistor and Market Rasen which began in 1867 and ended in 1969. Stewart Squires has researched the history of these mines for thirty years and the results are published in this book. Both the quality of the research and the quality of the publication are of a very high standard. The book includes many excellent illustrations and specially drawn maps, each chapter has a complete list of reference sources and the author has gone to great pains to seek help from a wide range of people and institutions, including surving ex miners and many others with specialist knowledge such as on the rail systems and machinery used within the mines.
This is first class publication which can be thoroughly recommended and it is hoped that it will inspire others undertaking similar research into the ind ustrial history of a particular area to aspire to publish their finished results to the same standards as seen here.

Ford design in the UK: 70 years of success. Dick Hull., 224 pp, Dorchesier: Veloce Publishing. Reviewed by Malcolm Bobbitt.
Several books have been written about Ford of Britain but this is the first time its dedicated styling department has received the benefit of detailed historical research. The author's 25 years' experience in the automotive design industry make him the ideal candidate in understanding and assessing Ford's endeavours in the United Kingdom which stretch some 70 years. This history is particularly opportune as it coincides with the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Dunton Design Studio which remains a key part of Ford' s resource in Europe. The work begins with an overview of the formative years of Ford's British operation, the author providing the reminder that this was the first overseas venture that Henry Ford instigated. History shows that its origins date from 1904 when Aubrey Blakiston and Percival Perry established the Central Motor Car Company in London selling Fords that were sent from America in crates and then assembled and sold at a rate of a few a month. The Ford Model B arrived a year later and the Model N in 1906, followed by the famous Model T in 1908. The account of Ford building its factory at Trafford Park in Manchester, and the first car to be built there on 23rd October 1911, is well known but nevertheless is an essential backdrop to the book.
Misfortunes at Ford in America were key to Ford of Britain's autonomy in the immediate post-war years which, as explained by Nick Hull, led to the new range of Consul and Zephyr models being locally styled and designed. There are interesting explanations as to the styling techniques employed on producing the post-war Anglia 100E together with the second-generation Consul and Zephyr, both being larger and more powerful than the initial models.
Much interest is to be discovered in the design processes that resulted in the Consul Classic 109E and the Anglia 105E, both cars having reverse-rake rear screens which originated from a 1953 Packard concept design and seen two years later on a Farina derived Fiat 600 coupé  that was displayed at the Turin Motor Show. Cortina, Corsair and Zodiac development is discussed in detail as the author goes on to reveal the efforts employed in devising the Mark 11 Cortina. With the opening of the huge Dunton facility in Essex, the book takes on a new impetus in tracing the designs of the Escort, Capri and Granada before more recent offerings in the shape of the Sierra, Mondeo and most recent models.
It is not only cars that are examined in this detailed and lavishly produced book which include a wealth of illustrations, many of which will be new to motor enthusiasts and historians. Commercial vehicles, from the Transit to the D-Series and Cargo trucks come under the spotlight, as do experimental vehicles which never made it to production. This extensive and thorough history of Ford's British styling facility benefits from the author's depth of research and his many interviews with those personnel involved in designing Fords built in Britain.

Lawrie Bond, Microcar man: an Illustrated history of Bond Cars. Nick Wotherspoon. 307 pp. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Transport. Reviewed by Malcolm Bobbitt.
Lawrence Bond, he preferred to be known as Lawrie amongst his friends and family, was a prolific designer and engineer of great skill whose products deserved much more acclaim than achieved. Motorists of mature years will recall seeing, and possibly driving, the tiny three-wheelers attributed tothe Lancastrian who was also responsible for the Equipe four-wheel sports coupe which saw a degree of popularity. Bond was also behind Berkeley three- and four-wheel sports cars in addition to caravans and motorcycles.
The author is acclaimed for an earlier (and less substantial) work on Lawrie Bond and his inventions, but it would be disingenuous to suggest that this book merely enlarges upon it. This edition offers a completely different and new aspect of Lawrie Bond, his efforts, successes and failures. The history commences with an overview of Bond's formative years and his interest in motor racing in the sport's 500cc category. Not only did Bond design and build his own racing cars, the skills in producing lightweight designs were the impetus for him constructing in 1948 an extremely basic three-wheeler shopping car powered by an air-cooled 1/ 8th litre (125cc Villiers) engine with its three-speed gearbox mounted directly above the single front wheel. Wotherspoon tells how Bond, strapped financially and without suitable premises to put the vehicle into production, arranged for Sharp's Commercials of Preston to undertake this.
The concept and development of the Minicar is told in two separate parts, the intervening chapters detailing Bond's ventures with the Minibyke motorcycle, its successors the BAC Lilliput and Gazelle after which came the Oscar and Sherpa scooters. Then there's the explanation about Berkeley sports cars which are still campaigned to this day by motors port enthusiasts. The Minicar theme is told in depth, as is the account of the final true Bond three-wheeler, the 875 which shared its power unit with the Hillman Imp. Nick Wotherspoon is to be con- gratulated in carefully tracing Bond history to when the firm was acquired by rival Reliant, which was the death knell to the 875 which directly competed with Reliant's own three- wheeler. This is an absorbing read which anyone with an interestin British automotive history will discover to be essential material. The book is fully illustrated and includes many importan t images from Bond and Bond family archives. If there is one slight gripeitis that some of the photographs taken of cars at motor events are of snapshot quality: the book would have benefi ted from some professional photography of surviving vehicles. Highly recommended.

Notes on an old colliery pumping engine William Thompson Anderson , 84 pp. card covers, Whitchurch (Hants): Steve Grudgings, Reviewed by Ian Parkhouse
Facsimile of a book produced in 1917 as a report on a paper given to the Manchester Geological and Mining Society on the pumping engine at the Pentrich Colliery in Derbyshire. The original paper has been reset in facsimile and, as an extra bonus, the original images used to illustrate the paper were also found by Steve Grudgings. This allowed their use in the facsimile and therefore far higher quality illustrations are to be found than we be the case with a straight reproduction (together with some extra views not originally included). As well as the original paper the follow-up discussions were also recorded and are also reproduced here to give a complete picture.
Some large scale plans of the engine are held in the Science Museum archives and these have also be included in this publication.
This is an extremely interesting work, well reproduced.

Southern style: Part Two. London, Brighton & South Coast Railway. P.J. Wisdom.120pp, card covers. Historical Model Railway Society. Reviewed by Ian Parkhouse
We have previously reviewed the first part of this series which covered the London & South Western Railway. This volume is equally as good and forms a very useful overview of the various liveries carried by locomotives, carriages and wagons as well as the painting sty les of buildings, signals and miscellaneous pieces of equipment. Not only is this an invaluable work for railway modellers but it forms a very useful research tool for historians as it gives the time bands in which the various liveries were applied and in use. The volume comes complete with a pull-out colour swatch giving accurate renditions of the colours used by the LB&SCR.

Inbye : Archive's letters page. 52

Quaker House. Rick Howell,
Working underground he remembered the buffeting percussion wave of blasting underground - for me, in metal mines abroad, the initial sharp tap, tap, tap of sound through the rock preceded the boom of the percussion. It's a sound he had npt heard or felt for years or on surface both in mining and later, in construction. It's only when you look at the gradual change in equipment and methods do you realise how much he didn't record at the time.
Steve Grudgings article on Quaker House (in the footsteps of George Orwell - he was tall too) was superb and he really did capture the dust underground! Writer only crawled along a long working coalface once in  his life-at Linby, North Notts- and vowed never to go there again .... though the steam coal winder there (1979) was simply poetry in motion; literally. A simple pleasure, but one he had been privileged to witness in "harness" winding coal.
On page 16 the haulage / winder set-up reminds me very much of the 'slusher' units he used in Australia with large electric motor driving a worm and gear box, spur gear / chain drive to the drum with air operated clutches on (in our case) both drums - the motor ran all the time, clutching in the drive to whichever rope required pull, the other declutching to allow rope to run off.
On page 28 his caption suggests a pump on the right - he is pretty certain that's a mobile transformer in what looks to be the power room - all properly supported and boarded out with corrugated sheeting.
Paul Jackson's article on Pare Level Ruston locos and in particular the RB 22s (and 19s for that matter) are another piece of history mostly consigned to memory. The tangle of chains and ropes reminds me of the mineworkings discovered under the line of the A30 bypass behind Hayle in [in Cornwall] in 1981/2.
After the discovery of distinct, mostly rectangular, blue / grey patches in yellow / orange elvan ground after topsoil strip right on the centreline of the new road (clearly filled shafts) the contractors, A. McAlpine, instigated a drilling programme to assess the extent of underground voids. This indicated voids near the shafts and nearby so a RB22 was rigged with a clamshell bucket to grab out the fill and allow' inspection'. The resulting tangle of ropes and slow activity - not to mention sterilisation of a very awkward spot on the cut/fill line - very nearly did for me as a rookie engineer a tthe time! It became clear that the workings were shallow, and locally extensive, and ultimately the whole area was dug out to 15m or so, made safe, and backfilled before the road could be completed. There are some pics of the dig I uploaded to the AditNow website under 'Mellanear Mine'.
On another occasion the groundworks contractor on the new (in 2001) Tremough site brought in a RB19 to load shuttering pans, pour concrete etc but with increased H&E liabilities in terms of testing, and without the necessary paperwork, the '19' was condemned and removed and I've not seen one since. All lifting seems to be done by specialist firms with hydraulic mobile units in general, though the new A30 dualling over Bodmin Moor had a large crawler crane handling shuttering, steel decks and concrete etc in the past year or two.

Skimpings. 52-5

Tilbury Riverside Station. 52
Aerial photograph whowing pontoon: early 1950s

Quarry — unknown location.. 53
Crushing plant with manually powered tramway off to quarry. One Great Central wagon in picture

Cheltenham & Gloucester Breweries fleet of Sentinel flat-bed lorries. 54

Sentinel advertisement. 55

Andrew Neale. Three gauges at Holborough. 56-64
Holborough Cement Works Ltd on the Medway in Kent

Issue 98 (June 2018)

Euan Corrie. Trent & Mersey Waterways.: Part 1. 2-16
Trent & Mersey Canal originally promoted as Grand Trunk Canal which obtained its Act on 17 May 1766. The section along the Weaver and Dane valleys was difficult to build and maintain did not open until 1777. James Brindley and the Duke of Bridgewater were involved.

Paul Jackson. Horse haulage in the South Wales Coalfield: the final decade,. Part 6. 17-29
Craig-y-Llyn Colliery; Carn Cornel Collieries Nos, 2 and 3; Llechart No. 2 Colliery

Nigel and David Lassman. A country garage in the 1950s. 30-43.
Swainswick Garage which Ernest Lassman purchased in 1950 with the finance from a bequest from Mrs Adkins. Lassman had been her chauffeur. He developed the business which became a family concern  and the authors are grandsons. The garage sold petrol and did vehicle servicing. An old army lorry fitted with a winch became a breakdown  truck and a Standard Vanguard served as a taxi. In 1960 the business was sold to Fred Young and Ernest ran a driving school until his death in 1966. In September 2017 Gordon Lassman, the authors' father died: he was the last family member to work at Swainswick. See also letters in Issue 99 from Martin Gregory and from Malcolm Bobbitt

Malcolm Bobbitt. In the Showroom... Crossley RFC. 44-49.
The Crossley engineering business was founded in 1867 by Frank Crossley when he became a partner of John M. Dunlop (who had no connection with the rubber indstry) and William Crossley who had worked for Sir W. Armstrong & Co. The Crossleys were committed Christians and great philanthropists and the Salvation Army was a major beneficiary. Eventually Crossley became a limited company with works in Openshaw, Manchester. The RFC was a vehicle developed for the Royal Flying Corps prior to WW1 as the 20 / 25. It was a rugged vehicle and strongly built and more than 6000 were built for military service and following the war saw service as Flying Squad cars for the Metropolitan Police. They were constructed at a works in Gorton Lane

Ian Pope. Wingate Grange Colliery. 51-5
Seven miles north west of Hartlepool. Work to reach the coal started in 1837 and was instigated by Lord Howden. John Gully was a former prize-fighter, race hore owner and politician purchased the colliery in 1861, but died in 1863 leaving it to be operated by his executors until the Wingate Coal Co. took over in the 1880s and ran it until its take over by the National Coal Board. There was a serious accident on 14 October 1906 when 26 men and boys were killed in an underground explosion caused by coal dust. The pit closed on 26 October 1962. See also Issue 99 page 16.

Andrew Neale. Narrow gauge in the Far West: the Penlee Quarries Railway. 56-63.
Penlee & St. Ives Stone Quarries Ltd operated Gwavas Quarry and employed an Arthur Koppel 600 mm tramway with V-skips to convey crushed stone to Newlyn harbour. Freudenstein supplied a 2-4-0T WN 73/1901 which acquired the name Penlee. In July 1924 a Baldwin petrol/paraffin locomotive identical to one supplied to the Festiniog Railway was obtained. In April 1930 namely a Kerr, Stuart diesel locomotive. See also Issue 99 page 2 et seq

Skimpings: Nettlebed Smock Mill. 64
Near Henley-on-Thames: destroyed by fire in 1912

Issue 99 (September 2018)

Ian Pope. Penlee Quarry notes. 2-7
See also Issue 98. This collection of photographs came from Mine & Quarry Engineering for March 1938 which contains an article on Cornish roadstone which was a description of the operations of Penlee Quarries Ltd. The images were prepared by Paul Jackson

Euan Corrie. Trent & Mersey Waterways: Part 2. 8-14
Part 1 see Issue 98

fn: Condensed mil under the Milkmaid brand was produced for the Anglo-Swiss company, but production ceased here in 1931 and then became a sik mill annd after that a string factory before being demolished.
fn Ectrolytic Alkali works used Hargreaves-Bird cells and manufactured bleach and caustic soda at Cledford. James Hargreaves, the co-inventor became works manager. Works became part of Brunner Mond in 1919 and closed in 1929.

Inbye: Archive's letters page. 15

A country garage. Martin Gregory  
Errors: may be memory lapses by the author.
Front Cover: The car is a post war Bentley from the radiator. (Both Rolls Royce and Bentley used the same bodies then).
p 34: The car in the garage is not a Standard Vanguard which had a very distinctive bulbous rear end. I don't know what make it is.
p 39: The car does not fit my memories of Ford of the era. The window / door construction and the exposed hinges on the boot suggest to me a Morris Six or Wolseley of the time.

Car crash.  John Clegg
One minor correction, which MaJcolm Bobbitt may already have spotted: In the article by Nigel and David Lassman about their family garage, the overturned car pictured on page 39 is not a Ford but appears to be a Series II Morris Oxford (1954-6).

Bentley v Rolls. Malcolm Bobbitt  
The story about the businessman, his Rolls-Royce and his girlfriend in Bath, made me smile. The reference to his car obviously marries up with the front cover — except that the businessman did not have a Rolls-Royce. The car on the front cover is a Bentley S. Even though in post-war years the Rolls-Royce and Bentley emerged from the same factory at Crewe, Rolls-Royce and Bentley customers were miles apart. A Bentley customer would have nothing to do with a Rolls-Royce, preferring the sporting attitude of the former with its softer and more graceful styling rather than the latter's staid luxury and its arguably ostentatious Grecian Temple radiator, and all the snobbery that went with it. As I stated, the car depicted is a Bentley S, probably the original model which was introduced in 1955 with its six-cylinder in-line engine, this becoming known as the S1 when the S2 with its V8 engine came out in 1959. There was an S3 but that did appear until late 1962. The frontal appearance of the Bentley S was quite different to that of a Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud of the same era. Also, the Rolls-Royce name always had a hyphen, ever since the marque was established.
The pictures captioned as a crashed Ford do not depict a Ford. I suspect, however, that the crashed car might well be the Standard 8 seen on page 38. The mention of the Standard Vanguard taxi in the shed, page 34, is misleading as there isn't a Vanguard in sight. The rear of the car in the right hand premises (the shed?) looks like a pre-war car, or one sold immediately post-war. The make is not apparent. It could be that Swains wick Garage did have a Standard Vanguard, both the phase 1 (1947-1952) and II 1952-1956) were popular with the taxi trade; there was also a Phase II diesel and then a Phase Ill, 1955-1958, but none of these can be seen. One last thing, in the contents my name has been incorrectly shown —but I am quite used to it!
We would like to apologise to Malcolm for this typographic error.

Waterworks back in steam. 15
Twyford Waterworks near Winchester, Hampshire was back in steam during summer of 2018. Works featured in Issue 56 and were privileged to be given a tour of the site at the same time. A return visit is now due! Their press release states: 'The Twyford Waterworks Trust is delighted to announce that their 1906 Babcock and Wilcox water tube boiler and 1914 Hathorn Davey triple expansion steam pumping engine are now back in steam after a long period of restoration funded by Heritage Lottery Fund as part of our ambitious "Return to Steam" RTS Project. The boiler and engine were last steamed in 2003. The RTS Project has also provided new, exciting interpretation of the whole site, internal refurbishment of the main buildings and new and enhanced facilities for our volunteers and visitors, together with extensive building renovation provided by Southern Water.' The final open day for 2018 is the 7 October. Full details can be found on their website: www.twyfordwaterworks.co.uk

Where are we? 15
The only clue as to the location of this view is that is was entitled 'The Old Shoddy'. Can any reader help with further details? The headframes suggest Midlands, possibly the Staffordshire or Leicestershire coalfield.

Follow-Up: Wingate Grange Colliery. 16
c1900 before installation of Waddle fan looking towards main winding house (glass lantern slide)

Skimpings : a pair of Fodens. 17
Foden steam lorries supplied to William Hammond Ltd., fire brick manuafacturers at Port Shrigley, near Macclesfield

Paul Jackson. Pantygasseg Colliery Part 1. location & history. 18-47
Pantygasseg Colliery was final lpocation of horse haulage in Uniteed KingdomMynyddislwyn

fn3: draglines were named Maid Marian and Clinchfield and imported secondhand from USA by NCB
fn4: wooden drams used for hauling waste were ex-Blaendare Colliery at Upper Race wwahere used to handle fireclay: track gauge 2ft 5in.

Malcolm Bobbitt. In the Showroom: 1948 London Motor Show and Morris Minor. 48-56.
Alec Issigonis design work on which started in 1941.

The Institute: Archive's Reviews. 56-7

Donald Healey's 8C Triumph Dolomite. Jonathan Wood. Jonathon Turner and Tim Whitworth (publisher). Bowcliffe Hall, Branham, Wetherby, Yorkshire LS23 6LP. 300 pp. Hardback. £75. Reviewed by Malcolm Bobbitt. 56-7
A tome packed with detailed information about the history of two individual cars is a measure of an author's skill, knowledge and research ability. In this lavishly produced edition, Jonathan Wood has excelled himself by generating a truly absorbing account of Donald Healey's quest to create for Britain via the Triumph marque an exotic sports car which would rival what was then viewed as the ultimate in sporting machines in the shape of Italy's Alfa Romeo 8C. The fact that just as the first two vehicles were built, and the adventurous project was all but consigned to history, there existed an enigma which over more than eight decades has intrigued automotive historians. The mystery surrounding the cars has been exacerbated by as much fiction as fact, and thanks to the author the history of the Dolomite has been unravelled and placed in a correct order.
In chronicling the fate of Triumph's masterpiece Jonathan Wood has uncovered a wealth of previously unrecorded information, and in the process has ventured along many avenues associated with the saga of the cars, the events and the personalities surrounding them. Thus at the commencement of the work there is an overview of Bentley's final racing days, an enthralling account of the Alfa Romeo era as well as a delightful scene recalling the golden age of British motor racing. It is Donald Healey who is at the hub of the narration, along with personalities to include Tony Rolt, Frank Warner, Tommy Wisdom, Robert Arbuthnot and others such as WaIter Belgrove who were then an intrinsic part of Britain's motoring scene. Just as important were the custodians of the cars before Jonathan Turner and Tim Whitworth, about whom there is much revealed. There's more, too, in the striking specially commissioned photography as well as the assembly of fine and mostly rare or previously unseen archive images.
The work is a major landmark in automotive history, and as a limited edition will be keenly sought after. One word is all that is needed to describe this book: magnificent!

The Yorkshire Coalfield. Christine Leveridge and Dave Fordham. Fedj-el-Adoum Publishing, Doncaster, 160 pp. Softback. Reviewed by Ian Pope. 57
The sub-title of this volume: Pits and Mining Communities depicted on a selection of old postcards and ephemera, really sums up exactly the contents of this delightful work. The book is divided into five parts:
The Introduction covers the geology and history of the Yorkshire coalfield plus a resume of the postcard phenomena and the photographers to whom we should be so grateful for recording the industrial scene.
Mining the Coal looks at the collieries themselves plus marketing, transport and management.
The Mining Community which looks at housing, royal visits, disasters, the Mines Rescue Service, strikes, unionism and welfare.
A colour section of sixteen pages with tinted postcards and ephemera.
A Directory of the coalfield on postcards with opening and closing dates of each colliery featured.
The scope of the images is most impressive and reproduction is good together with informative captions. Anexcellent book giving a wonderful oversight of the coalfield and the life of the mining communities. It is also good to see some coverage of the marketing and transporting of the coal, an aspect often missed in mining histories. Recommended.

Dearne Valley collieries; communities & transport. Dave Fordham. Fedj-el-Adoum Publishing, Doncaster, 296 pp. Softback. Reviewed by Ian Pope, 57
For 150 years the Dearne Valley was the centre of coal production in the South Yorkshire coalfield and names like Grimethorpe, Manvers Main and Hickleton Main became famous throughout the area. It has been described by some as the Golden Triangle in terms of the historical interest and industrial heritage. This first part of the book looks at the growth, working life and eventual closure of the eighteen collieries that were in the valley. The second part describes the mining villages that grew up alongside the collieries. Many of these are not quiet how your reviewer thought they would be looking far more village-and community like - than settlements connected with other industries in Yorkshire The third part illustra tes the transport networks of the valley that were important both in transporting the workforce to and from the collieries and the coal from the pithead to its destination. Road, rail and canal are all covered. The book features 230 illustrations, many of which have never been previously published, and here perhaps is the only slight criticism in that a number are reproduced side by side and are thus rather small leaving the reader struggling to discern detail. Overall a good book, full of well researched fact.

Waterways Journal Volume 20 The Waterways Museum Society Ltd National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port 74 pp. Softback. Reviewed by Ian Pope
We have reviewed a number of Waterways Journals over the years and each gives an interesting insight into aspects of life and work on the canal and inland waterways system. This issue is no different and contains articles on Traffic on the Upper Dee; Nationalisation and inland waterways (very apt for 2018 being 70 years since the Act was enabled); British Waterways' early involvement in leisure craft; The development of the Archive at Ellesmere Port; and a report on the recent removal of boats from Ellesmere Port. As usual the historical articles are well researched and illustrated. A favourite view being taken at Hanwell of all three forms of nationalised transport —rail, road and canal. In adding to the databank of knowledge your reviewer was surprised at the early involvement of the newly-formed British Waterways in pleasure cruising and boat hire. We look forward to Volume 21.

Skimpings 2: Boring. 58-9
Four photographs of kit used to sink artesian boreholes. The plant includes a vertical boiler, a portable steam engine with a belt to a drilling rig and a very crude horizontal boiler engine  with tall removable chimney. The fourth photograph shows that the pant was owned by C. Isler of London

Skimpings 3: a unique Forest roller. 60-1
Arthur Wilmot Trotter, born on 2 July 1888 was a Forest of Dean mechanical engineer built a small steam roller in 1938 from oddments (the rollers are believed to have been shafting pulleys). It was used to maintain his gravel drive. On Trotter's death in 1977 it went to the Gloucester Folk Museum.

Skimpings 4 : Sheffield. 62-3
Great Central Railway west of Sheffield Victoria station: photograph probably taken from Royal Victoria Hotel. Robinson locomotives: 0-6-0 and 4-4-0. penny lift in foreground. Shireoaks and A.I.C. coal wagons.

Skimpings 5: Small Hythe. 64
Small sailing cargo vessel at wharf on a tributary to River Rother. Vessel possibly based at Rye and owned A.W, Body. Cargo being unloaded by wheelbarrow. Ellen Terry's farm behind

Issue 100 (December 2018)

Alan M. Keef. Light railways of the Great War. 2-14.
Very few from British sources: mostly French, Canadian or German in origin

Euan Corrie. Trent & Mersey Waterways: Part 3. 14-19
Very good Youtube clip of Hall Green branch very helpful: even captures a Pendolino! Next part

* long caption gives details of maintenance boat and notes that photograph predates introduction of electric tugs in tunnel (initially battery, later with overhead conductor)

Paul Jackson. The Locomotives of James C. Kay & Co. Ltd. and the saga of the Company's earlier history. 20-39
William Kay  operatred a foundry in Bury Lane in 1824. From 1835 he employed William Bacon as manager. James Clarkson Kay, born in 1811, was in charge of the Phoenix Foundry from at least 1851 and it grew to a substantial concern constructing stationary engines and castings and forgings of engineering components. James Clarkson died in 1886 and the impetus was lost. James C. Kay Co. Ltd was a post WW1 development formed on 31 JUne 1921 and the locomotive venture was brief. Locomotive 1 possibly worked at Trentabank Reservoir near Macclesfield: see Harold D. Bowtell Reservoir railways of Manchester and the Peak. (Oakwood, 1977). Follow up see Issue 101 p. 32 et seq

§makers of Coffeyt's patent tube and cab tyre forcing machine

Malcolm Bobbitt. In the showroom: Land Rover, 40-7
Based on the American Jeep, but with an aluminium body to inhibit rust which plagued the American vehicle, developed by Maurice Wilks in the immediate post WW2 period

Inbye : letters page. 48

Lochaline Sand Mine. Robin Barnes
When visiting Western Highlands of Scotland Barnes found remains (2ft gauge V skip) at Lochaline where there is a silica sand mine which used to use a railway to convey its output to a pier, but hassince built a pier adjacent to the mine. The Industrial Railway Society's Scottish handbook lists seven petrol or diesel locomotives. Illustration of |V skip and BCP plate

The Institute: Archive's Reviews 48-9

Honister Slate Mine. Alastair Cameron and Liz Withey. Amberley Publishing. 96pp.
Long history, light railways to convey slate to Braithwaite on Cockermouth, Kendal & Penrith Raailay. Closue of mine in 1986, but reopened in 1996,

Southern style after Nationalisation. John Harvey. Historical Model Railway Society. 160pp.
Aimed at model railay builders

Skimpings. 49
Photograph near Corby c1910: workman's hut, workmen with rake/forks  and pipes for smoking and primitive narrow gauge railway with hutches and turntable (hardly preliminary works for East Midlands electrification!)

More on Frimley Aqueduct: notes by Ian Pope, images Andrew Neale. 50-64
See also Issue 31 page 50. Works connnected with the extension of four track main line towards Basingstoke virtually certainly undertaken by John Aird & Partners who at that time were building the huge Nile barrages at Aswan and extensions to Southampton Docks: note Egyption engineers present in 60 upper. See also Follow up in next Issue..

Issue 101 (March 2019) Danny in June 1992 on vet's annual inspection day

Paul Jackson.  Pantygasseg Colliery Part 2 Horse haulage and the horses. 2-19.

Malcolm Brown. Kennetpans Distillery and its Boulton & Watt engines. 21-31
Kennetpans Distillery is a Scheduled Monument. Prior to 1799 families who laboured in the salt pans and coal mines were treated as slaves. This included the women who were forced to carry coal to the surface. The distillery produced gin; much of which was exported to England, but the London distillers imposed a tax in 1788 which forced the Kennetpans Distillery to close which caused considerable hardship in Clackmannanshire. The drawings are held by Birmingham Library

Andrew Neale. More about the locomotives of James Kay — a follow up; with captions by Paul Jackson. 32-9.
Original feature Issue 100 page 20.

Euan Corrie. Trent & Mersey Waterways: Part four. 40-53
Previous part Text mentions Leek branch and Rudyard Lake

The Institute: Archive's reviews.  54

Henry Eoghan O'Brien: an engineer of nobility. Gerald Beesley. New Ross (Ireland): Author, 2018. 241pp. Reviewed by KJ
This is an impressive addition to railway literature

Lime kilns: history and heritage. David Johnson. Stroud: Amberley Publishing. 96pp. Reviewed by Ian Pope.
"...very good oversight"

Quarrying in Cumbria. David Johnson. Stroud: Amberley Publishing. 96pp. Reviewed by Ian Pope.
A less welcoming review than previous

Lime kiln at Stratford-St. Mary in Suffolk: brick built kiln. 54

Malcolm Bobbitt.  In the Showroom: Adams-Hewitt. 56-63.
This British-built (in a factory at Bedford) automobile was manufactured from 1906 until 1913 when the company went into liquidation. Arthur Henry Adams and Edward Ringwood Hewitt were both Americans, but their precise business relationship is not known. Adams who was to drown in the Lusitania disaster was an electrical engineer and part of the Bedford factory was given over to manufacturing electrical components, but not electric cars. All the cars had a single cylinder petrol engines located beneath the vehicles. Much play was placed on the simplicity of the vehicle controls (3 foot pedals: KPJ as one banned from driving through neuropathy does anyone know any three-footed human?).

Andrew Neale. Follow-up: the Frimley diver. 64
See also original feature in Issue 100 and especially page 64. Further photograph of diver high above a  freight train and explanation and confirmation that Sir John Aird & Sons was contractor for complex works

Issue 102 (June 2019) Corringham Light Railway Avonside locomotive

Paul Jackson. 1
Death of major contributor

Nick Deacon. The Deame Valley Railway Viaduct at Conisbrough. 2-17.
The Deame Valley Railway was promoted by colliery owners in the Barnsley and Doncaster areas of South Yorkshire to the new Hulll & Barnsley Railway and to the various joint line enterprises involving the Great Eastern, Great Northern, Midland and North Eastern Railways. The promoters were James Addy of the Yorkshire & Derbyshire Coal & Iron Co., Ernest Hague of Mickleton Main and Manvers Main, Edward Hunter of Houghton Main and Manvers plus Robert Armitage. The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway was granted running power over the line. Henry Lovatt Ltd was granted the contract to build the section which included Conisbrough Viaduct: this was designed by John Steele of Leeds. A feature of the construction was the use of a Blondin to convey men and matrials across the Don Valley to the brick piers. The Industrial Locomotive Society listed both Manning Wardle 0-4-0ST and Hunslet 0-6-0ST used on the contract. Viaduct is now part of Trans-Pennine Trail and National Cycle Network.

Malcolm Bobbitt. In the Showroom: Bentley Mk V. 18-28

*Duke of Edinburgh was very reluctant to return the car and design influenced Rolls Royce Phantom IV

Euan Corrie Trent & Mersey Waterways: Part five. 29-33

Clive Thomas. The early years at Merthyr Vale Colliery. 34-52
See also correction: photographs of the colliery on pages 42 and 51 indicate that the cottages are those of Crescent Street. They are of Nixonville as supported by the sketches opposite on page 43 showing them with a lean-to at the back. Crescent and Taff Street were several hundred yards to the south of the colliery

captions you inserted for the ". Clive Thomas

The Institute: Archive's Reviews. 53

The last years of coal mining in South Wales. Volume one. From the Eastern Vallleys to Aberdare. Steve Grudgings. Monkton Farleigh: Folly Books.
Highly recommended

Waterways Journal. Volume 21. Ellesmere Port: Waterways Museum Society
Lists the contents

Canal crochet, bonnets & belts. Ann Gardiner, Sarah Pressland and Mary Parry. Audlem: Canal Book Shop

Andrew Neale. Corringham Light Railway. 54-64.
2¾ long light railway built under Light Railway Order granted om 10 July 1899 and opened in 1901.

Issue 103 (September 2019) Ferry at Conisbrough

Paul Gittins. Minera memories. 2-11
In about 1960 author visited Minera Lime Works and saw 0-4-0ST Olwen and was invited onto its footplate. In 1970 he revisited the Works and took colour photographs many of which are reproduced herein. At this time he was unaware of the first image, but has since acquired a copy of the original and a digitized version of it from Ian Pope. Herewith the image which appeared in Issue 23 and Gittins' colour images, etc. See also Issue 23 page 26 et seq.

Andrew Neale. Building the Chessington branch. 12-18
Authorised by Parliament on 1 August 1930 the Southern Railway Board agreed at its meeting in June 1934 to seek contracts to build the railway starting at the London end. Working under the direction of the Southern Railway's Chief Engineer George Ellson the initial work at Motspur Park was entrusted to Sir Robert McAlpine & Sons, but the majority was built by Sir Edmund Nuttall, Sons & Co. The railway was built on heavy and unstable clay in the Hogsmill river basin and the corrosive nature of sulphates in the clay forced the use of aluminous cement in the works.

Inbye : Archive's Letter's page. 19

A correction.

We must apologise to Clive Thomas for the captions that we added to two extra images in his article on Merthyr Vale Colliery. He has commented "Unfortunately I have to point out that the captions you inserted for the photographs of the colliery on pages 42 and 51 indicate that the cottages are those of Crescent Street. They are of course Nixonville as supported by the sketches opposite on page 43 showing them with a lean-to at the back. Crescent and Taff Street were several hundred yards to the south of the colliery". Clive Thomas

The Institute: Archive's Reviews. 19

LB&SCR carriages: Volume 3 .Bogie Stock, 1879-1907. Ian White. Butterley: Historical Model Railway Society, 234 pp. Reviewed by Ian Pope
This is the first of two volumes providing illustrated coverage of the bogie carriages of the LB&SCR, a company with a large and diverse fleet despite its limited route mileage; previous volumes (Kestrel Books, 2014, 2016) described the 4- and 6-wheeled stock. This new work makes substantial use of the HMRS drawing collection where the author is a volunteer. New drawings are provided where needed, and examples of planned but unbuilt designs are included showing that the ambitions of the designers far outstripped those of a conservative management. There is extensive photographic coverage with some previously unseen views, and extensive train formation data. On opening, the reader is presented with a chapter describing bogie carriage structures, illustrated with new drawings and extracts from original engineering drawings, as well as photographs, some provided by carriage restorers. There are seven descriptive chapters, starting with the 8-wheeled Cleminson and bogie carriages of the Stroudley era, the main line and suburban arc roofed carriages constructed between 1894 and 1905, and the clerestory carriages of the late 1890s. In 1905 the LB&SCR embarked on a brief period of constructing elliptical roof carriages, which were of a remarkable height, closely matching the American Pullmans and earning a nickname of 'balloons'. Three chapters cover these carriages, which include the City Limited corridor stock and the first LB&SCR motor trains. The latter chapter also includes the steam and petrol motors.
The final chapter describes significant discoveries made after publication of previous volumes, including an analysis of LB&SCR's pioneering use of electric lighting in the 1880s. The book is completed by a list of engineering drawings; facsimile reproduction of an 1890s carriage specification; lists of running numbers; and indices to diagrams and subjects. The whole is very well presented with excellent reproduction of images. This series of books will be the definitive The book will appeal to model makers, historians and restorers of LB&SCR, SR and other carriages, and like previous volumes, all royalties will be donated to the Bluebell Stroudley Coach Fund. Recommended.

GWR signalling practice. David J. Smith. Great Western Study Group. 400 pp. Reviewed by Ian Pope
We seem to be majoring on railway titles this quarter and as with the previous title this one is sure to be the definitive work on Great Western Signalling. This weighty tome is profusely illustrated, both with photographs and drawings, mainly of signals but also of signal wires, point rodding, point motors, facing point locks, etc. A chapter covers the design of signal boxes, unfortunately with few architectural drawings followed by a chapter on the equipment found in signal boxes. Of particular interest is the chapter on the rationale behind the placement of signals with examples of signal layouts on both double and single lines. The author is a retired chartered civil engineer with a life-long interest in GWR signalling. His early career with BR(WR) allowed him to get close up to signalling matters. As already mentioned the book is extremely well illustrated both by photographs, drawings apd diagrams. Indeed Appendix 2 gives page by page coverage of the Great Western Signal Department's Stores Catalogue which shows every single piece of signal equipment. Highly recommended.

Euan Corrie. The Sheffield & South Yorkshire Navigation.: [Part 1]. 20-37
River Don has always been navigable as far upstream  as Rotherham. Originally it ran to both the River Aire and to the Trent, but drainage of Hatfield Chase in the early seventeenth century included an improved outlet to the Aire and closure of that to the Trent. Flooding resulted and Cornelius Vermuyden had to cut a new channel, known as the Dutch River to the Ouse. At first sluice near Goole kept the tide out, but these were destroyed by flooding in 1688 and navigation further up the Don became possible. Improvement schemes began to be promoted and after the passing of several Acts navigation was possible through eleven locks and cuts as far as Rotherham. By 1751 the navigation had reached Tinsley through a further three locks.
The Sheffield Canal was proposed early in the 1790s but opposition from the Don Navigation prevented progress until the possibility of a connection to the Chesterfield Canal began to be considered. Under an Act of 1815 a canal with 12 locks was built to connect the Don at Tinsley to Sheffield. Despite water supply difficulties the canal did well until takeover by the Sheffield & Lincolnshire Junction Railway in 1846. This awoke the Don Navigation which managed to acquire the Sheffield Canal from the railway under an Act of 1849. The Don had already managed to take over the Dearne & Dove in 1846. The next move was the lease of the Stainforth & Keadby Canal from 1849 which had been opened under an act of 1793 to provide an alternative access to the Humber by linking the Don Navigation at Stainforth to the Trent at Keadby. It has an entrance lock at Keadby that will accommodate craft 81ft by 22ft whereas the intermediate lock at Thorne and those on the route to Sheffield will only pass craft 61ft 6in x 15ft 3ins. In 1850 the canal was absorbed into the South Yorkshire Railway & River Dun Company. Improvements had continued with the Don bridges being made to open thus allowing sailing keels to reach Doncaster without lowering their masts in 1845, but railways were exerting a strong influence. The South Yorkshire Railway dominated and obtained powers to build a line along the canal bank to Keadby by 1859 whence it turned away to cross the Trent into Lincolnshire on a swing bridge.
The South Yorkshire Railway & River Dun Company was leased to the Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway in 1864 and the navigation company dissolved in 1874 when its assets were transferred to the railway. Mining subsidence problems on the Dearne & Dove were not effectively tackled and this lack of enthusiasm coupled with the promotion of the Manchester Ship Canal encouraged local opposition to the railway's ownership of the navigation. Influential backers formed the Sheffield & South Yorkshire Navigation Co and obtained powers for a ship canal but the MS&LR fought them hard for several years. The new company was neither able to raise the money needed to buy the existing navigations nor to construct a proposed junction canal to the Aire & Calder. The MS&LR finally agreed to sell their waterways in 1894 but the deal was only concluded after an issue of preference shares which raised £625,000 of which £125,000 were taken up by the MS&LR! Furthermore the MS&LR also provided the reminder of the necessary capital thus gaining the right to appoint half the directors of the navigation company. Eventually the majority of the improvement works were abandoned but the New Junction Canal from Kirk Bramwith to the Aire & Calder at Southfield was built jointly with the Aire & Calder Navigation and modern warehousing was provided at Sheffield. Some improvements continued, including lengthening Doncaster Lock and, in 1932, Bramwith Lock to facilitate use of Aire & Calder Tom Pudding compartment boats from Hatfield Colliery to Goole. The final improvement scheme was to enlarge the locks and some of the cuts to admit 600 ton barges as far as Rotherham which was finally approved by the government in the 1970s. However, this was funded by a loan to the nationalised British Waterways Board, and not by any form of grant as is usual in Europe. By the time the resulting improvements were complete in 1983 most traffic had been lost to roads and high tolls, intended to repay the loan, resulted on the loss of what remained. At the time of writing a single commercial barge of 600 tons capacity makes one or two trips per week to Rotherham and even then lightly loaded because the Canal & River Trust, declines to maintain the waterway to its statutory depth. Except for the first image, the bulk appear to date to the 1900s. Part 2

Malcolm Bobbitt. In the Showroom: the Stoneleigh. 38-46
In the immediate post-WW1 period therre was a growing market for relatively low cost cars, especially from those who had learned to drive motor vehicles during the War. This was the period of cyclecars, although the majority failed to find a permanent market. The Stoneleigh introduced in 1921 was a light weight car intended to enter this market and was manufactured by the Armstrong Siddeley group. There had been an earlier Stoneleigh marketed in 1914, but this had little in common with the 1921 car (although its backers are recorded). John Davenport Siddeley and Henry Hugh Peter Deasy were its backers.

Footnote 1: North British Clincher tyres produced at the Castle Mills factory in Edinburgh using Bartlett-Clincher patent for pneumatic tyres

Skimpings: Skelton Grange Power Station, Leeds. 47
Ex government surplus Ruston & Hornsby narrow (2-feet) gauge diesel locomotive with train of side tipping wagons being loaded by drag line excavator owned by Harold Arnold & Son Ltd during construction of Skelton Grange Power Station (Yorkshire Copper Works at Stourton in background was key to caption). c1946.

Mike Fenton with John Froud. Construction of the flying arch in New House Farm cutting, Old Sodbury, c.1898. 48-53
Great Western Railway South Waless Direct line constructed during  1890s passed near Malmesbury. Flying arch method of bridge buiding is ancient. The first photograph also shows work on the bridge and in the background the cutting leading to Sodbury Tunnel. To a great extent the text is an outline of how Fenton and Froud verified the location of the photograph. The location is on the Badminton Estate and the bridge was constructed to maintain access for huntsmen. The contractor was Pearson 

Chimneys Limited .54-7
Late Paul Jackson found images in a booklet produced by Chimneys Ltd of Croydon which both built and demolished chimneys and employed steeplejacks. They are described as stacks or shafts in the brochure. Other chimneys are mentioned but not accompanied by photographs.

Ian Pope Waterloo Colliery, June 30th 1949. 58-64
Mine rescue following flooding led to awards to the rescuers: the Edward Medal: one silver to Oswald George Simmonds (who was also uncle of the author); Tom Manwaring and Frank Bradley (latter both bronze). The British Empire Medal was awarded to Cecil Brazington, Harry Toomer, Bert Morgan and Morgan Teague, The Arthur & Edward Colliery, more often known as the Waterloo Colliery, was in the Forest of Dean, south of Lydbrook close to Mierystock. .

Issue 104 (December 2019) Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway No. 7 Typhoon

Stanley C. Jenkins. The Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway, Part One.  Hythe to New Romney. 2-33.
In November 1925 Captain Howey and Henry Greenly notified the Ministry of Tansport requesting a Light Railway Order for a railway from New Romney station of the Southern Railway to Hythe. The Order was approved on 26 May 1926. The gauge was 15 inches. A Royal opening was achieved on 5 August 1926 when the Duke of York, afterwards King George VI drove a train from Jesson Camp to New Romney accompanied by Herbert Gresley (later Sir Nigel) and Howey. See also front cover for colour (coloured?) photograph of No. 7. Photographs mainly from Lens of Sutton Association

Euan Corrie. The Sheffield & South Yorkshire Navigation: Part Two: Doncaster to Thorne. 34
Part 1

Footnote 1: designed by Sir Gilbert Scott & very similar to St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Norwich

Chris Sambrook. The Swansea Wagon Wars. 48-55
In 1911 Melville Walker Middleton, general manager of the Swansea Wagon Works was an unscrupulous employer and used blackleg labour in an attempt to avoid meeting trade union representatives when he imposed  a thoughtless change in working conditions which even included the men having to use their own tools. Sadly, the men's attempt to involve the railwaymen on the local railways also failed. Mercifully, Justice Bankes at the Glamorgan Assizes imposed minimal sentences on those accused of "rioting".

Malcolm Bobbitt. In the Showroom: Triumph Roadster, Renown and Mayflower. 56-64
In 1944 Sir John Black acquired the Triumph Motor Co. of Coventry.

Issue 105 (March 2020) Raleigh Safety Seven three-wheeler

Euan Corrie. Crossing to the other side. 2-10.
In the early 1950s a new cracking tower was installed at the Shell Mex and BP refinery at Barton-upon-Irwell alongside the Manchester Ship Canal. The tower was manufactured in Oldbury by Babcock & Wilcox and appears to have been l20-130ft long when ready for carriage to Barton. This was accomplished by Pickfords possibly using Scammell tractors and two four wheeled bogies. There seems to have been no easy access through Trafford Park to the actual site in the oil depot at Barton and so the tower was brought in through the boundary fence alongside the Bridgewater Canal. In the 21st century a vast mobile crane would no doubt be used to lift the entire column right over the canal and on to its foundations but in the 1950s a few hydraulic jacks, blocks and tackles and knowhow were employed. Acknowledges Martin Bryan, a Friend of the Waterways Museum at Gloucester, and Val Roberts, Newsletter Editor of the Historic Narrow Boat Club. KPJ was at school opposite Peel Park and some of his school friends must have seen what was going on, especially as some were probably worshippers at All Saints' RC Church shown on map which appears to be no longer a church (Google search). Most of the activity took place in pouring rain and the few trees indicate winter.

*

Chris Sambrook. The Llanelly Riots. 11-19
19 August 1911 was one of those tragic days when soldiers were ordered to open fire more or less at random to quell a riot by strikers (one of whom was on weekend leave from a sanatorium).. The strikers had looted and set fire to wagons, one of which cotained carbide and detonators and this led to further deaths. The Riot Act was read. Politics were involved and Winston Churchill, as Home Secretary was involved. The major "in charge" was subsequently to rise to considerable miliatary heights, but does not seem to have known what his boys were up to. The Government was worried about Ireland and Llanelly is on one of several routes to that unfortunate island subjected to English political whim.

Stanley C. Jenkins. The Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway, Part two.  New Romney to Dungeness. 20-7.
On leaving New Romney the line in effect runs through twin short tunnels under the Littlestone Road and then becomes single; then comes the Half Mile Curve and the abandoned stoppiing place at Greatstone Dunes (9¾ miles). Greatstone Dunes had been a fully developed station opened in n1928 in expectation of heavy holiday traffic, but this did not materialise and the station  was closed in 1983 and the buildings were demolished. Images from Lens of Sutton Association

Service timetables: spring & autumn and summer for 1947
A note on RH&DR tickets: Edmondson card tickets, but desination rather than class dictated colour and return tickets were always two coloured. Hythe was brown; Dungeness white; New Romney primrose; blue for Dymchurch. Illustrations of 21 tickets

Malcolm Bobbitt. In the Showroom... the 1930s and three-wheelers. 28-36.
In part the survival of the three wheel car and the cyclecar was due to the Great Depression. The cover picture and that of the police car leaving Scotland Yard typify the attempt to make the three-wheeler more like an ordinary motor car: thee first two illustrations show the opposite — the passengers on the first are more like those on some garden model railway.

The Institute. 37

The last years of coal mining in South Wales. Volume two. From Aberdare to Pembrokeshire. Steve Grudgings. Monkton Farley: Folly Books Ltd. 238pp.
Ian Pope review with illustrations of book cover and the old Powell Duffryn Colliery at Llantrisant with farmhouse above.

Skimpings: Crianlarich and Ben More. 37-8.

Euan Corrie. Ashton, Peak Forest, & Macclesfield Canals. Part one: To Ashton and Stockport. 40-7
In 1968 the British Waterways Board and the local authorities had proposed filling in and piping the Ashton Canal, but in September volunteers cleaned up the canal and it reopened on 13 May 1974

Ian Pope. A day in Dean Forest. 48-64
Based on a report in the Gloucester Citizen of an excursion by the Gloucestershire Engineering Society on 25 July 1891. This is a detailed report, but was not illustrated, and Ian Pope has provided appropriate images, but not of the trip itself. The excursion started on the 09.17 from Gloucester to Lydney where they boarded a special formed of two saloons and a locomotive operated by the Severn & Wye & Severn Bridge Company of whom their host, George William Keeling was the General Manager and also Vice President of the Society.The special stopped at Parkend to inspect David & Co.'s stone sawing machinery. The train then returned to Tuft's Junction  and ran up to Lightmoor, before which a stop was made to admire the view. At Lightmoor the party split into two: one going in trucks owned by the Lightmoor Colliery and hauled by one of is locomotives to the Cinderford blast furnaces owned by Henry Crawshay & Co.; the other walking to the Shakemantle iron ore pit, some going down the shaft. This was a possible source of water for Gloucester. The party then rejoined the train and travelled to Drybrook and thence to Lydbrook where some of the party examined the girder construction. The final industrial  visit was to Trafalgar Colliery and some even descended to coal face with naphtha lsmps. Before the return high tea was eaten at the Speech House Hotel

Issue 106 (June 2020) Forest of Dean village Lydbrook may have been first place in United Kingdom to produce tinplate in a works spread out along valley bottom. Scene gives little clue as to the industrial nature of the village. View framed by Lydbrook Viaduct

Editorial. Ian Pope
As I write this editorial we are going through rather strange times and we trust that our readers are all well and using any extra spare time profitably — either catching up on reading or even researching that topic that you have been meaning to do for years. Here we are working much as normal but weekends have been spent in sorting out my collection of Severn @ Wye paperwork plus preparing a room for it all to be moved into. It will be apparent from the final article that the deeds to Richard Thomas's tin plate works at Lydbrook surfaced again during this tidy up! They were a purchase off a well-known internet auction site a few years back — how they got to Norfolk is a mystery. They do however shed some interesting new light on the works, especially as the plan was annotated with the various departments within the works. We also wish to thank our printers, Henry Ling, in Dorchester for continuing to work during these trying times.

Euan Corrie Ashton, Peak Forest & Macclesfield Canals : Part Two The Peak Forest . 2-32
The Todd Brook dam  faiolure in October 2019, feeder for the Peak Forest Canal brought the area into public prominence as it involved evacuation of people from their homes and businesses. Earlier breaches in the canal nearly led to its closure as did structural damage to the Marple Aqueduct. Road works nearly destroyed the canal basin, but pleasure boaters are a determined lobby. Bugsworth was nearly replaced by Buxworth.

Inbye: Archive's letter page. 33

Where exactly are we? John Clegg
In the last issue Euan Corrie asked for details of a bridge believed to be on the Peak Forest canal but one he could not place. Thanks to two readers we are able to place it: Clegg used his COVID permitted daily exercise to cyde up the Peak Forest Canal to Marple and back in order to discover whether the bridge shown in Issue 105 (page 47) is on the canal. As soon as I reached Bridge 4 at Dunkirk Lane, on the north side of Hyde, I spotted similarities and stopped to take photographs, which I attach. Apologies for the dodgy quality of the image taken into the sun. The details indicate that this is indeed 'Rylands Bridge, Hyde', albeit with rather overgrown surroundings. There is no longer a mill chimney to be seen through the span (onJytrees!), but Hyde lies beyond the bridge and careful scrutiny of old OS maps would probably identify the mill. We live not far from the remains of the Hollinwood Branch of the Ashton Canal and on my way out today I cycled round the edge of Crime Lake (shown on page 44) and along the towpath of the Fairbottom Branch in order to reach the main road to Ashton. Incidentally, the Fairbottom Branch goes towards the former coal-pits and 200 year-old iron works at Park Bridge. What is now a wooded valley and nature reserve was once a grim industrial site. Unfortunately the railway viaduct which once sparrned the valley has long since gone. Tameside Council has provided useful information around the site, including pictures of earlier conditions.

Where exactly are we? David Kitching
Looked at the mystery bridge photograph on page 47 of Archive 105 and confirmed that this is Dunkirk Bridge (No. 4 on the Peak Forest Canal). The iron girders have been replaced by concrete beams but the abutments and parapets are instantly recognisable.
Re the short narrow boat shown on page 44 of the same issue, this is the Nellie, M S & L fleet number 43. It was built in 1864 as a short boat for use as a bank maintenance boat on the Waterhouses & Hollinwood Canal. It was broken up in 1929. Another bank boat was the Flora which was shortened to 58ft in 1896 for use on the Ashton Canal. As these boats were not required to carry a full load their short hull enabled them to be more easily turned round. It is unlikely that they ever went anywhere near the Huddersfield Broad Canal and its short locks.

Reddish . Roger N. Holden
Re pictures showing mills at Reddish:, some details in the caption on page 46 about Houldsworths Mill need clarification. The conversion of the mills has been for a mix of commercial and residential use but more importantly it is not correct to say that the engine and boiler houses have been demolished. As originally constructed in 1865, there was a central beam engine house driving both north and south mills, via a gear drive. In 1900 two new engine houses were constructed, to drive north and south mills separately via a rope drive. The 1865 engine house and boiler house were retained. A plan of this layout will be found on page 107 (fig.84) of my book Stott & Sons: architects of the Lancashire cotton mill (Lancaster: Carnegie, 1998). The 1900 engine house to the south mill has been demolished, not sure when this happened, bu tthe 1900 engine house to the north mill still stands, currently encased in scaffolding. More importantly the 1865 engine house also still stands, together with at least parts of the boiler house. However, no use has ever been found for the 1865 engine house and it has been on Historic England's Heritage at Risk register for many years. It should also be noted that the chimney also still stands, making an important local landmark. Largest cotton mill in the World? Maybe it was at one time, but this claim is made about rather a lot of mills! More interestingly the mill was laid out to spin fine "Bolton counts" yarn and in 1865 was equipped with hand, not self-acting, mules, supplied by Dobson & Barlow of Bolton. 'Hand mules' were not totally hand operated, but the name referred to the fact that the winding part of the cycle was controlled manually, the spinning part up the cycle being carried out automatically under power. In 1900 they re-equipped with self-acting mules, again from Dobson & Barlow, which by then were capable of spinning fine counts. But these would have required more power than the original hand mules, hence the need for new engines.

Malcolm Bobbitt. In the Showroom: Three Wheeling into the 1940s and 1950s. 34-43
Seem to remember helping to lift one to assist in turning it for driver restricted to motorcycle license (& reverse on vehicle). Reliant employed JAP engines and one's of its own design.

The Institute: Archive's reviews. 44-5

Louis Coatalen — engineering impresario of Humber, Sunbeam, Talbot and Darracq. Oliver Heal. Unicorn. 288pp. Reviewed by Malcolm Bobbitt.
The subject was born in Brittany, but moved to Britain in 1901 where his engineering skill contributed to the automotive industry and included the Sunbeam World Speed Record cars. Only his fourth wife enjoyed her marriage to him. Thoroughly recommended.

The number plate book. John Harrison. Easingwold: Newby Books. 152pp. Reviewed by Malcolm Bobbitt.
Recommended in spite of poor paper, yupographical errors and lack of editing.

Waterways Journal: Volume 22. Ellesmere Port: Waterways Museum. Reviewed by Ian Pope

Graham Cozens and James Tuck. Haswell Colliery Disaster. 46-51
See Editorial in Issoe 107. At 15.15 on 28 September 1844 an explosion or explosions at Haswell Colliery led to 95 deaths, some boys only ten years old. Charles Lyell and Michael Faraday were called in to investigate. The mine closed in 1896

Ian Pope. Richard Thomas and the Lydbrook Tinplate Works. 52
The precise date when tinplate production started at Lydbrook is not known, but probably around 1760 by John Partridge and his son, also John. In 1806 Thomas Allaway and Pearce became involved. There is a biography of Richard Thomas who acquired the Lydbrook Tinplate Works and eventually established a tinplate empire, but was buried in Lydbrook in 1916.

Issue 107 (September) Kavounides Shipping Co. Ltd publicity material for Venice  to Piraeus service: Philippos with St. Mark's Venice behind (colour: artiists impression)

Editorial. Ian Pope. 1
Welcome to Mike Tedstone (below: author of Balmoral and the Bristol Channel: the late years of P. & A. Campbell Ltd passenger steamship owners Lydney: Black Dwarf, 2011) and apology to Graham Cozens

Mike Tedstone. Gone Greek: an extreme conversion from Empress Queen to Philippos. 2-29
P. & A. Campbell Ltd Empress Queen was built in the Aiilsa shipyard in Troon with turbine engine from Harland & Wolff. She entered service in 1940 as HMS Sea Eagle (but this aspect is excluded from the description). In 1946 she was reconditioned at the Aiilsa shipyard and entered service in June 1947. Her original primary market (no Passpoort cross Channel day trips had been lost because of currency restrictions and damage to piers and she was tried on the Bristol Channel saiilings for which she was too long and lacking in the maneuverability of a paddle steamer. In the following season she returned to the South Coast and in the final season was based at Torquay with planned trips to Guernsey and along the coast. Three seasons were spent out of service at Bristol and in 1955 she was sold to the Kavounides brothers in Greece to operate as a small cruise ship on the Venice  to Piraeus service. In 1960 the turbines were replaced by Crossley diesel engines and the accomodation was enlarged. She was very like the Queen Mary II on the Clyde on which some of the Jones family cruised from Brodick to Campbeltown in c1974 (the eldest daughter managed to be seasick in mill pond conditions). John Lusted fills in the period of service during WW2. Illustrations: fc=front cover

Euan Corrie. Ashton, Peak Forest & Macclesfield Canals: Part three: the Macclesfield Canal. 30-40
Thomas Telford and William Crossley engineered canal ith Act of 1826: characterised by fine stone structures. Canal takrn over by Sheffied Ashton-under-Lyne & Manchester Railway in 1846. North Cheshire Cruising Club at High Lane.

Inbye: Archive's letter page 40-1

Peak Forest Canal. John M.T. Howat.
Breach at Higgins Clough culvert near Disley in July 1973: three illustrations based on faded colout transparencies scanned as black & whte: looking down onto breach from White House with cabin cruiser in empty canal; view along almost empty canal; another cabin cruiser at foot of gully created by breach..Another illustration taken in the 1980s shows grooves for the rails in cantilevered stonework for the tramway from Lock 10: see Issue 106 page 20

Furness Vale, Peak Forest. Roger N. Holden

Malcolm Bobbitt. In the Showroom: Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost. 42-53.
Includes brief biographies of Charles Stewart Rolls, Henry Royce and Claude Johnson (the managing director from 1903). Illustrations (ifc= inside front cover)

The Institute: Archive's reviews. 54

Skimpings 1: Where are we? A shipping problem. 55
John Ambler states Amlwch and gives reason for ship lying on its side

Mike G. Fell. Transport scenes from a family album. 56-61
Photographs from family album of Alfred Robinson Stone, born on 5 June 1905 at Field House on Bulcote Model Farm in Nottinghamshire. He was educated at the Mundella School in Nottingham, then at Gainsborough Technical School, North Staffordshire Technical College and University College Nottingham and became a Fellow of the Insstitute of Sewage Purification.. In 1923 he began an apprenticeship with Marshall, Sons & Co. in Gainsborough. Between 1926 and 1928 he was employed by the City of Stoke-on-Trent Sewage Disposal Committee as Assistant Resident Engineer where in addition to new sewage works he designed railway access to the Michelin Tyre factory. In 1928 he became General Assistant to his father at the Nottingham City Sewage Farm and Manager in 1936 followinng his father's death.

Skimpings 2: An industrial interlude 62-3.

The 0-6-0T was built by Robert Stephenson in 1879 (WN 2383) [one source says 1880, another 1887] for the contractor building the Freshwater, Yarmouth & Newport Railway on the Isle of Wight between 1880 and 1888 where it was named Freshwater [one source states Longdown] on this contract]. Its history gets hazy from then: it was apparently sold to the London & St. Katherine Dock Co. and then to a contractor who was said to have named it Longdown. It was acquired by the Weston, Clevedon & Portishead Railway in 1898. Here it was named Portishead. Its stay here was short and it was sold on in 1900 to the Renishaw Ironworks, Sheffield. However, one source states that it was used on John Dickson's railway contract between Exeter and Christow when still named Longtown in 1903 but this must be an error as by then the name Portishead was carried which the locomotive retained when owned by Renishaw. The same source that gives it in Devon also states it worked on Canada Dock, Liverpool in 1903 before going to the WC&PR. At Renishaw Ironworks  Portishead worked until about 1936/37 when it was scrapped. As seen in photograph it is much patched up and may already have lost its nameplate off the far side.

Skimpings 3: An unknown industrial location, 64
Large industrial site built on grounds of a substantial house which appears to have been extended to rear. The industrial unit was railway served and had a river to rear and road to front. There is no traffic on the road. Railway traffic exited via level crossings with the road. There appear to be at leasr two bogie open wagons; a characteristic of the GNR/LNER and the Caledonian. There may be a reservoir at the upper (left hand) part of the site. There are two tall "factory" chimneys: there is no smoke from either. There are railway box vans and substation wagon loading buildings. One of the chimneys emerges from a multi-storey building and may be a power house. One industrial building (left most) may have lettering on it. The caption suggests 1920s or 30s. Might it h ave been some sort of extractive industry? Steve Grudgings Collection

Issue 108 (December) Butlers Tar Works in early 1960s

Steve Grudgings. Hanham to Hotwells — industry and the Bristol Avon. Part 1. 2-17.

Malcolm Bobbitt. In the Showroom: Bristol Cars the early years. 18-29.
Formed by George White, born on 28 March 1854; died 22 November 1916, when he became secretary of Bristol's horse-drawn tramway and became a member of the Bristol Stock Exchange. He was quick to see the potential for electric tramways and both converted the existing horse-drawn routes and form a network of electric tram routes. The company expanded its activities by using part of the Filton tram depot to construct lorries and buses and extended into aircraft production in 1910. After the death of Geoge White car production was added to the firm's portfolio. Bobbitt does not mention Sir George White's railway interests which were aimed at limiting the influence of the Great Western Railway. Sir Roy Fedden (1885-1973) was briefly involved in the design of a car, but was a major influence on engine design for aircraft. Between the Wars the Bristol Aeroplane Company explored car manufacture, but it was not until after World War II that designs emerged as the 400 series which made its deebut at the Geneva Motor Show in 1947. This design incorporated much from AFN Ltd which Frazer Nash had become  and therefore the influence of H.J. Aldington. The company went into liquidation in 2020.

Inbye: Archive's letter page. 30-1

Where were we? Amlwch. John Ambler
SS Blackrock had been in collision with SS Balniel close to Liverpool Bar and was taken to Amlwch dry dock for repair, but a storm caused the Blackrock to break through the gates and capsize, but the damage was refitted and renamed St. Eleth. It served as the SS Empire Lethe for the Ministry of War Transport in WW2, but capsized carrying coal from Birkenhead to Dundalk on 1 February 1951 when it had retuned to its old name.

Gone Greek. John Lusted
The Empress Queen became HMS Queen Eagle during WW2. It was used as an Auxiliary AA ship to defend narrow waters such as the approach to the Tyne, but would have been difficult to manoeuvre in narrow waters. It was eventually demobilised and conveyed troops between Stranraer and Larne. He expresses surprise at the Kavounides Line willingness to take on such an unsuitable vessel and to subsequently fit with unsuitable diesel engines.

Duncan Harper. Radstock's 'Marble Arch'. 32-3
The photograph is magnificent, but it is difficult to perceive where the incline went (an Ordnance Survey map extraxt would have been useful). The rope-worked Tyning incline connected to the Tyning colliery to the railway and convey waste from Middle Pit and Ludlows up to join that from Tyning

Euan Corrie. The Chesterfield Canal. 34-9.
The canal was surveyed by James Brindley in 1767 and opened throughout in 1777. In 1847 the canal company amalgamated with the Staveley and Worsop railway as it was being incorporated into the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire. The major engineering feature was the Norwood Tunnel which is over one mile long. It suffered from coal mining leading to a collapse on 18 October 1907 which was not repaired. In 1961 British Waterways started  an attempt to close what remained, but the Retford & Worksop Boat Club opposed this and this led to the formation of the Chesterfield Canal Society: inspection of its website shows that it has heroic ambitions

The Institute: Archive's reviews. 41

Rolls-Royce & Bentley — motor car engineer. Peter Hill. York: Author. 543pp. Reviewed by Malcolm Bobbitt.
Began as a trade apprentice at Crewe in 1958 and eventually became a senior engineer. Reviewer notes several errors, but states that it is a major reference work.

Southern style — the Southern Railway. John Harvey. Butterley: Historical Model Railway Society, 240pp. Reviewed by John Pope.
Very useful volume for railway modellers: covers whole period of Company's existence

Nick Deacon. Biscuits for the World — Huntley & Palmers of Reading. 42-64.
In 1822 Joseph Huntley, a Quaker, opened a biscuit baking and confectionary shop opposite The Crown in London Street. George Palmer entered into partnership in 1838. Steam powered machinery greatly increased biscuit output. William Exall, a Reading iron founder and engineer, assisted in mechanization. Narrow gauge railways were built for handling materials and eventually this extended to about 12 miles. The Kennet & Avon Canal conveyed ingredients in and products out, but in 1869 a standard gauge railway network was started. Before that Pickfords had provided the link with the railways. In 1869 output reached 15,000 tons and there were 2500 employed. The Prince of Wales visited the factory. The business was taken over byAlfred and Ernest Palmer when their father died in 1897. Ernest was created a Baronet and subsequently a Baron. He was elected to the Board of the GWR in 1898 and became Deputy Chairman in 1906. Locomotives were named after him. Biscuits were produced in vast quantities to supply the troops fighting in the trenches during WW1. Biscuit production ceased in 1976.

Issue 109 (May 2021) Barnum and Bailey poster advertising Greatest Show on Earth

Steve Grudgings. Hanham to Hotwells — industry and the Bristol Avon. Part 2. 2-27.

Malcolm Bobbitt. In the showroom... Raymond Mays Sports Car. 28-37
Thomas Raymond Mays was born in Eastgate House in Bourne on 1 August 1899. He died in Stamford Hospital on 6 January 1980. The family were fellmongers who cleaned animal hides in tanning pits beside the River Eau. Raymond was educated at Oundle School, then attended the Guards Officers Training School at Bushy Hall and served with the Grenadier Guards in France. In 1919 he resigned his commission to study engineering at Christ College, Cambridge

The Institute. 37
Making a marque—Rolls-Royce motor car promotion 1904-1940, Dalton Watson Fine Books. 464pp. 932 illustrations, reviewed by Malcolm Bobbitt. 37
"The book with its superb layout successfully illustrates and comments upon Rolls-Royce's evolving advertising..." Price £95.

Chriis Sambrook. The circus comes to town. 38-51
Faills to mention excelllent two-part article on W.R. Renshaw & Co. Ltd, and their extraordinary adventure into American style rolling stock for Barnum & Bailey by Mike Fell in Backtrack, 2014, 28. 45 and 104. The arrangements with Renshaw included providing covered accommodation for the trains during the winter months. Arrangements were also made by George Starr with the Railway Clearing House for the tour programme (that for 1898-1899 is listed on page 51. A fixed venue at Olympia i Kensington was arranged for both winters. The London County Council insisted that an asbestos safety curtain should be installed to protect the audience from any fire on the stage: this was supplied by Renshaw. Atlantic Transport Lines of Baltimore provided the SS Massachusetts for the Atlantic crossing to the Royal Albert Dock and the voyage began from New York on 13 November 1898. Disaster struck when the SS Massachusetts dropped the pilots and the ship rammed the small boat detailed to pick them up and they were drowned. The ship ran into a storm and this led to the death of a giraffe and several horses including a prize stallion and many of the performers being sea sick. Manchester was the initial tour venue, but carriages and wagons had to hired from the LNWR as not all the special vehicles were ready.

Euan Corrie. Scottish bypasses. 54-64.
Since living in Norfolk we once helped to operate the locks on the Crinan Canal  to assist the passage of Eileen's twin's boy friend's yacht through the Canal: he hit the lock wall as he exited the sea lock at Crinan— I later got stuck on attempting to board the vessel at Tobermory and got very wet. It was my sole experience of the joys of sailing outwith the Clyde: and the views in the Firth of Lorne were magnificent.

Issue 110 (June 2021) Stanier class 8F emerges from south end of new tunnel with train of tank wagons on Harecastle Diverion

Robert Humm. Hawthorns & Co. and the Leith Engine Works. 2-20.
The response to a contribution to the Journal od the Railway & Canal Historical Scoiety in 2018 encouraged Humm to further research the output of the works, especially in terrms of its locomotives and ships. The works were located on the banks of the Water of Leith where it enters the Firth of Forth. They were founded by James B. Maxton in the mid-1830s as a foundry and general engineering works. R. and W. Hawthorn of Newcastle became interested in the Leith establishment when Maxton ran into financial difficulty and when Scotland appeared to offer a good market for its locomotives and they had to be conveyed there by sea before the opening of the Royal Border Bridge, Humm quesstions what James Lowe stated about the name adopted, namel Hawthorns & Co. Samuael Dobson Davison (1821-1883) was  the managing partner for the Leith company. Humm postulates that Llai Llai may have been the inspiration for the inside-cylinder British 4-4-0 which dominated express passenger desiigns in the late nineteenth century.

The Institute. [book reviews]. 21; 33

Vauxhall cars of the 1960s and 1970s. James Taylor. Ramsbury, Marlborough: Crowood Press. 176pp. Reviewed by Malcolm Bobbitt.
"author's painstaking research"; "well illustrated", "but some sorced from internet sources the quality is somrtimes poor", nevertheless "an excellent history"

Allard — the complete story. Alan Allard and Lance Cole. Ramsbury, Marlborough: Crowood Press. 240pp. Reviewed by Malcolm Bobbitt.
"This is a long and involved story and Allard tells it with an obvious  fondness  as he recalls his father's V-8 engined machines which found willing customers"

LB&SCR carriages. Volume 4: Bogie stock, 1906-1924 including Pullmans, 1875-1922. Ian White. Butterley: Historical Model Railway Society. 296pp.
"The book will appeal to model makers (where possible drawings are  presented at 4mm scale), historians and restorers of LB&SCR, SR and other carriages". Includes vehicles sent to the Isle of Wight.

Malcolm Bobbitt. In the showroom... a good idea at the time: the Murad. 22-33
Wadia Halim Murad was a Lebanese engineer who was born in Jamaica on 25 February 1900 who travelled to Manchester in 1921 where he studied engineering and was employed especially in the wireless and electrical industries. In 1936 he moved to Watford where he set up a machine tool business which he moved to Stocklake near Aylesbury in 1946. Capstan lathes of extremely high quality were produced. H e also hoped to become a car manufacturer and produced a prototype but the Second World War and  its economic aftermath hindered progress. Murad died in Aylesbury in 1989.

Dan Quine. The development of Port Penrhyn. Part One: 1760-1879. 34-45.
Quarrying in the Ogwen Valley dates from at least 1570. In the 1750s the Penrhyn Estate was owned by Sir George Young and General Hugh Warburton who allowed small scale digging for slate on their land. Richard Pennant took over the Estate in 1771 and created on large quarry and built a road down from it and improved the port. The  Penrhyn Railroad was constructed by Benjamin Wyatt: work started in October 1800 and the first train ran on 25 June 1801. The Chester & Holyhead Railway arrived  by a branch line into the port in January 1852. In 1868 Charles Spooner proposed replacing the Railroad with a steam railway. The first locoomotives were built by De Winton. Next part see Issue 111 page 52.

Mike G. Fell. The Harecastle diversion. 46-64.
Co-author with Allan C. Baker of Harecastle's Canal and Railway Tunnels. Further information came to light from Martin S, Welch who was an assistant resident engineer on the project and who gave a Zoom presentation to the North Staffordshire Railway Research Group in October 2020. Constructing an avoiding line to accommodate electrification was one of five options considered which included opning out all of the tunnels, constructing new bores, relining the existing tunnels and reducing the line to single track. The photograph of the works team includes Reg Grimston and Gordon Watson designated as senior engineers and Tom Mills resident engineer.