BackTrack Volume 22 (2008)

Home page January February March April May June
Previous volume July August September October November December Next Volume

Published by Pendragon, Easingwold, YO61 3YS

Number 1 (January)

GWR railcar No.W19W enters Ledbury station on service from Gloucester in May 1959. (R.E. Toop/Colour-Rail). Front cover.
With signalman collecting the single line staff from the driver. This scenic branch closed two months later. See also photo-feature beginning page 34. See also letter from Raymond Harris on page 188 who states that railcar was going to Gloucester, rather than from it.

Who do you think they were? Michael Blakemore. 1
Editorial on the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB). A little bit of research by young Michael would have shown that two of the subjects in this Issue possess entries in the ODNB, namely the late Eric Treacy (but mainly for his contribution to the Church of England) and Thomas Edmondson..

Thrower, David. Southern gone West: the North Cornwall line. Part One. 4-13.
To the precis writer, who is ever thankful that he traversed this line, it is always associated with John Betjeman, but the Author manages to quote Tennyson:
But after tempest when the long wave broke
All down the thundering shores of Bude and Bos...
Begins by noting the emptiness of this particular quarter: between Halwill and Padstow the settlements were Launceston, Camelford and Wadebridge. To the north of the railway there were smaller townships at places like Port Isaac and Tintagel. The LSWR had acquired the Bodmin & Wadebridge in 1846, but was very reluctant to extend from Exeter towards it. In 1882 the North Cornwall Railway obtained powers to build a line from Halwill to Padstow and this remained nominally independent until the Grouping in 1923. Many of the "keywords" emerge from the list of illustrations, but Delabole, with its vast slate quarry (including its narrow gauge railway (1ft 11in) and its motive power, and the presence of a turntatle (it was a temporary terminus) are mentioned. Launceston had two stations (the older one had been broad gauge), but they remained unconnected until 1943 during WW2, and from 30 June 1952 Western Region passenger trains were diverted into the North Cornwall station. Launceston used to have two engine sheds. Egloskerry is pure Betjeman. West of Wadebridge one can still cycle along the line and cross the girder bridge at Little Petherick Creek. If one is fortunate the sands may be golden, and the Camel blue, but one Easter family trip was made in near blizzard conditions. Colour illus. (all by Peter W. Gray unless noted otherwise): Halwill Junction on 31 August 1964 with 80037 on 10.00 Okehampton to Padstow, 75022 arriving on 08.48 from Padstow and DMU from Torrington; N class 2-6-0 No. 31846 on Padstow portion of Atlantic Coast Express near Tresmeer on 22 August 1964; Ashwater station on same day as previous; 31846 arriving Halwill Junction with 08.30 Padstow to Waterloo on 22 August 1964; 34079 171 Squadron waits to leave Padstow with three coaches in August 1963 (HMRS/Colour-Rail); 34110 66 Squadron at Halwill Hunction with down Atlantic Coast Express in September 1962 (Bruce Chapman). Black & white: N class No. 840 with 16.10 Okehampton to Padstow service at Halwill Junction on 16 June 1926 (note the oil lamps on fluted columns) (H.C. Casserley); T9 No. 30771 at Wadebridge on 12.45 Padstow to Waterloo on 18 May 1959 (J.S. Gilks): letters from Roger Whitehouse and Jonathan Edwards (page 188) insist that this was a down working to Padstow; Tower Hill station in 1939 Jonathan Edwards (page 188) states that main building demolished by accident; T9 No. 30313 at Wadebridge on 15 August 1960 (Alan Tyson); Tresmeer Station in 1963; Otterham station in 1963; Camelford station; Otterham station with T9 No. 30313 waiting to cross 34058 Sir Frederick Pile on down train on 15 August 1960 (Alan Tyson) and St. Kew Highway (Stations UK).. : .

Reohorn, John. Flowers and the City. 14-18.
The double-framed GWR 4-4-0s produced under Dean and Churchward: from the Armstrong class which was nominally constructed from parts of former broad gauge locomotives and which shared much in common with the contemporary singles (neither type is illustrated); the Duke class with 5ft 8in coupled wheels which Hamilton Ellis labelled "Olde English" in style (see the appropriate volume of Russell for the rich variety of Olde English) through to 6ft 8in Badmintons, 5ft 8in Camels and Bulldogs, the larger driving wheel varieties of Atbaras (Atbara was the name of a Boer War battle), Cities and  Flowers. The Birds were clearly not intended to fly as they had smaller driving wheels, and then there were Collett's masterpiece: the Earls, dukedogs, or should they have been Dodos? Earl Cawdor fitted with a large diameter Wilson Worsdell type of boiler is mentioned but not illustrated. Many, but all of the classes received piston valves and were superheated. The exploit of City of Truro is mentioned: see Russell.Pictorial record...v1 Figs 500 and 501. Illus.: Duke No. 3323 Mendip with original round-top boiler; Badnminton class No. 4115 Shrewsbury at Cardiff in 1922 (Ken Nunn) Bulldog No. 3405 Empire of India; Flower class No. 4156 Gardenia at Cardiff in 1922 (Ken Nunn); Atbara No. 3373 Atbara with original boiler; Atbara No. 4148 Singapore with express at Cardiff in 1922 (Ken Nunn); Bulldog No. 3383 at Dawlish on up local train on 2 September 1936 (Ken Nunn); Atbara/City No. 3705 Mauritius in 1903 state; No. 3712 City of Bristol. See also letter from John Pearse (p. 188) who notes one class 1 howler that City of Truro (as No. 3717) was withdrawn from Radyr, and gives the correct origin for the Empire names: i.e. places visited by a Royal cruise of 1901 on the chartered liner Ophir.;

Skelsey, Geoffrey. "Please Shew All Tickets!": the long legacy of Thomas Edmondson. 19-24.
A Quaker cabinet-maker from Lancaster who obtained the post of clerk in-charge of Milton station (later Brampton Junction) on the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway when his business failed. Here he invented his system for issuing and validating card tickets. The Manchester & Leeds Railway were more aware of the advantages of Edmondson's system and it was on this Railway that the system became fully developed. In 1957 British Railways were printing 524 million tickets at four printing works. Ticket sales formed a classic Zipfian distribution, and this led to considerable wastage. Automation came early to the London Underground: it began with slot machine type sales, but gradually on-site printing was introduced in association with "scheme" (zonal) ticketing. Germany introduced mechanized printing in the 1920s and the LNER had machines at Newcastle in 1931 and Liverpool Street in 1935. Edmondson tickets were finally displaced by computer-based systems in the 1980s. The illus. include the interior of the booking offices at Rhyl and at Ince, and the exterior of the station buildings at Brampton Junction, plus many colour illus. of Edmondson tickets. See also letters on p. 188: from Keith Chester who notes that Edmondson tickets survived in Kafkaesqe locations in Eastern Europe and from P. Justin McCarthy who notes that the John Rylands Library in Manchester holds some Edmondson material..

Beale, Mike. 150 years of the Somerset & Dorset Railway. 25-30.
Two railways set out to link the not very promising port of Burnham on the Bristol Channel with Poole on the English Channel. The Dorset Central Railway set out from the latter having received its Royal Assent on 10 August 1857. Whilst the Somerset Central Railway began as a broad gauge concern at Highbridge and struggled across to Glastonbury. On 21 July 1856 an extension from Glastonbury to Cole was authorised. In Dorset the Stour Valley section opened to Blandford on 1 November 1860, and from 31 August 1863 it was possible to travel from Burnham to Poole. Illus. from Somerset & Dorset Railway Trust with captions by Ross Garner and David Milton: S&DR 2-4-0 No. 9 at Evercreech station (loco built by George England in 1863); 0-6-0 No. 35 entering Blandford probably in August 1892 (loco constructed Neilson in 1878, class known as 'Scotties', rebuilt with Johnson boiler in 1889); John Fowler 0-6-0 rebuilt with MR boiler on freight, with shunting horse alongside, at Blandford c1900; Wincanton station; Johnson 4-4-0 No. 68 (5ft 9in 4-4-0 of 1896 rebuilt in 1906) at Bournemouth West on 28 March 1910; rebuilt J class 4-4-0 No. 18 (H class boiler) approaching Bournemouth West on 31 May 1913; rebuilt small Johnson 4-4-0 No. 67 entering Branksome triangle; 4-4-0 No. 68 at Bournemouth West on 9 August 1913; Vulcan Foundary 2-4-0 No. 23; rebuilt 2-4-0 No. 16A at Templecombe on down freight in August 1892.;

A Caledonian threesome. R.D. Stephen (phot). and Jim MacIntosh (captions). 31.
Class 66 4-4-0 No. 1083 at Carstairs; 0-6-0 No. 32 (in passenger blue livery) at Glasgow Central and Oban Bogie 4-6-0 No. 195 on Oban Shed.

Mr. Peppercorn's A2 Pacifics. Derek Penney (phot.), 32-3.
Colour photo-feature: 60530 Sayajirao at Hilton Junction, Perth, with a Dundee to Glasgow excpress; 60528 Tudor Minstrel and 60530 Sayajirao on Dundee shed; 60532 Blue Peter on Aberdeen to Glasgow express passing Bridge of Allen in July 1966; and 60528 Tudor Minstrel passing Burntisland with Dundee to Edinburgh fitted freight on 28 August 1965; .

The Great Western railcars. 34-7.
Colour photo-feature (all railcars were in carmine & cream livery unless noted otherwise): W12W at Newbury; W22W at Leamington Spa with maroon trailer on 25 April 1955 (T.J. Edgington) (both of these cars were fitted with small destination boards); W19W at Newent in July 1959 (W. Potter); W19W at Barbers Bridge in May 1959 (T.B. Owen); W17W parcels car in faded carmine livery at Tyseley in June 1960; W34W parcels car in faded carmine livery hauling two vans at White Waltham in August 1959 (T.B. Owen); W22W (dark BR green) at Kidderminster in May 1959 (P.W. Gray); W19W at Newent in July 1959 (J.M. Wiltshire); W8W at Swan Village on 1 June 1957 (T.J. Edgington); and W33W and W35W with GWR corridor coach in between (all in lighter BR green with gold stripe) passing over Aldermaston water troughs in August 1959 (G.H. Hunt):

Welch, Martin S. The early photographs of Eric Treacy LMS large passenger locomotives on Merseyside in the 1930s. 38-40.
Brief biography of Eric Treacy's early years when he went to Liverpool to run a boys' club in Scotland Road, trained for the Ministry in the Church of England, and became Vicar of Edge Hill and unofficial padre to the motive power depot. Whilst there he conducted the memorial service at St. Mary's and dedicated a memorial tablet at the depot to the two Edge Hill footplate men who suffered fatal burns through a blowback whilst entering Primrose Hill Tunnel in May 1937. The wonderfully spontaneous photographs were taken with a Leica and contrast with his more formal later work. The illustrations include several photographs taken from the footplate. No. 6137 The Prince of Wales's Volunteers (South Lancashire) taken from footplate on up express north of Crewe; Driver Laurie Earl and bowler-hatted shed official with spire of St Mary's visible behind embankment; the Driver of No. 6137 holding the regulator and smoking!; 6202 turbine locomotive (Turbomotive) in Liverpool Lime Street on 12 noon departure for Plymouth (large-boilered Claughton also visible); 6227 Duchess of Devonshire on shed on 24 June 1938 ready to back down to Lime Street for 12 noon departure; same locomotive approaching Runcoen Viaduct viewed from fireman's side; similar-angled shot of Princess Royal climbing through rock-sided cuttings on climb out of Lime Street. During WW2 he became an army padre and following the War he moved to Keighley. See also letters from M.R. Scott on page 189 concerning the workings of No. 6202, and from David Armstrong on parish boundaries and the Princess Royal was descending towards Lime Street, not ascending..

Nisbet, Alistair. A wasted opportunity [Horsham & Guildford Direct Line]. 41-3.
There was another account of this line in Backtrack Volume 13 page 172-80. Critical of the structure of the train service which failed to provide opportunities for travel between Guildford and Brighton and there was a lack off a regular interval pattern between Guildford and Horsham, even after frequent electric services were available at both ends of the line. In retrospect the initial closure proposal of 2 September 1963 seemed late. There is an observation made by a senior civil servant that the TUCC inquiry was a farce. but closure was "achieved" on 14 June 1965. See also letters from Peter Tatlow and Stephen Spark on page 188 mainly on the failure of attempts to restore services to Cranleigh as it is not in Scotland...

On Furness lines. 44-7.
Colour photo-feature: Derby lightweight DMU pauses at Kent's Bank station with a service for Barrow in May 1967 (J.S. Gilks): see letter from Sandy Harper on page 189 who states that large barrow handled passengers' luggage in advance for large holiday complex for elderly; 8F No. 48670 hauling a nuclear flask approaching Dalton Junction on 13 April 1966 (David Idle); two Clayton Type 1 struggle across viaduct across River Kent at Arnside with four passenger coaches with local passenger (KPJ or were they condemned stock?: see Macnab page 61) on 2 August 1968 (David A. Hill); well-filled Preston to Barrow DMU passing Plumpton Junction in July 1975 (J.S. Gilks); BR class 4 4-6-0 No. 75019 approaches Grange-over-Sands at Blawith Point with down freight in June 1968 (J.S. Gilks); ex-MR 2F 0-6-0 No. 58287 shunting at Haverthwaite on 31 May 1960 (J.S. Gilks); No. 58287 at Lakeside station on 31 May 1960 (J.S. Gilks); Leven Viaduct (J.S. Gilks); preserved LNWR 2-4-0 No. 790 Hardwicke at Grange-over-Sands arriving from Carnforth on 23 May 1976 (Roy Hobbs); 3F 0-6-0T No. 47373 passing Dalton Junction signal box on 13 April 1966 (David Idle) 

Wells, Alan. Secrets of the log books [occurrence books held in signal boxes in Northumberland].  48-51.
Newsham North and Hirst Junction on former Blyth & Tyne branches. formerly the centre of coal mining and coal exporting. The loag books record mainly minor incidents, such as derailments at points and crossings. The period covered by the books extends over both WW1 (mainly celebrations at its end) and WW2 (damage at Blyth station). However here was a deliberate act of sabotage reported at Hirst on 28 October 1905 when a passenger train hit a pile of sleepers placed across the line. Some incidents at Newsham stemmed from the unusual working arrangements of working passenger off the Blyth branch whereby they had to pass the station and then set back into it: there was at least one dreailment during this action, and one poor passenger stepped out before reaching the platform. Illus. (all black & white): BTP 0-4-4BT arriving at Ashington station with many passengers waiting on platform, c1920; G5 No. 67323 on pass-by line at Newsham with 15.00 Blyth to Monkseaton push & pull on 4 June 1958 (note neat concrete bordered flowerbed and huge signal cabin) (Ian S. Carr); Q5 0-8-0 No. 644 at Ellington Colliery c1930; NER T2 0-8-0 No. 1247 (official-type photograph); 40 ton and 20 ton coal wagons at Ashington Colliery; J27 0-6-0 No. 65874 at South Blyth shed; J21 0-6-0 No. 65033 at South Blyth., .

Rutherford, Michael. 'Export or Die!' - British diesel-electric manufacturers and modernisation - Part One: Roots. (Railway Reflections No.138). 52-60.
Cites earlier Reflections which pointed to the present series, notably the arrempts made by Beardmore and Armstrong Whitworth (see Volume 14 pages 351 and 416) in the 1920s/30s and in the implementation of diesel traction in Ireland. (see Volume 15 pages 652 and 676) Rutherford begins this new series af articles by examining the development of electricity generation, espcially the involvement of Siemens, and the need to develop high speed reciprocating steam engines. Landmark figures included A.C. Pain who invented a system of forced feed lubrication for G.E. Bellis (later Bellis & Morcom) and of Peter Willans. This led to the Heilmann steam electric locomotives developed for the CF de l'Ouest in France in 1897 which Rutherford considers to be a step towards the diesel-electric locomotive. The high torque developed in a steam engine when starting was a considerable advantage compared with internal combustion engines. Rutherford is eager to show that the internal combustion engine was developed in Yorkshire rather than in Germany or the USA. William Priestman of Hull, who had been apprenticed to Sir William Armstrong & Co., then worked for the NER, returned to his father's Holderness Factory where heavy oil engines were developed for barges, and even for a shunting locomotive, but this suffered transmission problems. Herbert Akroyd Stuart invented the hot bulb technique and developed four-stroke heavy oil engines  and these were supplied by Richard Hornsby & Sons of Lincoln with the involvement of Robert Edwards their Chief Engineer. Hornsby engines were used on locomotives working on narrow gauge railways at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich and on the Chattenden & Upnor Railway. The involvement of William P. Durtnall is mentioned: he was involved with R.& W. Hawthorn, Leslie in an early proposal to supply a form of internal combustion engine/electric transmission locomotive for the Trans-Australian Railway. WW1 interupted progress. Other individuals and firms mentioned include Dick Kerr which was involved in the electrification of the Liverpool to Southport line of the LYR (and the the development of the Morrison & Kerr steam tram?); Alan Chorlton who had been trained at Crewe and became President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers; Armstrong Whitworth and the supply of diesel electric railcars to the LNER, one of which was used by the LMS as the Armstrong-Shell Express to run special services to the British Industries Fair A more substantial effort: a 1200hp locomotive for the North Western Railway in India experienced severe technical problems. In 1935 rearmament removes Armstrong Whitworth and Beardmore from this area, but the latter's expertise translated itself to English Electric and the development of the H series diesel engine used on the LMS vehicle Bluebird and eventually to the Hastings DEMUs. Next part see page 100...

Readers' Forum. 61
Exploring a York backwater. Editor.
See page Volume 21 page 661: this letter explains more fully where the diesel shunter and DMU were heading towards: former towards photographer and thence Doncaster; latter towards Foss Islands.
Crossing the Tyne and Wear. William Tollan.
See page Volume 21 page 662: letter writer has consulted Hugh McAuley on Sunderland's tramweay system who considered that there was some consideration given to extending the tramway system to Pallion from Kyle Road, but no consideration was given to extending trams over the bridge. Tollan notes that many of Sunderland's magnificent trams were very large and included some from London and that the bridge appeared to be frail.
Steam on the Stirling line. John Macnab.
See illustration on page 647 upper (previous Volume) in which a B1 is seen hauling two newly painted LMS coaches at the front of a long freight: the coaches were en route from overhaul at Inverurie Works to Ardmore Yard as an edict had been sent out to condemn all wooden bodied coaches (sounds just like "First" Great Western and its lunatic behaviour).
The happy wanderers. Allan James.
Refers to illustartion on page 637 upper (Volume 21) of LYR 0-6-0 at Oxford in "late 1930s": states that photograph was taken by R.H.G. Simpson in May 1947 and that he had taken other photographs of LYR 0-6-0s at this location on 3 May 1949 and in 1945
The happy wanderers. Bob Essery.
Refers to illustration of L&YR 0-6-0 No. 12114 at Saltley (Vol. 21 page 638 middle) which leads him to note that the LYR injectors had a poor reputation thereat especially when they became hot and had to be doused with cold water.
The GCR War Memorial. Geoffrey Wheeler.
See feature on page 584 in Volume 21: writer notes that view of War Memorial on page 586 upper was taken from his home's sitting room in the Royal Victoria Station Hotel where his father, John F. Wheeler, was the Manager and was there when the station was bombed (but the writer had been evacuated to the Derwent Valley.
Cross that bridge. P. Justin McCarthy.
See page 703 middle in Volume 21: one of the bridges illustrated at Millers Dale is still used as part of the Monsal Dale long distance part. The bridges were visible in much earlier photographs taken by E.R. Morton of Buxton. Further information on these structures is available in John Gough's Chronology of the Midland Railway (RCHS, 1989).
The development of the British 0-6-0. Denis Grimshaw.
See feature by Michael Rutherford which began on page 622 of Volume 21: notes that the Ulster Transport Authority test-steamed former GNRI 0-6-0 No. 48 (BP 7250/1948) on 6 July 1967 and that this locomotive just missed being the last British 0-6-0 in steam...
The development of the British 0-6-0. Adrian Tester.
See third part of feature by Michael Rutherford which began on page 752 of Volume 21: states that the Adams' 395 class, supplied by Neilson, employed Derby-designed valve gear which was probably initially designed by Edward Snowball: cites Bradley's book on Adams' classes (i.e. Ottley 18379).
The railway journeys of Sherlock Holmes. Richard Pratt.
See article by Nigel Digby in Volume 21 page 719 wherein it was implied that Holmes kept himself clear of the Underground, but eager detective work found by inference that Holmes must have used he Metropolitan on a number of occasions: see His last bow. Further support from Geoffrey Horner: letter p. 253.

Book Reviews. 62
The lost railways of Lincolnshire. Alan Stennett. Countryside. AJL **
"this latest volume adds very little to the collective stockpile of knowledge... There are several annoying errors" .
Last train from Trent station. Geoffrey Kingscott. Author. GBS **
"useful record" and "evocative pictures": why only two Shavian stars?
The Great Western handbook, 1923-1947. David Wragg. Sutton. LAS **
Many errors are detected: for instance Viscount Churchill did not "retire" as he died in office. Summers, unlike Wragg, does not consider Collett to have been inspired. The "bibliography" does not include McDermott. "Overall this book is a disappointment": why does it justify any sort of star?

End of the year at Ashby Junction. Tommy Tomalin. Rear cover
Late running up Ulster Express just north of Nuneaton hauled by a Jubilee and a class 5 on 29 December 1962. Wonderfully evocative photograph of steam train running in intense cold framed by new overhead catenary, but old signalling still in place. How did the photographer manage to press the shutter at the correct moment in such conditions?

Number 2 (February)

SR 'Battle of Britain' 4-6-2 No.34057 Biggin Hill leaves Waterloo with the 17.41 to Salisbury on 19th September 1966. (David Idle). Front cover

Ask before its too late. Edward A. Evans. 67.
Guest editorial: reminiscences of former railwaymen. Some of the examples are noteworthy: a retired Cardiff Canton top link driver confessed to not like travelling over facing points at high speed; a raw lampman who was admonished for completing his timesheet with a green ballpoint pen as it was the auditor's colour; and memories of a lengthman which formed the basis for a Backtrack article. See also letter from Christopher Tanous on page 252 who notes that some very young men became drivers at the end of steam working, that earlier some men had fired until they were nearly 40, and some former drivers are volunteers at the Swindon 'Steam' museum..

The pick-up goods. 68-9.
Colour photo-feature: J38 No. 65918 leaving the Bandeath Ministry of Defence naval depot sidings at Throsk with Alloa swing bridge across Forth, and Throsk signal box on 4 May 1965 (J.S. Gilks); former NBR J37 No. 64620 passing remains of Lauriston station on the Inverbervie branch on 1 September 1965 (J.S. Gilks); former GER J17 No. 65583 with a couple of containers on container flats at Sudbury in September 1860 (G.W. Powell); class 2 2-6-0 No. 46474 at Wooler with pick up freight from Tweedsmouth on 23 July 1963 (J.S. Gilks); and former NER J25 crossing Sandsend viaduct with one wagon freight heading for Whitby on 16 July 1957 (Michael Mensing).

Flann, John L. Goods, parcels, cartage and the railway horse c1900. 70-5.
In 1903 over one million tons of non-mineral freight was handled by the railways and this involved a vast effort in cartage, either via agents (used by the smaller companies, or provided by the companies themselves. The rates charged for handling this traffic were regulated by the Government, but there was great competition between companies to acquire this traffic and route to their advantage. For the London to Manchester traffic the LNWR had to face competition from the GER, GWR, MR, GCR and GNR. This led to low wagon loads. Parcels traffic was handled by the passenger department. Fast transits could be obtained: Nottingham to Liverpool transits could be achieved within just over four hours. The Railway Clearing House was involved in adjusting charges made over more than one railway and number takers were allocated at key locations to record the passage of wagons. There were many special traffics: newspapers, mail, fish, meat and theatrical specials. At Christmas there was a vast poultry traffic. The six major companies employed 20,000 horses mainly for the cartage of freight and parcels, but some were also used for the hazardous task of shunting. Horses had a life in railway service of five to six years and were then sold back for agricultural service. Their heavy work demanded a high standard of feed and provender was prepared at specialised premises. The Great Eastern at Romford turned out 175 tons per week from a highly automated works. The GWR had a provender store at Didcot. Illus.: St Pancras goods depot; artist's impression of the new GNR Deansgate goods station in Manchester, two LYR horse hauling a cart loaded with bales of cotton, interior of St. Mary's goods depot on MR at Derby, LYR lurry  (horse-drawn lorry) loaded with fabric on New Year's Eve 1912, shunting horses at Waltham Cross (GER) on 31 August 1912, GNR horse hospital stables at King's Cross,.

Nisbet, Alistair. Ardler Junction – a sideways glance.76-9
Collision between the 15.30 Aberdeen to Glasgow express and the 16.20 Dundee West to Blairgowrie on 17 July 1948. Ministry of Transport accident inquiry conducted by Brigadier C.A. Langley who considered that Signalman Patton was seriously to blame for permitting two trains to approach the junction at the same time, and Driver John Laing, a Dundonian of the local train, who was killed in the accident, for failing to stop at the branch home signal. The guard on the train from Dundee was also censured. D.C. Thompson newspaper photographs, including derailed Jubilee class No. 5716 Swiftsure and overturned former CR 439 class 0-4-4T. Fireman Smith on the express was also killed and the fireman of the local train, Robert Nixon, suffered the loss of a foot. Driver David Nutt of Aberdeen on the Postal escaped serious injury and was able to assist with establishing the cause of the accident..

Bennett, Alan. Wales: 'A Foreign Country'. 80-3
Great Western Railway publicity material which aimed to compete with unpatriotic "overseas holidays". Bennett quotations of the purple prose are just sufficient to give an overall impression and assist an appreciation of the coloured illustrations: from Wales 1938 edition (front and back covers); frontispiece from Holiday Haunts (1934 edition with plus-foured gentleman pointing, a favoured pose of the time, to slender lady some rather boring crag; A.G. Bradley's Pembrokeshire and South-West Wales (cover of 1930 publication); The Golden Sands of Wales from Souvenir of the Great Western Railway, British Empire Exhibition Wembley, 1924; Upper Falls, Dolgelley (GWR postcard); Buy British Holidays campaign from Holiday Haunts, 1934; and From Caveman to Roman in Britain by Edward J. Burrow, c1925 (a lurid cover hardly likely to appeal to those looking for a peaceful holiday destination)

Bennett, J.D. Some early railway artists. 84-6.
This short article is a rich mine of information. It includes the work of William Crane, lithographer; Thomas Talbot Bury (Ackermann aquatints) including Six Coloured Views on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (Ottley 6420 who cited C.F. Dendy Marshall, Trans Newcomen Soc., 1921, 2, 12); Isaac Shaw, Jnr, an engraver; was especially competent at depicting locomotives and his two views entitled Travelling on  the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (Ottley 6419) are especially noteworhy. Alfred B. Clayton's Views of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway were lithographed by Francis Nicholson. Shaw also produced black & white engravings of the London & Greenwich Railway. This line was also illustrated by G.F. Bragg's coloured lithographs. The opening of the Leicester &  Swannington Railway is depicted in a painting by John Ferneley. John Wilson Carmichael produced black & white engravings of Views on the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway (Ottley 7096). Thomas Talbot Bury, who worked with Pugin on the Houses of Parliament, produced Six Coloured Views of the London and Birmingham Railway??. John Cooke Bourne's Drawings of the London and Birmingham Railway (Ottley 6465) were also produced as Ackermann lithographs. Bourne was also responsible for the History and Description of the Great Western Railway in 1846 (Ottley 5930). W.W. Young and Louis Haghe produced Illustrations of the Great Western and Bristol and Exeter Railways, Francis Thompson commissioned Samuel Russell, a London lithographer to make a record of the North Midland Railway. S.C. Jones portrayed the Great Western Railway at the Bristol Terminus in a lithograph produced by Geoge Hawkins. Frances Flora (Fanny) Palmer was involved in the Midland Counties Railway Companion which contained steel and wood engravings of her work. .  

Running-in on the Western. 87
Colour photo-feature of locomotives in ex-Works condition: No. 4099 Kilgerran Castle calling at Stratton Park Halt in 1961 (K. Ellis); No. 4037 The South Wales Borderers at Chippenham running towards Bristol in 1957 (P. Alexander), and No. 6010 King Charles I near Corsham on stopping train with Dean clerestory full brake Enparts van next to the engine in 1957 (P. Alexander)

Baker, Michael H.C. A King's Cross summer. 88-94.
In July 1960 the writer/photographer had a happy holidaty job as a porter/cleaner at King's Cross which even enabled him to visit Belle Isle signal box (with his camera) to wash its windows. He was able to see many of the beautiful A3 and A4 Pacifics and the more mundane Thompson and Peppercorn types. As part of his cleaning duties he had to remove the carpet from one of the Silver Jubilee articulated vehicles used on a Newcastle working. He came into close proximity with Harold Macmillan and with Millicent Martin (a television "personality" at that time). Illus. (all black & white at that time): A4 No. 60027 Merlin departs with non-stop Elizabethan; N2 No. 69529 approaches Belle Isle with empty stock whilst A2/2 60506 Wolf of Badenoch waits to back down into King's Cross; A3 60044 Melton at head of down Yorkshire Pullman; V2 No. 60800 Green Arrow backs out of terminus past three type 31 diesel electric locomotives; A2 60533 Happy Knight; L1 No. 67741 on down local with quad-art set on 4 April 1959; A1 60120 Kittiwake on down Queen of Scots passing 9F No. 92144 on Holloway Bank on 8 February 1958; 69592 leaving terminus with empty stock and V2 climbing past Belle Isle with down sem-fast.

Coal from Cwmmawr. Hugh Ballantyne (phot.). 95
Colour photo-feature: the former Burry Port & Gwendaeth Valley Railway had a very restricted loaded gauge and was worked by cut-down Class 08 diesel electric shunters: No. 08 994 (grey Railfreight livery) with merry-go-round wagons at Coedbach wasery on 10 January 1989; 08 995 Kidwelly (in two tone grey livery) at Cwmmawr on 20 October 1994; and three class 03 shunters rumble over Pontyates level crossing on 7 September 1983 (where road signs give impression that they were directed towards the engine drivers!)

Out of Waterloo. David Idle (phot.). 96-8.
Colour photo-feature: rebuilt West Country 34028 Eddystone at head of 11.30 Waterlooo to Bournemouth on 20 March 1964; Merchant Navy 35029 Ellerman Lines near Clapham Junction on up Royal Wessex on 9 April 1964 (taken from EMU carriage window); S15 No. 30838 passing under Clapham Junction 'A' signal box with Nine Elms to Feltham transfer freight on 2 September 1964; unrebuilt Battle of Britain Pacific 34086 218 Squadron with 09.30 to Bournemouth West on 25 July 1965 near Clapham Junction; unrebuilt West Country 34007 Wadebridge departing Waterloo on 09.30 for Bournemouth with steam sanders working hard  on 11 April 1964, and rebuilt West Country 34017 Ilfracombe passing through Clapham Junction with 17.30 Waterloo to Bournemouth on 10 June 1966.

Maggs, Colin G. Railway curiosities: cats and dogs. 99.
As well as being passengers, when dogs used to require a ticket (and a cautionary tale is told about one who lacked one), both dogs and cats were employed on railways (when they still existed). The GWR had 25 sheepdogs on its payroll in Wales to herd sheep back off the track. They also functioned as look outs for permanent way men. Both cats and dogs were highly effective at vermin contro. Illus.: three terriers and their dead rat collection, and dog at Damens Station when part of Midland Railway.

Rutherford, Michael. 'Export or Die!' British diesel-electric manufacturers and modernisation. Part Two: The Ascendancy of English-Electric. (Railway Reflections No.139). 100-09.
Part 1 page 52. Financial reorganization in 1930 was undertaken by Lazard's, City merchant bankers, and the infusion of expertise from American Westinghouse, including a new Chairman, Sir Holberry Mensforth, and George Horatio Nelson as Managing Director. A key figure was Charles Edward Fairburn whose background was founded upon academic excellence, followed by a pupilage under Henry Fowler, thence experience on the NER's Shildon electrification gained whilst working for Siemens Dynamo Works at Stafford. By 1934 he was the chief engineer and manager of English Electric's traction department, but in 1938 joined the LMS where he eventuially became CME. Notes English Electric's involvement in Drewry Car, and its key involvement with Hawthorn Leslie in an 0-6-0 diesel electric shunting locomotive (WN 3816) which became LMS No. 7079. This probably emerged as a competitor to an Armstrong Whitworth project of 1932 where an Armstrong  Sulzer 250hp diesel engine formed the basis for a locomotive which ran trials on the LNER and Southern and was eventually sold to Ribble Navigation. A major influence at this time (the mid-1930s) was the decision by the Southern Railway to acquire its electric traction equipment from English Electric: this had followed moves by that Company, especially through Alfred Raworth, to break the heavy electrical engineering companies cartel. Herbert Jones, the former Chief Electrical Engineer of the LSWR (who had been responsible for he electrical aspects of the LSWR electrification) and was appointed to the Chief's postion on the Southern is also mentioned. The involvement of Percy Bollen in the design of the turntable bogie used on the Southern electric, diesel electric and BR Type 4 diesel electric locomotives is also mentioned and Rutherford describes Bulleid's involvement in such activity as an OVSB myth. Coleman had an input to electric traction projects through his involvement in the design of the rolling stock for the Wirral electrification (and especially by Teddy Fox who worked under him on this project). Illus.: No. 10001 acting as banker on Camden bank on 16 May 1964 (colour: David Idle); Baby Deltics in store at Stratford Nos. 5903 and 5902 in August 1962 (colour: T.B. Owen); Prototype Deltic on up express at Hadley Wood in August 1960 (colour: J.F. Aylard); No. 10000 under construction at Derby in 1947; artist's impression of twin Southern Railway diesel electrics with Bulleid Pacific type stripes; diesel locomtives under construction at Vulcan Foundry in early 1960s; D8109 and D8107 on mineral empties near St Rollox on 1 April 1964 (colour: David Idle); 2-Co-Co-2 for New Zealand at Preston Works in 1954; D8010 at Bow on 6 November 1957; Class 20 20 031 at Doncaster hauling empty wagons on 7 July 1977 (Gavin Morrison); D208 hauling up Tyne-Tees Pullman at Holgate Road bridge, York, c1961 (Cecil Ord); D352 climbs 1 in 39 Ravenscar bank with six coach scenic excursion on 19 May 1964 (Ken Hoole); D323 on footex at Torside on Woodhead route on 14 March 1970 (Gavin Morrison); D336 on freight in Dent cutting on 15 February 1969 (Gavin Morrison); D6798 (Type 3) passing Sudbury Hill with Leicester to Wembley excursion on 25 May 1963 (David Idle); Type 3 Nos. D6775 and D6755 outside Doncaster paint shop on 29 September 1962; D6774 at Beningborough with down freight on 11 April 1964 and D434 approaching Rise Hill tunnel with down freight on 15 February 1969 (all Gavin Morrison). Next Part (3) page 174.

Emblin, Robert. Lost behind the rooftops: the main line between Nottingham Victoria Station and the River Trent. Part Two.Through the meadows and over the River. 110-115.
Part 1 see Vol. 21 p. 764: describes the 1100 yards long viaduct which included 53 arches and a long steel lattice span over the Midland Railway station, followed by the very similar steel Pratt truss-type span across the River Trent. The contract included the Nottingham Goods Yard including the installation of wagon and locomotive turntables, capstans, cranes and a 25 ton capacity Goliath crane. Alexander Ross, Chief Engineer was in oversall control. Edward Parry was the consulting engineer for the London Extension with Frederick Bidder. Logan & Hemingway were the main contractors with Heenan & Froude working on the Trent Bridge and Handyside for the viaduct over the Midland..

A Cheshire Set. 114-17
Colour photo-feature showing what the inhabitants of Cranford feared: 9F No. 92058 hauls eastbound mineral empties past Bredbury Junction on Cheshire Lines Committee from Glazebrook to Godley Junction on 25 March 1966 (Alan Tyson); 8F 48465 running tender-first hauling empty mineral wagons from Partington to Godley Junction near Cheadle in January 1968 S.C. Dent); Stanier 2-6-4T No. 42587 hauling through Birkenhead to Paddington train leaving Hooton on 5 March 1967 (the last day for such workings); 8F 48374 and Class 40 No. 345 in one of least salubrious parts of Cheshire, namely Woodley Junction on 16 March 1968; 9F No. 92160 under the wires at Stockport Edgeley on 1 March 1965 (Brian Magilton); 8F 48717 passing through Bredbury Junction with coal train on 25 March 1966 (Alan Tyson); 8F No. 48319 on turntable at Godley Junction on 17 April 1968; clean class 5 No. 45327 departing Chester General with excursion for Llandudno in July 1963; scruffy class 5 No. 45391 picking up water at Moore troughs on Blackpool to Stoke excursion in August 1963; class 45 leaving partly rationalised Stalybridge station with equally rationalised Liverpool to Newcastle train (Pacer lurking in Stockport bay platform) (Brian Magilton). See also letters from Ted Buckley and from K.M Crook on p. 253..

Andrews, David. Special experimental tests – more pieces of the City of Truro puzzle. 118-21
Another re-examination of the contemporary publications, both those made in New Zealand (The Evening Post, Wellington, 17 June 1904) and the Bulletin of the International Railway Congress (1905, pp. 2118-21). Also includes references to George Flewellen via a letter to C.J. Allen (Rly Mag., 1934 Oct.) and correspondence in The Times from John Phillimore on 9 April 1931 and 23 May 1931 where Phillimore records that Flewellen considered Gresley's Pacifics to be "ugly" and the reason for City of Truro coming off the Ocean Mail Special at Bristol was due to bad coal blocking the tube plate. The location of the "permanent way men" or "slack" is also examined. Writer asks where Churchward's quoted instruction "Withhold any attempt at a maximum speed till I give the word — then you can go and break your b— neck" originated other than on page 28 of Nock's Fifty years of Western express running (original quote corrected: Nock did not use word "bloody". Illus. of No. 3440 (all black & white): two in original condition but without indication of date (one is at Westbourne Park); remainder are of preserved locomotive at Bath on 28 April 1957; leaving Nottingham Victoria light engine on 26 August 1959 en route to Scotland for use during Scottish Industries Exhibition and with 4575 No. 5528 crossing Pensford Viaducton 28 April 1957. See further information from the Author in letter on page 252...

Tortorella, Arnold. Improvements and economies on the LMS Northern Division. 122-4.
Cheap fares offered from 17 April 1934 as advertised in The Glasgow Herald, and especially cheap fares offered during the Glasgow Fair when London could be reached for 26 shillings and six pence. Other long distance excursions were offered to John o' Groats and to Skye. Circular tours were also on offer, notably via Crief and Balquidder. Illus.: black & white: Pickersgill 191 class Oban bogie No. 14619 near Taynuilt with interesting rolling stock (see letter Peter Davis page 252); Dunalastair I No. 14317 near Inches (crossing Glenbuck Loch according to Peter Davis and heading towards Muirkirk rather than Lanark: KPJ on A70 there used to ba notice "heed your speed" near this point and his only journey on this line was behind CR No. 123 see also front cover of No. 7 in Volume 21), No. 14509 Lord Glenarthur at St. Enoch Station, Glasgow, GSWR 119 class Wee Bogie No. 14120 leaving Ayr with stopping train,

Readers' Forum. 125.
Gremlinium. Editor
The SECR C Class 0-6-0 at Ashford Works on p755 of 'Good and Faithful Servant' (December) was No.31271.
The 'Silver Princess'. Walter Rothschild
See Vol. 21 p. 780: the origins of the stainless steel rolling stock were in Edward Budd (of Philadelphia) discovering how to spot weld stainless steel during the 1930s. Lightweight vehicles (some of which were fitted with Michelin pneumatic tyres) were developed, notably a three-car train for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. The Deutsche Bundesbahn used the technique in its Silberlinge and the SNFC in its Inoxydable rolling stock.
The 'Silver Princess'. Charles Long
See Vol. 21 p. 780: the Pullman Car Company had intended to order ten stainless steel cars, until Pressed Steel decided against building them at Linwood. Instead Pullman reactivated an order for seven cars from Birmingham Carriage & Wagon which had been intended for the use on the LNER (they had LNER type underframes and bogies), but actually entered service on the Golden Arrow in 1951.
Lost behind the rooftops. Peter Swift
See Vol. 21 page 764: argues that an excellent weekday service is provided by Stagecoach between a point near Nottingham and the approaches to St Pancras. Robert Emblin responded to this letter on page 253..:
Lost behind the rooftops. Roger Brettle
See Vol. 21 page 764: Thomas (Isaac) Birkin of Ruddington Grange requested that a length of city wall be rebuilt in the grounds of his house: he had been a director of the Great Northern Railway since 1894: Robert Emblin responded to this letter on page 253..
The Bombing of Britain's Railways, Amyas Crump
See letter from Richard West in the December 2007 issue (page 782) requesting information 0-6-0PT No.2785, bombed at Newton Abbot on 20 August 1940: according to Peter Gray it was out-shopped on 27 February 1943 and appears to have incorporated parts from other lcomotives, See also further information concerning WW2 damage to GWR locomotives from John Helm on p. 379..
The Railway Journeys of Sherlock Holmes and Pullmans. Charles Long
Questions Nigel Digby's assertion (Vol. 21 p. 719 et seq) that LSWR operated a Pullman car "from Plymouth up to 1889". As discussed in 'Early Pullmans', by Anthony Bower and Long in Bedside Backtrack, the trial LSWR Pullman service introduced in May 1880 ran between Waterloo and Exeter only and appears to have been withdrawn two or three months later. It was pronounced 'a failure' by the Traffic Committee five weeks after it started (NA: RAIL 41l/249) and was publicised only in the June and July 1880 issues of the LSWR public timetable (NA: RAIL 947/18). The vehicle involved was probably Alexandra (II) would have been borrowed from the LBSCR allocation. of cars. Also refers to Peter Tatlow's passing references (Vol. 21 page 732 et seq) to Pullman cars on the Midland Railway seem a little confused. While the bedding in the original Pullman open-pattern sleepers introduced from 1874 onwards could be stowed to provide daytime seating, these vehicles were quite distinct from the contemporaneous purpose-built day ('parlour') cars. The final batch of four US Pullman-built, railway-owned sleeping cars, with a mixed saloon/compartment layout, were not delivered until 1900, just before the first Midland-built all-compartment sleepers entered service. The American cars were rebuilt with all-compartment accommodation in 1904-6 and continued to operate after the Grouping.
The Green Enigma. Sydney Diggles
See caption to illustration on p. 595 of Vol. 21 relating to Philadelphia & Reading Railroad No.344; the grate area was larger than stated, namely 94.5ft2, the standard for most Reading express engines from 1906 until the end of steam locomotive construction in 1948. No.344 was completed by the Reading shops in 1906 (not 1905) as Class P5a with two slide-valve cylinders and Stephenson link motion. In 1912 it was rebuilt in the form shown in the photograph and reclassified P5sc to take part in a series of in-service trials of the triple cylinder concept initiated by the P&R in 1909. The rebuilding of No.344 with three cylinders and inside Joy gear had been preceded by the construction between 1909 and 191I of three other locomotives similar in cylinder arrangement and valve gears but varying in boiler pressure, cylinder dimensions, coupled wheel diameter: two 4-4-2s (Nos.300 and 303) and one 4-6-0 (No.675). All four were successful performers in terms of speed and h auling power but did not display sufficient improvement over two-cylinder designs to justify the higher initial and maintenance costs of the inside cylinder and valve gear. Consequently, they were rebuilt to the two-cylinder configuration in 1916-1917. No.344, the last to be reconstructed, remained in service until 1947.
Around Woodford Halse. Martin Bloxsom
See colour photo-feature on page 710 (Vol. 21):last freight on the London Extension was an empty oil tanker train which left Leicester Abbey Lane sidings on 11 June 1965 hauled by 9F 92032.

Book Reviews. 126
Steam railways explained – steam, oil amd locomotion. Stan Yorke. Countryside Books. DWM ***
includes "some excellent diagrams"
The lost railways of Wiltshire. Justin Bailey. Countryside Books. ME ****
"worthwhile addition to the bookshelf"
Archibald Sturrock: pioneer locomotive engineer. Tony Vernon. Tempus. CPA *****
"very competent and well illustrated biography"

Line clear at Fordoun. David Idle. Rear cover
V2 No. 60919 on 13.30 Aberdeen to Glasgow on 10 April 1963.

Number 3 (March)

North Eastern Railway Q6 0-8-0 No.63395 crosses the Monkwearmouth Bridge over the River Wear with a coal train from Hylton Colliery to Sunderland South Dock on 29th August 1967. Brian Stephenson. front cover

Black diamonds – and the flowers that bloom in the springs. Michael Blakemore. 131.
Editorial delve into Transport Age, the British Transport Commission's "current affairs magazine": in this case an issue published in 1957. The main feature was on coal when 32 million tons (no tonnes then) were consumed in domestic grates. Flowers were conveyed by rail in vast quantities from Devon and Cornwall to up-country destinations. The vehicles for this traffic were fitted with continuous brakes, unlike the caol wagons which lacked them at that time all there was a grand plan...

At [Cardiff] Canton Shed. 132-3.
Colour photo-feature of former GWR locomotive mpd: Castle class No. 5073 Blenheim in September 1962 (A.A. Jarvis); Britannia 70028 Royal Star being prepared on 20 September 1959 (alongside 9F No. 92210) (Alan Tyson); panoramic view on 12 November 1961 which includes 5036 Lyonshall Castle; 6024 King Edward I, 6918 Sandon Hall and 5099 Compton Castle (Hugh Ballantyne); Jubilee No. 45699 Galatea (A.A. Jarvis); and ex-works fully lined green 56XX No. 5618 on 12 November 1961 (Hugh Ballantyne). Wayne Owen (p. 253) demolishes Confucian-style nonsense by caption writer.

Wells, Jeffrey. The railway to Clitheroe. 134-40.
The Blackburn, Clitheroe & North West Junction Railway was incorporated on 27 July 1846: this was intended to traverse the Ribble valley to reach the [Little] North Western Railway at Long Preston. Part 2: Chatburn to Hellifield see page 518 et seq

Joyce, Paul. The birth of Sonning Cutting. 141-7.
Sonning cutting is located to the east of Reading on the original Great Western mainline: it was originally conceived as a tunnel, but a cutting was substituted. Charles Russell was the Reading MP who assisted with the passage of the Bill for the great Western Railway: this received the Royal Assent on 31 August 1835. The excavation of the cutting led to the usual injury and loss of life, some of which is retold in excrutiating detail. The presence of the Royal Berkshire Hospital either assisted in curing or prolonging the lives of some of the wounded. The initial contactor Ranger and Oldham failed and appear to have been replaced by Madigan & Ely. The site engineer was named Hammond. Brunel comes into the picture through the lack of progress and in the construction of timber bridges to convey roads over the cutting. There was a serious slip on Christmas Eve 1841 and what is described as a goods train (but one which also conveyed passengers) ran into it: this led to screams, etc and business for the Royal Berkshire Hospital. The locomotive Hecla was driven by Thomas Reynolds. Brunel gave evidence to the Inquest, but the Railway was censured for prevailing to provide sufficient policemen to detect falls in the cutting. The article is well-illustrated but sadly lacks Maurice Earley pictures from the Great Western period. Illus. colour: sparkling 7011 Banbury Castle on down express in June 1962 (Malcolm Thompson); timber bridge (J.C. Bourne lithograph); HST 43 022 on up working in original dignified livery and daffodils on bank (Paul Joyce). Black & white: steam railcar (railmotor) heading towards Reading; 5996 Mytton Hall on down parcels train in BR period (Maurice Earley); 5019 Treago Castle on express diverted onto up slow line (Cecil J. Bray); 6825 Llanfair Grange on up Class C freight in 1950  (Maurice Earley); 6012 King Edward VI on down Cornish Riviera (Maurice Earley); 7005 Sir Edward Elgar on up Cathedrals Express, and 1004 Western Crusader on up express (last two Cecil J. Bray). See also letter from Vivian Orchard on page 253: picture at top of p 147 writer did not considerthat train "had just passed the gas holders at Reading" as those were on the down side of the line shielded by the trees on left. The signals appear to be the Sonning up main and up relief starters. The edifice behind the train is more likely the electricity power station. Paul Joyce (letter page 379) agreed that this was so. See also letter from Michael R. Bailey on page 317 who notes how William, and his son Rowland, gained the confidence of Brunel as contractors..

Thrower, David. Southern gone West: the North Cornwall line. Part Two. 148-55.
The North Cornwall line was well-equipped with passing loops (far better than the impoverished South Western mainline between Salisbury and Exeter), but there were very few train services and even the Atlantic Coast Express was slow, but got to Padstow in time for dinner. The overnight service from Waterloo (01.30 or thereabouts) departure is also mentioned: this was a wonderful newspaper train which also carried passengers. A considerable amount of attention is paid to the decliine of the line under the dead hand of the Western Region. Motive power declined from the T9s and West Country Pacifics, to the Muaunsell Moguls, to residual standard locomotives to single car diesel railcars (it was only spared the Pacers). The illustrations portray this sad progress: 34036 Westward Ho! on the turntable at Padstow (colour: B.J. Swain) see letter from Editor (page 252) which corrects the caption (which was too poetic); 21C114 Budleigh Salterton still in glorious malachite approaching Wadebridge on 09.52 Padstow to Waterloo on 8 July 1949 (b&w: H.C. Casserley); Padstow to Exeter railcar at Port Isaac Road on 1 July 1966 (colour: J.S. Gilks); T9 No. 723 (still in SR black livery) on Wadebridge shed on 4 October 1949 (b&w T.J. Edgington); barely visible T9 hauled 15.13 Padstow to Exeter crossing N class No. 31833 on freight at Camelford on 15 August 1960; 2-6-4T No. 80036 at Padstow waiting to depart on 15.10 to Exeter on 8 July 1964 (also at Otterham) (T.J. Edgington); Padstow station exterior on 30 June 1965 (R.M. Casserley); Padstow to Exeter railcar pauses at Launceston station on 30 June 1966 (also at Egloskerry and at Tresmeer working in opposite direction on same day) (colour: J.S. Gilks: Egloskerry in b&w);  N class No. 31846 at Halwill Junction with Padstow to Exeter service on 8 July 1964 (T.J. Edgington). See also letter from Peter Tatlow (p. 252) conncerning weights of rebuilt versus original light Pacifics. Letter from Roger Merry-Price page 317 on steam remaining on North Cornwall and Bude lines until January 1965.. .

Labour stronghold in the North East. 156-9.
Colour photo-feature: J27 No. 65878 at New York ungated crossing between Backworth and Percy Main on 27 August 1964; J27 Nos. 65812 and 65809 pass each other on same day with little boxes all made of ticky tacky in background; Q6 No. 63406 passing through Gateshead with a coal train on 31 August 1964 (note colour light signals on cantilevered gantries); Q7 No. 63464 ex-works at Darlington in May 1957 (I. Davidson); J27 No. 65825 and Q6 No. 63386 on shed at North Blyth, blue of North Sea behind on 20 August 1965; J27 No. 65882 on coal train from Hylton Colliery to Sunderland South near Monkwearmouth on 29 August 1967 (Brian Stephenson); J27 No. 65894 with two brake vans runs through Monkwearmouth station en route to Hylton Colliery on same day as previous (Brian Stephenson); Q6 No. 63395 propelling wagons over the hump at Ferryhill on 29 October 1962 (see also letter from Colin Ryder page 317 who notes how far wagons were propelled); J27 65814 on Percy Main shed on 5 April 1964; J27 65796 in North Blyth sidings on 20 August 1965 (David Idle: all photographs by Idle unless noted otherwise)

On the North Wales Coast. 160-3.
Colour photo-feature: rust-encrusted Jubilee 45604 Ceylon enters Colwyn Bay on Manchester to Llandudno express on 21 July 1964; rebuilt Patriot No. 45530 Sir Frank Ree passing under pseudo medieval bridge at Conway on 22 July 1964 (Alan Tyson); G2a 0-8-0 No. 49314 on long down freight at Rhosneigr on Anglesey in July 1960 (Alan Chandler); Class 4 4-6-0 No. 75012 on evening Chester to Llandudno express near Rhyl in May 1962 (David A. Hill); LYR 0-6-0 No. 52119 on Rhyl shed in August 1958 (I. Davidson); Class 5 No. 45237 passing Conway Castle with excursion to Llandudno on 22 July 1964 (Alan Tyson) see Editorial letter 1 on page 252: train had passed Llandudno Junction and was enroute to Pennychain from Warrington; Class 5 No. 44800 calls at Llandudno Junction with a Chester to Llandudno local on 18 March 1962 (Alan Tyson); class 5 No. 45349 passing over sandy tracks near Deganwy with Sunday 16.05 Llandudno to Birmingham on 31 March 1963 (Gavin Morrison); Caprotti Class No. 44738 approaching Llandudno Junction with excursion in August 1961 (R. Biddick); Jubilee 45592 Indore departing Llandudno Junction towards Chester on 22 June 1963 (Gavin Morrison).

Hennessey, R.A.S. Dudley Docker: wheels and deals. 164-70.
Birmingham business man who founded his financial empire upon the Docker Brothers' Paint and Varnish company (Rly Mag., 1903, 3, 548) and moved on to engineer the corporate structure of the rolling stock supply industry via the combine Metropolitan Amalgamated Carriage & Wagon Co. (MACW). Further integration occurred with the formation of Metropolitan-Vickers and the Associated Electrical Industries in 1929. The relationship of the British heavy electrical industry was assisted by his holding key directorships on the Boards of potential customers, notably the Southern Railway (having arrived via the LBSCR) and the Metropolitan Railway. Hennessey makes it very clear that the Docker empire was more JL than Tesco as he believed in co-ownership and the Whitley Council system for orderly negotiation. He considered that orderly production was a supreme industrial virtue. MACW displayed a cxonsiderable amount of verical integration as it incorporated the Patent Shaft & Axlebox Co. as well as the original paint business. In 1907 the combine employed 14,000, but gradually the rolling stock buisiness was concentrated at Saltley. For a time it specialized in the supply of steam railcars (railmotors). In the early days some short cuts were taken, notably in the supply of rolling stock to the Metropolitan District Railway and Piers Connor's Clerestories on the District in Rlys South East, 1, 94-101. is cited. Nevertheless, the same workforce produced the magnifcent Pullman cars for the Southern Belle (inevitably Docker was on the Board of the Pullman Co. Letter from Author page 253 which notes the centenary of the Midland Railway electrification between Lancaster and Morecambe/Heysham....

Wells, Jeffrey. Radcliffe's stations and structures. 171-3.
The East Lancashire Railway line from Clifton Junction to Rawtenstall and Accrington was the first to serve the area with a station at Radcliffe Bridge which opended on 28 September 1846. The LYR Act of July 1872 empowered a New Line between Manchester and Bury via Cheetham Hill, Whitefield and Prestwich with a station at Radcliffe New. Further lines followed in 1879 which enabled Bolton to be reached via Bradley Fold Junction. The New Line was electrified at 1200V dc, but now forms part of Manchester's light rail network.

Rutherford, Michael. 'Export or Die!' British diesel-electric manufacturers and modernisation. Part Three: Austerity and after. (Railway Reflections No.140). 174-83.
Previous Part see page 100. A slightly disappointing excursion into Post-War Britain with its shortages of finance, bread, coal and ideas at the Railway Executive where Riddles and his cohorts stone-walled against any consideration of modern motive power and played with their 1 to 1 gauge steam toys. A shortage of coal forced an ill-considered programme of convertion to oil-firing: Rutherford notes that maritime activities switched from coal either to oil firing or to diesel engines very rapidly. Meanwhile the British locomotive manufacturers attempted to develop export markets for diesel electric locomotives. Rutherford is especially damning of the failure by British Railways to exploit the Ivatt 10000 and 10001 as a showcase for British industry, as was happening in War-devastated Germany was manufacturing and exporting deisel hydraulic and diesel hydro-mechanical locomotives. These types were adopted by the North British Locomotive Company (NBL), but this not arrest this Company's decline. The Birmingham Railway Carriage, Wagon & Finance Co. (BRCW) was eager to develop an export market for diesel electric locomotives and sachieved this by using Sulzer diesel engines supplied by Armstrong-Vickers and Metropolitan-Vickers electrical equipment. Locomotives were supplied to the CIE (Coras Iompair Eireann), to the Commonwealth Railway of Australia. to Siera Leone and to Ghana. Brush developed diesel electric shunters using Petter diesel engines and these were supplied to the LNER and GWR. Its first major export order was to Ceylon: these were of the A1A-A1A type using Mirrlees V12 engines. Metropolitan-Vickers made tthe mistake of adopting Crossley two-stroke diesel engines. These were supplied as 2Do2 to the Western Australian Government Railways, to the CIE (in two types) and to the Co-Bos of British Railways.  Illus.: (colour): Brush Type 30 D5506 in original livery at Beccles with up train from Yarmouth Southtown formed of Gresley carriages in carmine and cream livery in July 1958 (E. Alger); English Electric type 4 D372 in Lune Gorge on 10.05 Glasgow to Birmingham in November 1962 when snow fell early (R. Herbert); two Crossley Co-Bo D5718 and D5716 crossing Greenodd viaduct with 19.10 Lakeside to Barrow formed of non-corridor stock (R. Herbert); Clayton D8580 passing Throsk signalbox with Alloa swing bridge in background with freight in May 1963 (B. Magilton); DP2 climbing Camden Bank with 19.20 to Inverness in June 1962 (J.G. Dewing); Brush Falcon D0290 in original livery at Stratford in 1961 (A.E. Doyle). Final Part see page 238: see also letter from L.A. Summers on page 317.. 

Mullay, A.J. Churchill's British Railways. 184-6.
The Conservative Party's 1953 Transport Bill Balkanized the previous attempt to integrate transport in Britain by removing road transport from the public sector and by attempting to introduce competition between "Areas" (alias Regions) on the railways. This Blitz was perpetrated by the aged Winston Churchill with the assistance of Alan Lennox-Boyd, his right wing Minister of Transport. Notes the independence of the Western Region, and the competitive spirit of the Eastern Region wth its Pullman Master Cutler service between King's Cross and Sheffield. Quotes the delightful Evelyn Waugh aphorism: "Law is merely the formulation of the whims of the party in power". Cites Bonavia's British Rail: the first twenty five years and Sir John Elliot's On and off the rails whilst noting that Lennox-Boyd and Elliot were friends. Illus.: Jubilee No. 45608 Gibraltar passing Radlett station on up express from Leeds and Bradford on 23 February 1952; A3 No. 60112 St. Simon at Ganwick (before quadrupling) on up express from Leeds on 8 September 1951; 46157 The Royal Artilleryman near Tring on up express from Wolverhampton on 22 September 1951 (all Eric Bruton); Castle No. 5070 Sir Daniel Gooch departing Paddington for Wolverhampton....

Tattoo artistry in York. 187.
Colour feature based on publicity material held in the David V. Beeken Collection: an LNER handbill advertising an excursion from the Newcastle area to York for the Northern Command military tattoo on Wednesday 13 July 1932.

Readers' Forum. 188-9.
The Standard Class 4 tanks. Nigel Thomson.
See caption on page 746 (Volume 21)
: photograph of No.80089 emerging from Heathfield Tunnel: inscription over the smokebox door. Michael Welch's Southern Branch Lines (2006) page 20 shows another picture of No.80089 similarly adorned with an explanation that in the last few days of steam working in Eastbourne area, some locomotives carried the driver's name chalked on the front.
Good and faithful servant. Colin Underwood
Rutherford (Vol.21 page 752 et seq) claimed that Stratford-upon-Avon-Midland Junction Railway No.7 (ex-LBSCR No.428) was not renumbered by the LMSR: this engine was painted No. 2303, in the first LMS goods engine livery with 'LMS' on the cab panel and '2303' on the tender. W Leslie Good photographed this engine in 1924, by which time it had acquired a Midland chimney in place of the original copper-capped Brighton type. The picture is reproduced in LMS in the West Midlands (OPC). This was the only locomotive purchased by the SMJR. All the others came from the East and West Junction Railway following the reorganisation of 1908 which created the SMJR; the 0-6-0s were all built by Beyer Peacock. H.C. Casserley photographed 2303's tender at Derby on 5 June 1926, apparently untouched since withdrawal in 1924. In December 1926 Casserley photographed old No.4, now LMS No.2302, built 1885 (Works No.2626) moving several tenders near the works. In 1927 it was renumbered 2397 to clear the number sequence for new Fowler 2-6-4Ts, before being withdrawn in 1929. The last of the E&W/SMJ locomotives went in 1930. This was No.12 of 1900 (Works No.4126), later LMS 2306 but changed in 1927 to 2399.
A wasted opportunity (and Sherlock Holmes). Peter Tatlow
See feature page 41: Surrey County Council, as the highway authority, contended that the line's closure would result in the early implementation of two road improvement schemes at an estimated cost of £850,000. Writer resided in the locality for over 30 years and the only such scheme on the A281 put in hand was the bridge replacement and associated junction improvement at Stone Bridge between Shalford and Bramley, but this was forced by the washing away of the road bridge over the Cranleigh leg of the River Wey during floods of 15/16 September 1968. Other considerations included a reduction in platforms to be resignalled at Guildford from eight to seven, but this economy was short lived, and Platform 8 had to be reinstated to cope with traffic. Further, at the time one of the few places in Surrey to expand was Cranleigh. The former station premises became a shopping centre, yet BR seems to have been blind to the potential increase in custom. The consequence was that the commuter traffic from Cranleigh to Guildford grew out of all recognition, yet Bramley still has no bypass. Maintaining a passenger train service south of Cranleigh may be questionable, but an electrified branch into Guildford (and its reinstatement has been proposed) would have paid dividends hands down in terms of social convenience and environment benefit, but Surrey is not in Scotland.
A wasted opportunity (and Sherlock Holmes). Stephen Spark.
See feature page 41: The "wasted opportunity" was the failure to anticipate the growth of Cranleigh as a commuter town when the line was being run down and closed. It should have been possible to use the 29-minute layover of Cobham trains at Guildford by extending them down an electrified H&GD as far as Cranleigh. More than 40 years on, proposals for reopening still appear periodically, but Surrey County Council's unimaginative, global warming transport policy makes this highly unlikely. Nigel Digby's investigation into 'The Railway Journeys of Sherlock Holmes' (Vol. 21 p. 719 et seq) recall that The Speckled Band is set near Leatherhead at Stoke D'Abernon on what was to become the Guildford New Line and adds that the train services mwntioned by Conan Doyle were highly fictitious.
GWR railcars. Raymond Harris.
See front cover of the January issue: the railcar was not entering Ledbury on a service from Gloucester, but was entering the station from the other end (where it will have been stabled in the siding) in readiness for a train to Gloucester and the token is being headed to the driver.
Flowers and the City. John Pearse.
See feature which started on page 14: writer notes one class 1 howler, namely that City of Truro (as No. 3717) was withdrawn from Radyr, and gives the correct origin for the Empire names: i.e. places visited by a Royal cruise of 1901 on the chartered liner Ophir
'Please shew all tickets'. Keith Chester.
See article by Geoffrey Skelsey on page 19 et seq. Edmonson card tickets were widely used in Slovakia at secondary stations and on branch lines until about 2003 or 2004, and in September 2007 some stations on the Ljubljana-Nove  to Mesto-Metlika cross-country line in Slovenia were still issuing Edmondsons denominated in Euros!
'Please shew all tickets'. P. Justin McCarthy.
See article by Geoffrey Skelsey on page 19 et seq. The John Rylands Manchester University Library holds a collection of Edmondson material amounting to some 50 items including patents and specimen tickets from both the Milton and Mills Hill periods.
The North Cornwall line. Roger Whitehouse.
See photograph on page 6 This was not the 12.45 Padstow to Waterloo as in down platform. Feature in Volume.6 page 284 (on page 285) includes a photograph of this train that day arriving at Wadebridge, hauled by No. 30711 with two-set No.200 leading. In Volume 7 page 284 the photographer (Michael Mensing) reported that No. 30711 detached this set, so the latest picture is of the detached portion. Unlike the extra set, a change of engines on the 12.45 to a Maunsell Mogul was normal working. Mensing recorded U Class No. 3l809 rather than the usual N.
The North Cornwall line. Jonathan Edwards.
See David Thrower article on page 4 et seq. See photograph on page 6 depicting the "12.45 Padstow to Waterloo service": the two-coach set is standing in Platform 1, from which the signalling only permitted departures in the Padstow (down) direction. Only Platform 3, which formed the other face of the island platform shared with Platform 2, was signalled for bi-directional running.) The locomotive is clearly either coupling up to, or uncoupling from, the two-coach set as part of a shunting movement. Judging by the way the shadows are falling (from approximately a south westerly direction), it is early afternoon. My guess is that the locomotive has just uncoupled, having deposited the set in Platform 1 ready to form the 13.15 Wadebridge-Padstow. The article in Vo!ume 11 page 348 'Traffic at Wadebridge' identifies the 13.15 Wadebridge-Padstow service (one year later, 1960) as Duty 598, formed by Wadebridge No.2 Carriage Duty. Regarding the photograph of Tower Hill on p8, the story at the time was that an over-zealous demolition contractor had misunderstood his instructions. The intention was that only the minor buildings were to be demolished, whilst the main station building was to be retained for sale as a private residence, as actually happened with most of the other North Cornwall station buildings.
The early railway photographs of Eric Treacy. M.R. Scott. 189. 
See article on page 38 and photographs therein. According to writer's notes No.6202 left Crewe Works on Tuesday 1 August 1939 and took up the running-in turn the next day. No.6202 took over the 08.28 Stoke to Liverpool, which had arrived in Platform 2 South behind a Stoke tank engine. It left Liverpool at noon but this train had portions for Birmingham, Plymouth, Swansea and Aberystwyth. Likewise the 12 noon train from Manchester had portions for Birmingham, Kingswear, Cardiff, Swansea and Aberystwyth. The two trains merged at Crewe but No.6202 and the Aberystwyth coach were detached and the locomotive worked the 13.15 to Aberystwyth as far as Whitchurch. Since it could not turn at Whitchurch No.6202 would run light to Shrewsbury where it would turn on the Abbey Foregate triangle and return to Crewe on the 20.45 from Plymouth where it would detach the Glasgow through coach and proceed to shed. Also notes on Driver Laurie Earl who was well known for his charitable work and for his tendency as a driver for beating the clock.
The early railway photographs of Eric Treacy. David Armstrong.
See article on page 38 and photographs therein. The caption on p. 38, taken between Edge Hill shed and the circular goods lines, states that the church in the background is St. Mary's at which Eric Treacy was vicar, but it is St. Mary's, Wavertree. Treacy's church - St. Mary's, Edge Hill was more than a mile away towards the city centre. The author was therefore incorrect to infer that Edge Hill station, the then Wavertree station, the engine shed and the gridiron marshalling yards were all in Treacy's parish. None of them actually was! A degree of confusion may have arisen since Edge Hill shed was not, strictly speaking, situated in the locality of that name. It was actually some distance further out of the city, in Wavertree. The caption to photograph on p. 40 implies that  the 'Princess Royal' Class locomotive was climbing away from Lime Street, but it was drifting down to Lime Street: the line in question, although the current up fast was then (until the late 1950s or early 1960s) one of the down roads to Lime Street.
On Furness Lines. Sandy Harper.
See page 44: the caption accompanying the photograph of Kent's Bank station asked the question "...as the porter wheels a sizeable barrow away; what can have been loaded there?" Writer's father-in-law Dennis Gallagher was the relief booking clerk in the Barrow area from after the war until the late 1960s and he furnished the answer. Immediately adjacent to the station was a large holiday facility for the elderly. They, of course, took full advantage of the Passenger's Luggage in Advance scheme then in operation.
The Lickey Forum. R.A.S. Hennessey.
The Stephenson Locomotive Society, Midlands Area, is sponsoring a meeting: 'Working the Lickey' to take place at Kidderminster Railway Museum.at 14.00 on Saturday 12 April. Three footplatemen have agreed to talk about managing steam and diesel traction up (and equally hazardously, down) the famed main line incline.

Book reviews. 189
The Ulster Transport Authority in Colour. Derek Young. Colourpoint. DWM *****
Book is "an absolute revelation". Locations take one from Londonderry to Larne, from Portrush to Portadown, and services pictured include boat trains, cup final excursions, Enterprise expresses, 'spoil' trains supplying motorway construction in Belfast up to 1970, the last main line steam operation in the British Isles and Orange Lodge specials complete with full brake or vans at the end of the train for 'drums and regalia'. The photographs are a quite outstanding selection and are supported throughout by captions which are constructed with authority and humour and in many cases include the personal side of the railway. This is a pictorial album of rare quality.
The North Eastern Railway's two palaces of business. Bill Fawcett. Friends of the National Railway Museum. MB *****
Superb book which records the offices constructed in York and London by the North Eastern Railway. The architect of the York building was Horace Field, who worked with the NER's architect William Bell. Published in association with GNER (the only railway franchise which acted like one, unlike the mean bus companies which now dominate the scene). The review is superbly written.

Auto trains in Devon. Paul Strong. rear cover
14XX No. 1450 at Tiverton on Tiverton Junction shuttle; another push & pull unit on Exe Valley service. Now all replaced by Tiverton Parkway for Last Great Western bus service to Plymouth.

Number 4 (April)

London Transport, ex-Metropolitan Railway, Class E 0-4-4T No. 144 runs round its train at Stanmore in October 1961. Colour-Rail. Front cover
See also colour photo-feature on p. 232 et seq

Listed redundant viaducts – the problem of retention. Gordon Biddle.
Guest Editorial: the Northern Viaduct Trust cares for Smardale Gill Viaducts, near Kirkby Stephen in Cumbria.

Cross-country to Weymouth. Michael Mensing (phot.). 196-8.
Colour photo-feature; Class 116 DMU at Yeovil Pen Pill on 08.03 Cardiff Central to Weymouth on 28 October 1988; 37 480 Cwmbran approaching Evershot Tunnel with 08.07 from Cardiff on 7 September 1989; Class 108 at Bath Spa on 10.28 Bristol Temple Meads to Weymouth on 8 October 1990; six-car DMU formed of Class 118 and Class 101 at Weymouth forming 18.05 to Westbury on 28 August 1982; 45 055 Royal Corps of Transport entering Yeovil Pen Mill with 09.58 Weymouth to Cardiff on 28 August 1982; 37 350 (dark green) north of Trowbridge on 16.54 Bristol to Weymouth on 30 May 1989; Class 117 in GWR150 livery at Clink Road Junction on 17.06 Weymouth to Bristol on 30 May 1985; and Class 118 in yellow telephone privatisation livery at Blatchbridge Junction, Frome, on 19.30 Westbury to Weymouth on 15 May 1986.:

Ludham, A.J. The East Lincolnshire Railway 199-206.
Grimsby to Boston via Louth: notes on agricultural traffic. Stated that GNR developed potato traffic with trains to London, Liverpool, Hull and to Souithampton for export. Much of the traffic was lost to road during 1930s. In the 1920s a traffic in sugar beet developed. Fish from Grimsby was important: the LNER diverted traffic to London off Great Central as the distance was shorter and the route was less congested.

A Pacific tank trio. 207
Colour photo-feature: A5/2 No. 69808 at Boston on 24 June 1958 (R.C. Riley); A8 No. 69860 at Whitby West Cliff on November 1957 (I. Davidson); A6 No. 69791 at Starbeck shed, Harrogate in June 1950? (T.B. Owen).:

Coombs, L.F.E. Stop her, back her and keep clear. 208-09.
Signalling from the standpoint of the engine driver. Notes the problem of where colour light signalling (especially the use of the 'double yellow') could fail to indicate to the driver that points had been set for a diverging route (cites Bourne End accident of 1945); the problems of smoke deflection especially on locomotives fitted with double chimneys (cites Royal Scot and A3 classes, and in the case of the latter the German-style deflector plates); the problem of left hand drive locomotives on right hand drive lines (Britannia involved in Milton accident); and the failure top "read" the correct set of signals (Norton Fitzwarren accident of 1940)..

Hill, Keith. The Lyme Regis Branch. 212-19.
Early endeavours to bring a railway to Lyme Regis were assocaited with grandios plans to link the port with the Britol Channel to obviate the hazards associated with rounding Land's End. There is considerable discussion on the freight which might be transhipped: wine, fish and coal. Advocates of the joys of the resort included Jane Austen and Cecil Day-Lewis. A light railway was eventually constructed and this opened on (see Backtrack, 4, 172) on 24 August 1903. Cannington Viaduct, an early exercise in concrete, caused problems with stability. The problems with motive power are discussed at length: the Adams' 4-4-2Ts were the most successful and out-classsed the O2 0-4-4Ts, Terrier 0-6-0Ts and D1 class 0-4-2Ts: only the Ivatt 2-6-2Ts were able to replace them (a trial with 14XX 0-4-2Ts was a total failure). The train services were often tedious: through carriages were often treated with contempt being left to moulder at Axminster and then added to slow trains to Salisbury. The author claims to present a more objective account which ends by noting that the excellent bus service now provided to connect the centre of the town with the train service at Axminster is far better than anything achieved by the very late (in historical terms) and poorly constructed branch line. Illus.: 0415 4-4-2T No. 3125 waits to leave Axninster (probably not in "malachite" as stated in caption) (R.S. Clark); Nos. 30583 and 30584 on climb to Combpyne station in June 1960 (colour: Peter W. Gray); 30853 at Axminster in 1960 (colour: J.C.W. Halliday); 3520 at Axminster in late 1930s ; Kathleen Casserley alongside D1 No. B359 at Axminster on 4 May 1930 (H.C. Casserley); Cannington Viaduct c1910; 30583 near Combpyne on 2 October 1958 (D.M.C. Hepburne-Scott); Combpyne station on 7 July 1959 (with Casserley automobile); 30584 at Lyme Regis on 16 April 1960 (D.M.C. Hepburne-Scott); 3520 in Combpyne Woods on 31 August 1945 (H.C. Casserley); 30584 outside engine shed at Lyme Regis on 28 July 1957 (D.M.C. Hepburne-Scott); 41322 (wear on pony truck wheels is interesting) with 18.47 departure from Axminster on 7 July 1962 (H.C. Casserley)..

Mullay, A.J. Letter from the Somme: the Railway Executive Committee and the Military in World War I. 220-3.
The Railway Executive Committee, chaired by Sir Frank Ree of the LNWR (later by Herbert Walker) was composed of representatives from the following railways: Caledonian, Great Central, Great Northern, Great Western, Lancashire & Yorkshire (LYR), LNWR, LSWR, Midland, North Eastern and SECR. Later the LBSCR and Great Eastern (the latter greatly involved in the War effort were added. The North British was not represented. The Committee actually visited the Somme battlefield where Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig sought to increase the involement of the home railways to assist with movement of troops within France throgh the supply of locomotives, rolling stock and permament way. This last was achieved by closing less well used lines.The Admiralty was more buccaneer in its approach with the Royal Navy requisitioning and directing ships without any consideration of other calls for vessels, as in the movement of troops and supplies. The Great Eastern suffered badly at the hands of the Admiralty. It is noted that there was an initial failure to recognise that the canal network (then partly owned by the railways) could be exploited more fully. The short feature ends by noting a specific letter of thanks from Haig to the SECR for its vast assistance in the movement of troops and supplies. Mullay acknowledges his debt to Edwin Pratt's British Railways and the Great War (1921: not available in Norwich village library). Illus: Earl Haig statue; NER T1 class 0-8-0 No. 648 as ROD No. 5648 on Continent; MR Kirtley 700 class 0-6-0 as ROD No. 2717; LBSCR E4 class 0-6-2T as ROD No. 562; LNWR notice of passenger station closures; Robinson 2-8-0 No. 1990 built North British Locomotive Company: comment in caption led to letter from Nick Ridge on p. 317 who states that bullhead rail was used in France. Illustration of ROD 2717 led to a highly informative letter from Niall Fergusonon p. 379 concerning the capture of this locomotive by the Germans during the British advance upon Cambrai in October 1917. Also comments upon the caption to illustration of No. 562 and the description of its livery as "dull khaki"

Through the Chilterns. 224-6.
Colour photo-feature: 6015 King Richard III on 17.10 Paddington to Wolverhampton passing High Wycombe in May 1962 (J.P. Mullett); No. 1455 in down bay platform at Princes Risborough having arrived with auto train from High Wycombe in September 1961 (Celyn Leigh-Jones); 5968 Cory Hall on down express approaching Beaconsfield in August 1962 (Paul Riley); 46113 The Green Howards on up Cup Final football special from Leicester Central to Wembley Hall passing Denham Golf Club on 6 May 1961 (Trevor Rowe); 6117 on 18.17 Maidenhead to Aylesbury at Saunderton in June 1962 (J.M. Cramp): 7008 Swansea Castle at Gerrards Cross with 16.15 Paddington to Banbury in May 1964 (Celyn Leigh-Jones); 1455 plus auto trailer Wren at Ludgershall with 14.35 Princes Risborough to Banbury on 23 April 1962 (J.S. Gilks); 5993 Kirby Hall at Princes Risborough on up express in August 1962 (Paul Riley). See also letter from Gerald Goodall (page 317) who comments on several of the pictures/captions and commends Chiltern Railways..

Best, Eric. A.lifetime'sloathing of all things Bulleid (as recorded by Paul Joyce). 227-31.
Writer as a child was able to witness in early 1941 in Winchester 21C1 lose its valve gear lubricant from its oil bath. Later as a locomotive fitter he was able to appreciate the joys of entering the oil bath to perform various repairs. Unlike KPJ he considered the locomotives to be "ugly".

London Transport steam. 232-5.
Colour photo-feature: Kerr Stuart H class 4-4-4T No. 109 at Aylesbury in 1938; Peckett 0-6-0ST No. L53 at Neasden in April 1957 (L.V. Reason); K class 2-6-4T No. 114 (with former ownership removed but still in red livery) at Amersham in 1938;.E class 0-4-4T No. L48 at Neasden on 28 February 1959 (R.C. Riley); District Railway 0-6-0T L30 (Hunslet 1675/1931) at Lillie Bridge in June 1962 (Alan Chandler);  F class 0-6-2T L49 (Yorkshire Engine Co.) at Neasden on 1 June 1957 (R.C. Riley); 57XX L90 at Croxley Tip in April 1957 (L.V. Reason); F class L52 shunting preserved Beyer Peacock 4-4-0T No. 23 in February 1961 (A.C. Sterndale); L31 (Hunslet 1674/1931) at Lillie Bridge (A.C. Sterndale); and 57XX L97 shunting at Acton in December 1962 (A.C. Sterndale). See also front cover: Editorial slips in captions see letter on page 317 (Peckett 0-6-0ST was that rather than 0-4-0ST as stated in caption and that L52 and L49 rather than L48 which were fitted with Westinghouse brake. Another letter from Michael J. Smith (page 317) also criticises caption to L48 for implying that electrification to Uxbridge in 1905 brought the changeover point from electric to steam locomotives to other services at Harrow-on-the-Hill: this did not occur until 21 June 1908.

Crosse, J. The Scientific Research Department of the LMS. 236-7.
Based on a brochure (Ottley 3955 which suggests publication date of 1947) produced in the immediate Post-War period which described the laboratories and some of the scientific achievements of the purpose-built Research Laboratories built in London Road Derby and opened by Lord Rutherford of Nelson on 10 December 1935. The involvement of Sir Harold Hartley and T.M. Herbert are noted. A fuller account of the work at these laboratories appeared in LMS Journal (17), 37-56.. Illus. taken from brochure: frontage of laboratory, cover, andmontage of interior..

Rutherford, Michael. 'Export or Die!' British diesel-electric manufacturers and modernisation. Part Four: The Deluge. (Railway Reflections No. 141). 238-47.
Covers engine manufature by Davey Paxman & Co. at Colchester. A six-cylinder VSX engine was fitted to an ex-MR 0-6-0T No. 1831 at Derby in 1931. The Haslam & Newton hydrostatic transmission was unsatisfactory. Greater success was achieved in fitting a six-cylinder 6V25 to LMS No. 7054. Edward Paxman was a great believer in high speed, high power engines. These found an outlet in marine applications, and in landing craft during WW2. Post-war the company was unfortunate in supplying engines to two unsuccessful locomotives: the LMS/NBL Bo-Bo No. 10800 and the Bulleid SR Bo-Bo No. 11001. It also supplied engines for the Fell project. Sulzer Bros. and Saurer were two Swiss suppliers of steam locomotives who were early entrants to diesel locomotives. Between 1906 and 1911 were involved with Dr Diesel and Borsig in a direct drive 4-4-4 in a consortium known as Thermo-Locomotive Co. of Luwigshaven. Sulzer dropped out in 1914 in which year it constructed five 200hp railcars for the Val-de-Travers Railway: these featured electric transmission. In 1926 a Bo-Bo 250bhp locomotive was supplied to Tunisia. Armstrong Whitworth opened a diesel department in 1931 and exploited Sulzer and Saurer diesel engines. A 2-6-2 was developed as a demonstrator and ran on the LNER in 1933. The North West Railway of India received a 1200bhp locomotive, but flashover problems limited its performance. A (2'Co2')(2'Co2') diesel electric was constructed for the PLM in 1937-8. This emploted Sulzer twin-bank engines and produced 4400 bhp. This led to the 1'Co-Co'1 designs used on British Railways: types 44-46. Rutherford then covers the Fell locomotive in greater detail, noting that Fell appeared to acknowledge a great deal of assistance from Derby Works (and KPJ from the BR publicity machine: Frank Jones was amazed at the number of people who stepped down from the cab when the thing arrived at Manchester Central). Extensive drawing office and technical support manpower was expended on the 2,000hp Fell 4-8-4 diesel-mechanical. In Fell's paper to the Institution of Locomotive Engineers in 1952, claimed that not only was the wheel arrangement and layout of the locomotive decided by British Railways engineers but that Derby drawing office and works was responsible for the complete design and manufacture of the machine. Fell stated "The wheel arrangement of 10100 was selected by British Railways as being the most suitable for their purpose, involving the simplest possible arrangement of this transmission". Fell pointed out that the whole of the gearbox was made by British Railways. They designed it, made the original drawings, made all the patterns, cast it, machined it themselves. All they did not do was to cut and grind the gears. This was one of the claims in favour of the system - that the steam locomotive men could make the main item of the transmission instead of having to buy the whole thing out. The whole of the control gear was also made by British Railways. Surprisingly, despite being head of all new locomotive design for Railway Executive, E.S. Cox did not mention it in his retrospective writings. Rutherford tabulates the Pilot Scheme diesel traction and castigates it for the lack of a locomotive in what would become the Type 3 range with a horsepower of about 1600bhp. It is argued that "the ten years or so lost to main line diesel traction was lost learning at all levels and lost practical development time to manufacturers in their fight to win and retain world markets. In the end most of those manufacturers went the same way as had the steam locomotive builders and the nationalised railway organisation must take some responsibility, as should successive Governments to whom nationalisation was little more than a political stance." Amongst failures which could be laid through this lack of policy included the failure to develop either a suitable train heating boiler (probably located in a separate vehicle) or specific electrically heated rolling to operate with diesel electric locomotives. Once again Riddles' failings are emphasised. Illus. Black & white: No.D336, hauling the 09.00 Perth to Euston, passing Low Gill on 18 August 1962. (Gavin Morrison);:No.D266 with a down express freight near Drem on 14 July 1961 (Gavin Morrison)

The Port of Bristol Authority. Paul Strong (phot.). 248-50.
Black & white photo-feature: mainly photographs of the Port's own locomotives: Peckett 0-6-0ST (1877/1934) No. 58 Westbury at the British Oil & Cake Mills at Avonmouth in August 1964; Peckett 0-6-0ST (2036/1943) No. S11 Bristol propelling internal user wagons across level crossing in January 1964; Peckett 0-6-0ST (1937) No. S9 Henbury shunting at exchange sidings (with BR) in 1964; Hudswell Clarke diesel mechanical 0-6-0 No. 33 hauling grain wagons; NBL Type 2 diesel hydraulic No. D6353 entering Avonmouth with freight which included Esso tank wagons; Hudswell Clarke diesel mechanical 0-6-0 No. 23 Merlin shunting; Peckett 0-6-0ST No. S11 Bristol shunting near Elders & Fyffes and Pauls Foods; Peckett 0-6-0ST S12 Clifton out of service. By 1983 the internal railway system at Avonmouth Docks had ceased to exist..

Morning glory at Oxenholme. David Idle (phot.). 251
Colour photo-feature: 30 July 1965: Fairburn class 2-6-4T No. 42210, running bunker-first, leaving Oxenholme with 08.10 Windermere to Manchester Vicroria express; Class 5 No. 44878 passing with northbound express freight; Class 5 No. 44795 with breakdown train approaching from north. :

Readers' Forum. 252
On the North Wales Coast Line. Editor
See illustration of train passing Conway Castle on p 162 described as a "Llandudno excursion" when the train was beyond Llandudno Junction and was a Warrington to Penychain train for the Butlin's holiday camp at Pwllheli: information from Roger Carvell who identified train reporting number ID24.
Special experimental tests – more pieces of the City of Truro puzzle. David Andrews
See article by David Andrews on page 118 et seq: there is another early reference by Charles Rous-Marten to the speed attained by City of Truro in the May 1906 issue of Cassier's Magazine : "The highest speed which I [CRM] have ever personally recorded, or of which I have any authentic knowledge, has been 102.3 miles an hour, attained by an engine with four coupled 6-foot 8-inch wheels on a steeply falling gradient. My second and third highest rates were reached by other engines of the same type, viz., 97.8 and 95.7 miles an hour respectively, while my fourth highest, 93.8 miles an hour, was attained by an engine with six coupled wheels only 6 feet 3 inches in diameter." This slightly predates Rous-Marten's June 1906 article in The Railway Magazine. This is not new information. Louis Cassier, the founder of this New York magazine, was one of the casualties of the LSWR boat train disaster at Salisbury in July 1906. He also postulates that photograph on page 119 may show Driver Clements and the fireman of 9th May 1904: The same photograph is used in City of Truro, A Locomotive Legend, with a caption that the footplate crew are the same in another shot of the locomotive. This latter broadside photograph is almost certainly a publicity picture taken soon after the record run, so it is quite passible it is Clements and his fireman pictured on the footplate.
Steam age survivors. Christopher Tanous.
See guest Editorial by Edward Evans on page 67: notes that some very young men became drivers at the end of steam working, that earlier some men had fired until they were nearly 40, and some former drivers are volunteers at the Swindon 'Steam' museu
Improvements and economies on the LMS Northern Division. Peter Davis
See illustrations in feature page 122 et seq: vehicles in the train in photograph on p 122 are: ex-LNWR Covered Combination Truck to Diagram 444 (WCJS Diagram 108 Fish vans had a low arc roof, eight louvres and were only 25ft long); what looks like an ex-Caledonian Fish Van; probably Caledonian Meat Van, and (fourth/fifth vehicles) ex-WCJS 42ft Brake Vans to Diagram 81. train in photo on p. 123 is more-likely to have been going from Lanark to Muirkirk. At this point, just over a mile and three quarters west of Inches and three furlongs east .of Glenbuck station, the line crossed the south western extremity of Glenbuck Loch on a causeway dividing it in two. The photographer would appear to have been standing at the side .of the road (A70) which skirts the shore of the loch. The train looks to be on a right-hand curve and the light is coming from behind it. This would accord with a time of around 08.30-09.00 which suggests train was 08.23 (or thereabouts) from Lanark due Muirkirk at around 09.08. The engine was allacated to Muirkirk shed during the 1920s.
The North Cornwall Line. Editor
Photograph of No.34036 on turntable at Padstow (p. 148) does not actually show the "blue Atlantic" in background: it is the blue estuary of the River Camel.
The North Cornwall Line. Peter Tatlow
See feature by David beginning page 148 in which was asked why only the unrebuilt 'West Country' locomatives were permitted to run to Padstow, not the rebuilt version. Examination of the axle loads (tabulated from official diagrams) may give us a clue: from these, it can be seen that the modified versions ofthe 'West Country' and 'Merchant Navy' engines were respectively over 4 and 3 tons heavier. It could be that this was due to the weight of the replacement parts, but if so, one might expect the larger class of engine to require the greater increase in weight, but no. This lends support to the suspicion that the original 'West Countries' had always been a little heavier than the Engineer's Department had been lead to believe when it approved their running an the North Cornwall liine.
The Silver Princess. Ross Willson
See Vol. 21 page 780 for short feature on the stainless steel carriage demonstrated by the Pressed Steel Company of Cowley at Oxford on 19 November 1947, and manufactured by Budd Company of Philadelphia from whence it was shipped to London docks on 9 October by the freighter Mawarri. The Times of 20 November reported that it planned to make stainless steel coaches at the company's new works at Linwood, near Glasgow. The Engineer 28 November noted that: ". . . it is intended to use the pratotype coach as a model on which future design can be based. Although the firm will concentrate upon export orders, it is hoped that the home railways will also be interested in the new design." It was also described in considerable detail in Railway Age 18 October, Railway Gazette 21 November, Engineering 19 December, The Locomotive 15 December and Modern Transport. It was built to meet British standards and mounted on LMS bogies, it had accommodatian for eighteen first (in three compartments) and 30 (in a centre aisle open saloon) third class passengers in individual reclining and rotating seats with foot-rests. Illumination was fluorescent and incandescent - the baggage racks above the seats had individual reading lamps underneath. It had combined pressure ventilating and heating equipment supplied by J. Stone & Co. of Deptford. Its dimensions were: 63ft 6ins over headstocks, 8ft 11 ins over the corrugations and 13ft 8½ins overall. With a bogie wheelbase of 9ft, its tare was 29¼ tons, the weight per passenger was 1,360lbs. Doors were provided at each end and in the centre. Bright colours were used on the walls while the floor was a colourful tile. In a letter written in 1977, the late Peter Mallaband advised me that: "It also saw service in Ireland, apparently during 1950-1952. Following its return to mainland Britain it was rebuilt. The corrugated body panelling and centre doors were removed and an extra window provided: it was painted crimson and cream (and subsequently maroon) and received the number M7585M. The three compartments were replaced by a lounge bar named Ulster Lounge." It was used on The Shamrock between Euston and Liverpool Lime Street from 1954 to 1966 - see D. Peel's excellent Locomotive Head-boards: The Complete Story (2006). Mallaband thought that it was withdrawn in 1966.
A Cheshire set. Ted Buckley. 253
See colour photo-feature p. 114 et seq: writer brought up in Altrincham area in 1950s and 1960s: 'second home' was at Skelton Junction, where the LNWR line from Warrington via Lymm met the CLC line from Warrington to Stockport Tiviot Dale, and a branch connection left for Northwich via the MSJAR. In 1964 we moved to a Cheshire village called Dunham Massey on the Lymm line and as our house overlooked the railway, and the signal box at Dunham Massey became my new 'second home', and he was able to observe and document until the end of regular steam working locally in May 1968. His notebooks show that middle photograph p.115 (8F No.48374 passing EE Type 4 No.D345 at Woodley) was taken on 16 March 1968: 48374 passed Dunham Massey at 10.27 heading for Stockport, hauling empty mineral wagons, probably returning to Godley Junction for onward electric haulage into Yorkshire from Garston Docks. Photograph on p.1l6 of 8F No.48319 on Godley Junction turntable on 17 April 1968: this locomotive passed through Dunham Massey heading for Stockport at 14.03 on that day, again hauling empty mineral wagons. Regular steam workings finished less than three weeks later with the closure on 5 May 1968 of Heaton Mersey shed. The only westbound train hauled by an 8F to pass Dunham Massey later that afternoon was the timetabled Rotherwood to Garston, hauled by No.48170. Further information in original letter.
A Cheshire set. K.M. Crook
See colour photo-feature p. 114 et seq: caption to top photograph on p 116: the coal in the train drawn by 8F No.48717 could not have been for Fiddlers Ferry power station as it did not start generating until 1968, and trains for Fiddlers Ferry, and all the new large power stations of similar size, were made up of about thirty wagons each carrying approx. 30 tons of coal: total 1,000 tons. Such trains were hauled by adapted diesel locomotives, fitted with extremely accurate governors which allowed the train to be drawn over the unloading hoppers at a constant rate of 4mph or 5mph; allowing trackside equipment to weigh each wagon as it passed and move the safety catches on the wagon bottom doors to 'Off'; Whilst the wagon was over the unloading hopper selected by the coal plant staff, the doors of the wagons were released and the coal discharged into the unloading hoppers, and on leaving the unloading area the trackside equipment then closed the wagon doors, reset the safety catches and weighed the empty wagons and the train could then return to the colliery to be filled again. The locomotive governor maintained a constant speed throughout the unloading process even though the weight of the train was continually changing.
Cardiff Canton. Wayne Owen
See photo-feature on page 132: neither names Canton nor Cathays have any connection with Chinese immigrants Both are old-established names of districts of Cardiff.
A Midland Centenary. R.A.S. Hennessey
Writer of several articles on early railway electrification (most recently one on Dudley Docker and his relationship with the LBSCR electrification page 164 et seq): on 1 July 1908 the Midland Railway officially opened its pioneering Lancaster-Morecambe-Heysham single-phase ac electrification. It was perceived as an experiment to investigate whether relatively high voltage ac (6.6kV, 25Hz) was feasible for wider use. Some segments commenced electrical working on 13 April and the last stretch, Lancaster Green Ayre to Lancaster Castle, opened on 14 September 1908. Although planned after the LBSCR ac system, it opened before it, becoming the UK's first single-phase ac traction system. After the MR's system became life-expired and replaced by steam, it was re-energised and used by the BTC and BR as a test bed (1953-66) for the main line, industrial frequency ac system (50 Hz) in use today. To be a crucial feasibility study twice in 50 years, as well as giving a good local service for decades, was something of an achievement. One of two articles in the pipeline ('Sparks, the Electrical Consultants') will cover the work of James Dalziel, a Scot who was the Midland's electric traction engineer and whose work lay behind much of the success of the Heysham Electrification .
Sonning Cutting. Vivian Orchard 
See feature beginning page 141: picture at top of p 147 writer did not consider that train "had just passed the gas holders at Reading" as those were on the down side of the line shielded by the trees on left. The signals appear to be the Sonning up main and up relief starters. The edifice behind the train is more likely the electricity power station. Paul Joyce (letter page 379) agreed that this was so.
Lost behind the rooftops. Robert Emblin
Author of two-part article (second part begins p. 110): response to Peter Swift's contribution on wonderful current train service and to supplement Roger Brettle's enlightening comment, whatever Alderman Thomas Birkin's connection with the GNR may have been (though they were not the proprietary railway) and whenever he received his baronetcy, his real relevance to what amounted to looting the city's heritage was the implicit influence that, as an important member of the City Council (and therefore, inter alia, a trustee for the city's heritage), he was able to bring to bear on Charles Hemingway, the engineer in charge of the railway construction: it may say something about Alderman Birkin's value systems that he was content to allow the Saxon pottery kiln ;md pots (which he may have thought would not generate kudos for him within his social circle) to go to the Castle Museum where they properly belonged, and which was also the place where (as he should have insisted) the historic city wall section should have been constructed.
Railways for Posterity . A.J. Mullay
Railway history requires as much precision as we can supply: corrections to writer's 'Railways for Posterity'. In Part 1 the barrister deriding the Festiniog Railway's representative in court actually said "Mr. Cope Morgan, go and play with your trains." On the final page of Part 3 the two references to 'Richard Aickman' should be to Robert Aickman.
The Railway Journeys of Sherlock Holmes. Geoffrey Horner 
See article by Nigel Digby in Volume 21 page 719: like Richard Pratt (letter p. 61) have to disagree with the statement that "Holmes never took the Underground." In the account of the problem of Mr. Jabez Wilson and the 'RedHeaded League', Watson recounts how Mr. Wilson showed Holmes an advertisement in The Morning Chronicle of 27th April 1890 "...just two months ago..." This would date the case to some time in January/February 1890. Having heard all the details Holmes decides to visit the pawnbroker's premises of Mr. Jabez Wilson"... in Coburg Square near the City.. .". Watson's account of this visit starts by saying "We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate ..." Using the term Underground in its broadest and most common sense, then Holmes and Watson could only have travelled by the Metropolitan Railway from Baker Street to Aldersgate (now Barbican).

Book Reviews. 254
Disaster on the Dee (Robert Stephenson's nemesis of 1847). Peter R. Lewis. Tempus. DTG **
"A useful addition to a bookshelf if you are prepared to edit and unpick the items you want," but criticised for lack of editing.. Author did not like either of the reviews of his books on this page and responded on page 637.
The Mid-Antrim Lines: revision of 'The Ballymena Lines' - with additional material by Norman Johnston.. E.M. Patterson. Colourpoint, DWM *****
Wonderfully written review which commends Norman Johnston for improving what was already pretty good.
Railroads across North America - an illustrated history. Claude Wiatrowski, Voyageur Press, DWM ****
The bulk of the book is made up of beautifully illustrated 'thumbnail sketches', The illustrations are superb
Beautiful Railway Bridge of the silvery Tay. Peter R. Lewis. Tempus. DTG ***
"... well produced book packed with a forensic level of detail, both in the many admirable illustrations and the body of the text. The text is informative in the way it lays bare the engineering expertise and management of the time along with the investigative techniques following the disaster, one interesting feature of which is the extensive use of photographic evidence. It also outlines the importance of the bridge to trade and communications and the interplay of the main characters from designers through to train crew caught up in the events." Reviewer's "only criticism is that because such a large proportion of the book is devoted, in a very detailed way, to the process of investigation and evidence-sifting, its audience will be largely limited to students of both legal and engineering practice who have an interest in these areas." . Author did not like either of the reviews of his books on this page and responded on page 637.

Semaphores at Dundee. Scott Cunningham. rear cover
47 051 hauling northbound Freightliner through Dundee Tay Bridge on 22 September 1981.

Number 5 (May)

LMS 2P 4-4-0 No 40573 stands at Kilmarnock with 18.05 to Glasgow St. Enoch on 28 May 1955. (T.J. Edgington). front cover
Smartly turned out by Hurlford shed with painted smokebox door straps and lined buffer beam and buffers amongst other touches,

Once uon a time in the West. Michael Blakemore.
Editorial on Backtrack's origins at Penryn and magic moments at the Pandora Inn and other drinking holes near the Fal, also the awfulness of current cross country travel (and he has still to suffer East Midland Connect where the upholstery is filthy)

Bennett, Alan. The Falmouth Branch. 260-6.
Not really a branch line, but the original terminus of the Cornwall Railway, opened from Truro on 24 May 1863. The broad gauge line was 11¾ miles long and included two tunnels (Perran and Sparnick) and eight viaducts all of which were originally timber at: Penwithers, Ringwell, Carnon, Perran, Ponsanooth, Pascoe, Penryn and College Wood. Two of the timer viaducts were replaced by embankments (Pascoe and Penryn), the remainder by masonry structures, College Wood was the last not being replaced until July 1934. The original engineer for the line was R.P. Brereton. There was a serious accident near College Wood Viaduct involving the derailment of the 17.20 ex-Falmouth on 31 October 1898. At Falmouth the terminus was located adjacent to the Docks rather than in the centre of the town. Additional stopping places were provided at Penmere Platform opened in July 1927 and at The Dell in December 1970. The latter served the Town Centre and exploited the concrete structure which had served as Perranporth Beach Halt. In the early 20th century the St Just Ocean Wharves & Railway Co. hoped to exploit the deep water at St Just Pool to export chine clay from central Cornwall. For many years the liine was served by through trains and through carriages: this has been reduced to a basic railway service with bus connections if the Last Great Western services are (as usual) late. See also letter from Alan Wild p. 572 who is vaguely critical that all the illus. feature 45XX class and outlines motive power used in the last steam and early diesel days. This included 57XX and 94XX 0-6-0PTs, a 61XX, Grange and County class 4-6-0s and D63XX (hunting in pairs) on the through services to Paddington..

Tollan, William M. Britain's first tramwayman, but he wasn't British. 267.
George Francis Train: an American railroad entrepreneur who attempted to introduce street tramways to Britain (Birkenhead and London). Portrait..

Ferguson, Niall. LMS locomotives during World War II. 268-73.
Locomotives were requistioned to operate the Melbourne Military Railway which was based on the Chellaston East Junction to Ashby line requisitioned on 19 November 1939. The War Office made major demands for motive power from all the railways and these were partially met by the supply of Dean Goods, many of which had served during WW1. To meet the GWR's consequent shortage of motive power the LMS loaned some of its 2F 0-6-0s. Further stress on LMS motive power was placed by the call on 8F 2-8-0s to work in Iran and the Military's need for dieseal electric shunters. In part these losses were made good by the loan of an assortment of Southern Railway locomotives (a D1 0-4-2T reached Wick and some services in the Midlands were worked by the F1 class), by the withdrawal of some services, the restoration to traffic of some withdrawn locomotives, and by the transfer of locomotives to other duties: LTSR services were worked by the older 4-4-2Ts which released the three-cylinder 2-6-4Ts to work heavy freight. On page 270 it is clearly stated why the Government and the LMS were willing to invest in diesel electric shunters during WW2 due to their greatly increased productivity: see letter from Summers page 317!.

Further along the Furness. 274-6.
Colour photo-feature (mainly by J.S. Gilks: other photographers shown): preserved V2 No. 4771 Green Arrow at Whitbeck hauling thirteen coaches on a Carnforth to Sellafield special on 21 September 1974; return special hauled by preserved A3 No. 1472 Flying Scotsman near Seascale on same day; four Type 20 hauling train of nuclear flasks across Eskmeals Viaduct on 23 October 2001; Class 108 DMU in corporate blue livery at St Bees in April 1981 (Brian Magilton); Pacer Class 142 in Ribena (Last i.e. First Group livery) at Drigg on 19 March 2001 (note correlation between Pacers and core Labour voters); six car DMU in dark green livery at Ravenglass on 19 July 1959 (Alan Tyson); Eastern Region General Manager's saloon (DMU in extotic livery) at Nethertown on 14 September 1985.

Crosse, J. GWR goods instruction notices: a tale of everyday life in 1920s Britain. 277-9.
Part 1 on page 523 of Volume 21 (not as stated in text). Far away and long ago:private sidings were being opened, problems of foot & mouth for the movement of cattle-derived traffic to Jersey and France; traffic for Ireland: M&GNJR wagons to be despatched to Melton Constable; transport of pianos, lead in rolls, ethyl fluid (and what to do if it spilled) and despatch of goods to the Sand Hutton Light Railway. The article began with comments on the maintenance of weighing machines and weighbridges and their inspection by Weights and Measures Inspectors. This brought a long response from a former Inspector, Keith Farmer on page 445.. Illus.: Penryn goods station with 4575, many trucks in sidings and lorries and tractors and trailers queuing to get into goods yard with vegetables? and 4377 in GWR livery climbing away from Patchway Tunnel with long banked freight..:

Brooks, Michael. Railway history and the Great Eastern Railway. 280-3.
Comment on the nature of historical research in general, and the danger of false interpretations. In the case of historical research relating to railways the unreliability of C.E. Stretton is noted as is the overall misjudgement of Webb as a locomotive engineer. The Author then turns towards the "failure" of the Great Esatern Railway to acquire the London Tilbury & Southend Railway in the face of a competitive bid from the Midland Railway. C.J. Allen, both in his history The Great Eastern Railway and his autobiography Two million miles of rail travel alleges that the General Manager, William Henry Hyde, was ordered by the Chairman Claud Hamilton to seek an "immediate resignation". This is shown to be utterly false and that it appears that the GER considered that the Midland paid in excess of what the LTSR was worth and would continue to receive a considerable income from its terminal facilities at Fenchurch Street whoever ran the trains.Illus: Fenchurch Street just before takeover of LTSR by MR with LTSR 4-4-2T about to depart with train for Southend, GER 3-4-2T on train for Ongar and locomotive in siding with destination stating "Loop via Ilford": see letter on p. 379 from M.J. Smith stating should have been "Fairlop via Ilford"; Walter Henry Hyde with Ailwyn Fellowes, Deputy Chairman of the GER, F.G. Randall, Superintendent of the Line and Sir Walter Gilbey at the opening of the Elsenham & Railway on 31 March 1913;  approach to Fenchurch Street in August 1911; letter from E. Green to Lord Claud Hamilton concerning Midland takeover of LTSR dated 11 January 1911; 4-6-4T as MR No. 2101 and LTSR 4-4-2T as MR No. 2148..

Patterson, Allan. Mitre Bridge Junction Signal Box. 284-7,
Author was a signalman at this former LNWR signal box (complete with stirrup handle levers) in the 1980s and handled cross-London traffic coming from the Southern Region and going on to the electrified WCML. Many of the trains required a change in motive power and this could only be achieved by complex movements, especially in the southbound direction where engine movements blocked the level crossing into a scrapyard. Col. illus. by author: exterior of signal box on 12 May 1986; track diagram; lever frame on 15 June 1985; electro-diesel heading north with class 86 and class 47 waiting to change over on 12 May 1986; class 33 No. 33 030 heading north over junction in May 1986; Class 20s Nos. 20 097 and 20 128 cross Hythe Road bridge as they head towards High Level Junction on 13 May 1986;  horse and cart (loaded with scrap) crossing the level crossing on 15 May 1986. See also letter from Mike Morley (p. 379) who gives details of more fun & games at this location: electric locomotives could overrun rhe catenary and remain stranded causing chaos and Ferrous Fragmenters suffered from frequent fires and the Fire Brigade liked to run their hoses across the tracks. See also similar excellent feature on Victoria Park signal box in Vol. 23 page 332...

In the land of the mountain and the flood [West Highland Line]. Derek Penney (phot.). 288-91.
Colour photo-feature: K4 No. 61995 Cameron of Lochiel taking water at Crianlarich whilst working a Stephenson Locomotive Society special on18 June 1960, and on turntable at Fort William on same day (clearly shows different steam pipes on left and right hand sides of smokebox on this locomotive); Arrochar push & pull with C15 4-4-2T No. 67474 taking water at Garelochead on 15 June 1959, and near Glen Douglas and at Arrochar & Tarbet (presumably on same day): caption writer noted express headlamps, but could have added first class accommodation with lavatory (all very unusual features on steam-worked push & pull: they are superb pictures: see also Editorial letter noting that they were not 4-4-4Ts on page 379 and letter from John Macnab noting the unusual nature of the coaching stock, the C15 members converted for push-pull working, and the underground storage of munitions in Glen Douglas); class 5 4-6-0 No. 44975 at Glen Douglas halt with Glasgow-bound train in evening light in 1959; 44968 leaving Glen Douglas with train for Fort William in 1960; and ex-Coronation observation car on turntable at Fort William shed on 18 June 1960.

The Class 2 4-4-0s of the Midland and LMS. 292-4.
Colour photo-feature: No. 40489 (Midland type) climbs Lickey Incline hauling four coaches and a banking engine on 11 July 1956 (T.J. Edgington); No. 40661 at Kilmarnock in August 1960 (Chris Gammell); No. 40663 at Forres prepared to work a special train on 14 June 1960 (Derek Penney); No. 40569 piloting rebuilt West Country Pacific No. 34047 Callington passing Radstock in May 1960 (J.M. Wiltshire); No. 40574 at Newmilns with train for Darvel in August 1960 (Chris Gammell); No. 40426 (Midland type) carrying express headlamps and hauling five carmine & cream coaches passing Berkeley Road in 1956 (P.B. Whitehouse); No. 40574 on the turntable at Muirkirk in May 1959 (G.H. Hunt); No. 40645 at Dumfries in July 1955 (T.J. Edgington).:

Collins, Michael. The Lartigue Monorail in Ireland: "the queerest railway in the world". 295-9.
Partly written to celebrste the partial reopening of a small section of the Listowel & Ballybunion Railway on 14 October 2005 (sadly it uses a steam outline locomotive), but mainly an account of the original line which opened on 5 March 1888 and lasted until14 October 1924. The main instigator of the line was Father Mortimer O'Connor, Parish Priest of Ballybunion, who wished enhance his Sunday collection from seaside holidaymakers. Charles Lartigue's first line was constructed in Algeria in 1881 to transport esparto grass across the desert. The Russian army tested the system for evacuating wounded men from battlefields. Another line was built in the Pyrenees to carry ore down from a mine: this used electricity regeratively. The Listowel & Ballybunion Railway was the main example of this type of monorail: its Managing Director was Fritz Behr. Although plain track was very simple especially in the flat terrain through which it operated all forms of junction were complex and turntables were needed to turn the twin boiler locomotives. Illus.: Panissières to Feurs monorail in 1896 near Lyons (locomotive and passenger coach); Algerian system (drawing); Hunslet locomotive drawing of No. 1; switches at Ballybunion; locomotive No. 3 on turntable at Ballybunion; locomotive with staircase wagon at Ballybunion; replica locomotive.

Maggs, Colin G. Railway curiosities: escape. 300-1.
Runaway locomotives, cranes, and trains. Only the first described has any element of Buster Keaton in it. On 26 February 1863 an iintoxicated Driver James Mitchell allowed his out-of-condition locomotive to wander south from Beattock on the wrong track into the path of the northbound mail train. Driver Andrew Maxwell on the up line gave chase, were unable to attract Mitchell's attention, but found the up line blocked by a "looped freight"; the guatd from which ran south with his red lamp and successfully halted the mail. Meanwhile the resourceful Maxwell headed north again and came upon the runaway where the fireman John Richardson managed to climb upon the runaway and halt it. The Beattock station master had Mitchell taken into custody, from which he escaped, but he was captured in Carlisle and tried in Dumfries Sheriff Court on 13 July 1863 and sentenced to twelve months in prison. The alert members of staff were rewarded generously by the Caledonian Railway. There is a rather thinly sketched account of a runaway freight train on the North British Railway in 1912 where the locomotive followed the wagons down the incline and the resourceful fireman, Henry Drake managed to couple the locomotive to the train thus arresting its progress. The remaining two incidents involve cranes: one at Reading (Southern Region) was halted at Wokingham on 25 May 1954 via the use of a motor car which gave chase, the other was at Griseburn on the Settle and Carlisle line wheree on 29 November 1948 a runaway steam crane demolished an overbridge which led to the death of a fitter on the crane. The crane eventually halted on an up grade near Lazonby. This accident is also mentioned by crane expert Peter Tatlow in an article in LMS Journal (18), page 7 et seq. Illus. are not directly related to incidents (all b & w): two banking locomotives (Fairburn 2-6-4Ts Nos. 42192 and 42130 returning from summit to Beattock; Jubilee No. 45717 Dauntless nearing Beattock Summit with 11.10 Edinburgh to Liverpool express on 17 August 1961 (both Author) and class 5 No. 45455 passing Kirkby Stephen with up freight on 15 June 1967 (Aaln Newman).

Rutherford, Michael. Some notes on the Monmouthshire Railway & Canal Company. Part 1 (Railway Reflections No. 142). 302-10.
The demands of the South Wales coal industry and the industries based upon it, notably that of iron smelting, called for transport initially provided by canals and their associated tramroads or railroads. The Monmouthshire Canal Company received the Royal Assent on 3 June 1792. Subscribers included the Duke of Beaufort, Josiah Wedgwood, Sir Charles Morgan, Thomas Hill of Blaenavon and the Harford family of Ebbw Vale. The Act was unusual in that the canal consisted of two arms and there were six additional rail roads (tramroads) specified within the Act.  The Canal was based on what was to become Newport: one arm went to Pontnewynydd where a tramroad continued north to Blaenavon; the other went to Crumlin Bridge where tramroads went further to Nantyglo, Ebbw Vale and Beaufort. The canals contained many locks: the Pontnewynydd rose 447ft via 42 locks. There were also two tunnels. Rutherford provides a lengthy quotation from Coxe's Historical tour through Monmouthshire of 1801 to describe the construction of the tramroad near Blaenavon. Illus. relate indirectly to theme (captions tend to link locations to earlier tramroads): Abeerbeeg with 2-8-0T No. 5264 hauling freight towards Ebbw Vale in October 1962 (colour: W. Potter); SLS special powered by No. 6434 at Newport Mill Street on 12 July 1958 (T.J. Edgington); No. 5293 with train of iron ore hoppers banked by 2-8-2T No. 7218 leaving Aberbeeg for Ebbw Vale in August 1959 (colour: T.B. Owen); Manning Wardle F type (WN 1057/1888) ex No. 7 of Wantage Tramway at Cordes Ltd alongside Monmouthshire Canal on 12 July 1958 (T.J. Edgington); 2-6-2T No. 4541 with very clean B set plus colliers' clerestories at Pontypool Crane Street on 8 July 1938 (H.C. Casserley); Pontypool Blaendare Road (halt) on 26 July 1957 (R.M. Casserley); No. 5729 at Brynmawr with 06.30 from Newport on 27 July 1957; Aberbeeg engine shed in 1960 (colour: T.A. Murphy); Panteg and Griffithstown station on 26 September 1960; (R.M. Casserley); Aberbeeg station panoram with 42XX hauling freight towards Ebbw Vale, clerstory coaches and six-wheel colliers' carriages and coke wagons in sidings in late 1930s? (try Google Earth for this location which has been erased from the planet); view from Crumlin Viaduct of Crumlin Low Level in September 1962 (colour David Surcliffe); Bournville Mon Halt on 27 July 1957 (R.M. Casserley); 2-6-2T No. 5188 at Blaenavon Low Level with 10.10 from Newport on 26 September 1960 (R.M. Casserley);  9F 2-10-0 No. 92229 departing Aberbeeg with load of iron ore for Ebbw Vale with 52XX alongside in October 1962 (colour: W. Potter); Nantyglo station on 27 July 1957 (R.M. Casserley); 2021 0-6-0PT No. 2094 with load of coal being banked by ex-Barry Railway 0-6-0ST No. 720 on 1 in 17 gradient on Talywain Railways; Celynen North Halt on 20 April 1962 (R.M. Casserley). .

Rees, Philip. Brunel's railway in West Wales. 311.
Terminus of the broad gauge South Wales Railway at Neyland which was originally known as Milford Haven, then New Milford, and finally Neyland. This station was Beechingized in 1964 and subsequently redeveloped. A statue of Brunel was unveiled by the Prince of Wales on 23 July 1999 at Neyland. Illus.: statue in Brunel Park and the once extensive terminal facilities at Neyland, including locomotive depot, on 3 March 1926.

Smith, Michael J. Stop! — Proceed — with Caution; the story of five collisions on London's Underground. Part 1. 312-16.
The first accident to be considered took place between Northwood Hills and Northwood at 09.12 on 31 December 1945 when the electric locomotive-hauled (No. 19 John Wycliffe: KPJ probably not named at time of accident) hauling the six-coach 08.36 Baker Street to Aylesbury ran into the rear of the T class multiple unit on the 08.10 Aldgate to Watford. Three passengers died from the effects of fumes from the electrical fire and the locomotive was scrapped. The accident was caused by the excessive speed of the colliding train and the inspector, Col. Wilson, criticised the lack of short-circuiting bars on surface stock. The next accident was very serious and occurred at 18.56 on 8 April 1953 when two Central Line trains collided on the eastbound side of Stratford station where the line descended into tunnel from the surface. Twelve passengers died due to the failure of the old rolling stock to withstand severe collisions. Col. McMullen considered that the primary cause was excessive speed, but also criticised the inexperienced platform staff. Concluding part page 346. See also letter from A.J. Robertson (page 509) who lists three further incidents.

Readers' forum. 317.
London Transport steam. Editor
See colour photo-feature on page 232 et seq where caption to L53 alleges that 0-6-0ST is an 0-4-0ST and that caption relating to L48 should have related to L49 which was clearly fitted with Westinghouse brake.
London Transport steam. Michael J. Smith.
See colour photo-feature on page 232 et seq where caption to L48 implies that electrification to Uxbridge in 1905 brought a changeover from electric to steam locomotives to other services at Harrow-on-the-Hill: this did not occur until 21 June 1908 when the station had been rebuilt. Further extension of electric working to Rickmansworth took place on 5 January 1925.
Sonning Cutting. Michael R. Bailey.
See article page 141 et seq: notes how William Rowland was a contractor on these works, was killed whilst performing preparatory work for the Wharncliffe Viaduct, that his son Rowland took over and later founded the Brotherhood Works in Chippenham.
Labour stronghold in the North East. Colin Ryder.
See feature on page 156 et seq of Q6 No. 63395 propelling wagons over at Ferryhill: notes that locomotive had been propelling for over a half a mile: the train was mineral empties from Teesside to Thrislington Colliery.
The North Cornwall Line. Roger Merry-Price.
See feature on page 148 et seq: steam remained on North Cornwall and Bude lines until January 1965.
Letter from the Somme. Nick Ridge.
See article on page 220 et seq (illus. p. 223): argues that bullhead rail was used in France and that Robinson 2-8-0 is accopmpanied by French rolling stock
'Export or die!' L.A. Summers.
Writer attacks Rutherford series (see pp. 52, 100, 174 and 238) for implying that diesel traction (notably shunters see page 270 this issue) brought "considerable savings" and Riddles failed to develop steam traction. See response to this letter from Kevin P. Jones on p. 379.
Through the Chilterns. Gerald Goodall.
See colour photo-feature page 224 and its captions: photograph of alleged 17.10 hauled by King class with Southern utility van at front (queries such a vehicle at head of premier express); No. 1455 at Princes Risborough (but arrived from High Wycombe?, more probably Banbury); special passing Denham Golf Club leads to observations on other golfing halts, notably Golf Club House Halt on the Tillynaught to Banff branch; Seer Green was formerly Beaconsfield Golf Links (KPJ: sounds very Betjemanesque) and more information about Cup Final specials in the days when trains ran on Saturdays: there is a bouquet for Chiltern Railways (withdrawn on Saturdays?)

Book reviews. 318.
Iron road: the railway in Scotland. P.J.G. Ransom. Birlinn. AJM ****
"At last! A Scottish publisher has produced a coffee-table book about railways north of the Border, and has asked a recognised Scottish expert to write it. Iron Road is a sumtuous 334-page volume in landscape format... There is a comprehensive bibliography and a strong index. Recommended.", but the full review does list several lapses, both in fact and in interpretation.
Swindon engineman. Gordon Shurmer and Mike Fenton. Wild Swan. MJS ****
Based on taped conversations of Gordon Shumer made by Mike Fenton. Shurmer spent his working life at Swindon locomotive shed; the personal memories extend back to the 1920s.
Lost railways of Devon. Stan Yorke. Countryside. DT ****
"Overall the text is well researched (but the bibliography only mentions eight sources: earier in review) and very readable... excellent value"
The North & West Route: Vol. 1. Shrewsbury. John Hodge. Wild Swan. MJS ***

Stourton services. R.J. Essery. rear cover
8F No. 48394 being fuelled via coal tubs and primitive hoist on 8 July 1964.


Number 6 (June)

BR 9F 2-10-0 No.92099 blasts through South Pelaw with coal hoppers for the Consett steelworks in July 1966. (J. G. Dewing/Colour-Rail BRE148). Front cover

What did Midland drivers think of the LNWR 0-8-0s? or how to write a washing bill in Babylonic cuneiform? Look it up in an index! Michael Blakemore. 323.
Editorial which combines a childhood fondness for the index to Encyclopædia Britannica which is still sometimes used to assist with some of the bluer text in Backtrack and a welcome to the digital version of Railway Observer from the RCTS.

A day at Charwelton. Tommy Tomalin (phot.). 324-5.
Colour photo-feature of traffic on Great Central main line on 25 May 1963 (Cup Final Day when Leicester City was defeated by a club from Manchester): Jubilee No, 45622 Nyasaland on the 07.15 special from Leicester Central; Class 5 No. 45334 on 08.10 from Loughborough Central; 9F No. 92095 with up coal train; Jubilee No. 45561 Saskatchewan on parcels train passing Charwelton signal box; class 5 No. 45342 on 09.35 Leicester Central to Wembley Hill special.

Grayer, Jeffery. The Slow Train [Flanders and Swann song]. 326-9.
Actor and singer Michael Flanders (1922-1975) and pianist and composer Donald Swann (1923-1994) formed a well-known revue act between 1956 and 1967 and wrote over eighty comic songs, one of which paralleled the title of the article and was based on a litany of the names of railway stations many, but not all, were slaughtered by Beeching. The lyrics are quoted in full and begin with "Miller's Dale for Tideswell" and end with "Windmill End".  The complete litany is subjected to "rivet-counting scrutiny" and the majority pass muster. Closure dates are noted, but some survive: Ambergate, Chester-le-Street, Formby, Gorton, Selby and Goole, and the complete St. Ives branch (in Cornwall) have escaped so far. The only errors were attributable to The Grauniad or through poetic licence. On page 328 it is stated that all the stations mentioned were in England, but Don Rees (page 445) observes that Four Crosses and Buttington are in Wales..

Summers, L.A. The Wantage Tramway – and the facts in the case of 'Jane Shannon'. 330-6.
The Wantage Tramway was incorporated on 10 November 1873 and opened on 11 October 1875. Passenger traffic was worked by horse-drawn trams supplied by Starbuck of Birkenhead. From 1 August 1876 traffic began to be handled by a Grantham open-top steam tramcar powered by two Merryweather vertical boilers (normally termed Field boilers). These were replaced by a single Shand Mason horizontal boiler. Hughes tramway locomotives were next evaluated: the first was tried in 1876, but was returned as not being satisfactory, a second trial in 1877 with a locomotive from the same firm was successful and this led to its purchase in September 1877.In 1878 a request was made to Crewe for a locomotive and F.W. Webb offered an 0-4-0WT which had been built by George England in 1857 for the Sandy & Potton Tramway. It was named Shannon (after HMS Shannon which was commanded by Captain William Peel). The LNWR used the locomotive for a time on the Cromford & High Park Railway, but was shunting at Crewe before being sold to the Wantage Tramway. It received new cylinders and was repaired at Swindon more than once. It acquired the semi-official name Jane on the tramway, but when preserved by the GWR in 1947 it received the name Shannon again and placed on display at Wantage Road station. A Manning Wardle F type 0-4-0ST (WN 1057/1880) was acquired in 1893: it had worked on constructing the Manchester Ship Canal. No. 6 was another tram locomotive and was constructed to a James Matthew patent. The Matthews locomotyive was reboilered at Swindon in 1909 and received a new firebox in 1922. Sometime the Company evaluated the Mékarski compressed air system which demanded an expenditure of £2000 on a compressor plant at Wantage, but it was not successful as the locomotives could not cope with the 1 in 47 gradient. In 1910 No. 1329 was purchased from the GWR: this was another oddity having been a broad gauge locomotive on the South Devon Railway (Raven), but converted to the standard gauge in 1892. Furthermore, it was the sole outside cylinder broad gauge locomotive: an 0-4-0ST. It was not successful and was cut-up in 1919...

Brooks, Michael. Britain's railways in North America. Part 1. The London & North Western Railway. 337-9.
Backtrack has included several items on the LNWR's provision of services to attract passenger traffic in connection with Trans-Atlantic sailings from and to Liverpool. These included the opening of Liverpool Riverside on 12 June 1895 (see 13 page 148). This article is mainly concerned with the establishment of an office in New York and the production of publicity material for use in that office and on the luxury liners: some of this promotional material is shown in colour. Despite the loss of much of the liner trade to Southampton the New York office was maintained by the LMS until 1933 when a "British Railways" office was opened to serve the "Big Four". See also highly informative letter from James Evans on page 445 concerning this office as operating in the early 1960s. See also promotional postcards for this traffic in Volume 19 page 378.

Nisbet, Alistair F. Auchtermuchty and the Fife & Kinross Railway. Part 1. 340-5.
Captain Tyler inspected the section from Ladybank to Strathmiglo on 1 June 1857; the section on to Milnathort on 4 March 1858, and thence to Kinross on 20 August 1858. The Kinross-shire Railway was incorporated on 10 August 1857 and opened on 20 June 1860. The two railways cooperated fully. The Devon Valley Railway was a further entrant into Kinross. Ladybank station is a Grade A listed structure. Part 2 see page 420..

Smith, Michael J. Stop! — Proceed — with Caution; the story of five collisions on London's Underground. Part 2. 346-9.
Part 1 began on page 312. Further accidents at Victoria (District Line) on 22 November 1962 (see page 443 as omitted by accident), Edgware Road (Bakerloo Line) on 26 January 1972 and Leyton (Central Line) on 17 January 1979 led Major A.J.B. King to analyse all accidents of this type: five were on left-hand curves (driver position on left); five on falling gradients; in five cases the driver of the colliding train had been warned of signal failure; in three cases the motorman had been only recently qualified to drive. See also letter from A.J. Robertson (page 509) who lists three further incidents..

The North Eastern B16 4-6-0s. 350-1.
Colour photo-feature: No. 61443 at York (Derek Penney); B16/3 No. 61444 ex-Works at Doncaster in October 1961 (B. Metcalfe); No. 61456 (boiler unlined) alongside Q6 No. 63448 at Selby shed in March 1959 (D.H. Beecroft); No. 61447 ex-Works at Darlington in September 1954 (I. Davidson) and B16/3 No. 61464 at south end of York station in 1951 (Derek Penney). Caption refers to inside cylinders: it was the Stephenson link motion which was inside with two outside and a third inside cylinder: see Editor's letter on page 445. See also letter from G. Morris on page 637 who comments that the white painted rods on No. 61447 were intended to show cracks

Consett performances [9F class from Tyne Dock]. David Idle (phot. unless specified otherwise). 352-4.
Colour photo-feature: No. 92097 at Tyne Dock with train of bogie hopper wagons under iron ore bunkers on 22 August 1965 (also overall view of Tyne Dock howing ship and huge iron ore bunkers in background); No. 92097 climbing away from Tyne Dock on 17.20 to Consett on same day, and in evening of same day locomotive positioned on discharge bunkers at Consett (two views); No. 92098 at Tyne Dock bunkers on 4 May 1963 (Colour-Rail) and No. 92063 hauling loaded train and banked by No. 92097 on 1 in 49 gradient near Beamish on 24 May 1960 (J.P. Mullett).

Andrews, David. Steam locomotive design in the eye of the shareholder. 355-9.
Very interesting analysis of locomotive engineering using recent business management techniques, namely the Voice of the Customer and the Voice of the Business taken from the Six Sigma business management technique (Six Sigma was originally developed as a set of practices designed to improve manufacturing processes and eliminate defects, but its application was subsequently extended to other types of business processes as well In Six Sigma, a defect is defined as anything that could lead to customer dissatisfaction The particulars of the methodology were first formulated by Bill Smith at Motorola in 1986 Wikipedia). In Andrews' analysis Bulleid's work emerges as abject failures and Collett's ultra-conseravtive policy emerges as a success. The 48XX/14XX is considered as an engineering triumph. whereas few would deny that the Leader class was an unmitigated failure, and even Kevin Jones (letter p. 379) questions why British Railways was so slow to tackle the problem of the Bulleid Pacifics. It is argued that all highly innovatory work should be based upon a thorough examination of a single prototype, as exemplified by Churchward's cautious initial approach, although he does commend Collett for the Castles (and more questionably the Kings) and Gresley for the A4s where existing designs were stretched to meet more demanding conditions. Even the Collett Dukedogs are commended. Illus. (all black & white): A4 2512 Silver Fox on Silver Jubilee; Bulleid 21C152 Lord Dowding; Star class No. 4017 Knight of the Black Eagle; No. 6200 The Princess Royal on Camden shed in 1934; No. 6224 Princess Alice on Coronation Scot at Clifton & Lowther in 1939 (Eric Treacy); 517 class 0-4-2T No. 1473 Fair Rosamund at Oxford; No. 1426 on Chalfont auto-train running at speed; LBSCR 0-4-2 No. 274 Gladstone..

Wells, Jeffrey. 'Actively Engaged in Public Service'. 360-6.
Based mainly on contemporary material contained in The Railway Gazette and a paper by Sir John Elliot in The Journal of Transport History examines the momentous first few years of the Southern Railway under the eventual management of Sir Herbert Walker, under the Chairman Baring, and with the assistance of the Chief Operating Superintendent E.C. Cox and the involvement of John Elliot as public relationship officer from January 1925. Maunsell, Walker, Baring and Cox are identified by the caption writer in a photograph taken at Ashford in March 1926. (KPJ: suspect Holcroft in light-coloured Gaberdine with banker Drummond in front?). This period included the decision to standardise on the third rail system, to complete the outstanding work on the LBSCR  high voltage system to Coulsdon and Sutton, and to electrify the South Eastern inner-suburban section immediately. In spite of all this activity examination of correspondence in The Times mainly from disgusted first-class passengers. This led to a meeting between the SR Chairman Everard Baring and the Sussex MPs led by Sir George Lloyd, MP for Eastbourne on 1 January 1925 (the change in English working habits should be noted). Baring promised 22 new express passenger engines, 14 mixed traffic engines to be rebuilt as express engines, plus 35 new mixed traffic engines by 1 July. E.C. Cox addressed journalists on 16 June 1925 with details of summer traffic arrangements. One cause of passenger discontent was that the introduction of regular interval services upset some who lost their favourite trains. Feature concludes with some up-beat stories, including one on 27 July 1927 when the heaviest boat train (440 tons, exclusive of passengers and luggage) was worked from Victoria to Dover on schedule. Illus.: Dartford station on 8 June 1926 with EMU; Blackheath station in 1926 with EMU; portrait of J.B. Elliot; handbills: 91 New Engines This Summer (King Arthur class and new summer timetable trains); Making Ready for July (electrification to Orpington, Guildford and Dorking); posters of rolling stock; .  

'Cromptons' to Cardiff. Tom Heavyside (phot.). 367
Colour photo-feature: 33 039 at Manchester Piccadilly on 13.45 to Cardiff on 20 February 1986; 33 032 at Crewe with 16.00 to Cardiff on 18 June 1984, and 33 008 Eastleigh at Stockport with 15.48 Manchester to Cardiff on 12 September 1985.

Rutherford, Michael. Some notes on the Monmouthshire Railway & Canal Company. Part 2 (Railway Reflections No. 143). 368-78.
Period covering transformation from tramway to railway. E.S. Barber was the Company's Engineer until 1848, when he was replaced by Henry Colson. Barber had devised a new tramplate and wheel that could be used on both trams and edge rails.  Colson was sacked, but not before being involved in the specification for the first locomotive supplied by Grylls of Llanelly. As the Company intended to operate passenger services Captain J.L. Simmons of the Royal Engineers was sent by the Board of Trade to inspect the Monmouthshire lines as well as the Taff Vale Railway: he did not lke what he saw in Monmouthshire and recommended reconstruction to be like the Taff Vale. Simmons was highly critical of the high accident rate on the tramway lines which included injuries to children. Two further Monmouthshire Chief Engineers were David Jones (who left in 1853 to join the Monmouthshire Wagon Co.) and Robert Sayer. William Craig was appointed Locomotive Superintendent at £400 per annum (he had come from Neath Abbey). The Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway included the mighty Crumlin Viaduct. The engineer for this was Charles Liddell and Thomas?? Kennard was the contractor using wrought iron supplied by the Blaenavon Ironworks. The locomotive stock: Nos. 2-5 were outside cylinder 0-6-0s supplied by Neath Abbey in 1848: they were: sold to local collieries before GWR takeover: Nos. 6-8 were double frame 0-6-0s supplied by Stothert & Slaughter in 1849 (became GWR 0-6-0ST 1315-17); Nos. 9-10 were 2-4-0WT with outside cylinders supplied by Sharp (GWR 1301-2); Nos. 12-13 were 0-6-0s with double frames from Sharp (GWR 1311-12). Illus.: 2-8-0T No. 5282 running bunker-first with coal train at Crumlin Low Level in September 1962 (David Sutcliffe, colour); ..

Readers' Forum. 379
The bombing of Britain's railways. John W.E. Helm
See both the Author's original articles (in Volume 21, notably p. 456 et seq) and the correspondence generated thereon by Amyas Crump and Richard West concerning damage to Great Western locomotives. RAIL 254/114 (National Archive) GW Engines Damaged by Hostile Aircraft (Swindon 6 March 1946) lists 69 incidents. Also suggests RAIL 245/161 War Diary, Engine Records, 1939-45 (but Helm had not inspected this). There is also a correction to general date concerning the start of strategic bombing by the RAF upon Germany: 15/16 May 1940, not March as stated.
Letter from the Somme. Niall Ferguson
See article by A.J. Mullay on page 220 et seq, and especially its illustrations: ROD 2717  (a Kirtley MR 0-6-0) was the sole British locomotive captured by the Germans during WW1 and happened during the British advance upon Cambrai in October 1917. Also comments upon the caption to illustration of LBSCR E4 0-6-2T No. 562 and the description of its livery as "dull khaki", but seeks official definition of livery employed during WW1 for ROD locomotives.
In the land of the Mountain and the Flood. Editor
See feature on page 288: caption suggests that C15 class were 4-4-4Ts (in which case they would have been H15!!):
In the land of the Mountain and the Flood. John Macnab
See feature on page 288: noted the unusual nature of the coaching stock used to form the push-pull units used on Craigendoran to Arrochar services, the C15 members modified for push-pull working, and the underground storage of munitions in Glen Douglas.
Sonning Cutting. Paul Joyce
See feature by letter writer on page 141 et seq and response to one of the illustrations from Vivian Orchard (p. 253) concerning the direction from which photograph taken: writer agrees with correspondent.
Export or die! Kevin P, Jones
See letter from L.A. Summers on p. 317 who implied that diesel shunters may have been a waste of money and p. 270 of same Issue wherein it is obvious that diesel shunters were already highly economic, and sought after even during WW2 when liquid fuel was in short supply. Thus the GWR orders for the 94XX steam shunters were especiallly perverse. The BR Standard classes only led to greater diversity: the very similar LMS and BR class 2 2-6-0s could not share tenders; notes Michael Duffy's Technomorphology and the Stephenson traction system (Trans Newcomen Soc., 1982, 54, 55) wherein Bulleid and Riddles are both castigated for not switching away from steam. The Western Region diesel Class 14 is also condemned for being a diesel pannier tank intended for use in worn-out coalfields in places like the Forest of Dean. The long delay in implementing electric traction on suburban services into Liverpool Street and King's Cross is condemned, and the failure to evaluate the vastly superior Merseyside EMUs on the Southern Region, or even out of Euston and Broad Street, is also queried, especially in view of the many slam-door accidents..
Railway history and the GER. Michael J. Smith
See article beginning p. 280 and especially photograph thereon: locomotive in siding with destination stating "Loop via Ilford" should have been "Fairlop via Ilford".:
Mitre Bridge Junction. Mike Morley
See feature on page 284 et seq: details of more fun & games at this location: electric locomotives could overrun rhe catenary and remain stranded causing chaos and Ferrous Fragmenters suffered from frequent fires and the Fire Brigade liked to run their hoses across the tracks..

Rolling Stock Focus: Push-pull on the Southern Region. Mike King (captions). 380-1.
Colour photo-feature: all Colour-Rail: set No. 660 in carmine livery formed from ex-SECR birdcage stock in 1942 (non-driving trailer included very comfortable first class saloon) at Crowhurst on 12 April 1958 with service for Bexhill West; set No. 600 (formed from Maunsell corridor stock in green livery) leaving Rowfant behind H class tank on 11.27 Three Bridges to East Grinstead on 19 August 1962; set No. 482 (formed from ex-SECR steam railcars/railmotors and in crimson livery) at Dunton Green on Westerham service stated to be in January 1958 (but clearly not as trees in full summer foliage!!); set No. 37 (formed of ex-SECR driving brake composite and ex-LBSCR trailer third in carmine livery) with H class No. 31519 at Sevenoaks on 17 April 1960; set No. 384 (ex-LSWR Ironclad in carmine livery) plus ex-SECR strenthening vehilce with M7 No. 30480 leaving Brockenhurst for Lymington in September 1960, and set No. 613 (Muansell stock in green livery with yellow first class cantrail marking) being propelled by M7 towards Lymington Junction with train for Lymington in May 1963. The pictures of the Three Bridges to East Grinstead service prompted Nick Watson (p. 572) to record his observations made between 1957 and 1960 when he noted the family saloon in use and that two sets were combined on the 18.10 service from Three Bridges which was banked by a class 4 2-6-4T .

Book Reviews. 382
The Alnwick & Cornhill Railway. John Addyman and John Mallon. NERA. GBS *****
"evocative and somewhat sad account of high hopes and bitter reality"
Lost railways of South & West Yorkshire. Gordon Suggitt. Countryside Books. DJ **
"sound historical text", but the "real turn-off remains the old-fashioned appearnace which extends to the layout and the unneccessarilly small size of many of the 100-plus photographs."
Lost railways of Derbyshire. Geoffrey Kingscott. Countryside Books. DWM **
"not enough detail to make the book a really useful field guide". Notes some specfic errors as well as failure in overall strategy which gives insufficient coverage of the "really lost lines – the Great Central, the LDEC, the complex lines serving Heanor, Ilkeston and Ripley..."
LMS Locomotive Profiles. No. 10 – The standard class 4
Pictorial Supplement to LMS Profile No. 10.
David Hunt, John Jennison, Bob Essery and Fred James. Wild Swan. MJS ***
"In the space available in this review it is impossible to do real justice to the sheer volume and depth of detail on hand with the text", but why only three stars?
GWR goods services. Part 2A. Tony Atkins. Wild Swan.
"This is a detailed look at the largely unseen side of railway operations."

Outpost in the Fells. J.S. Gilks. rear cover
Class 47 in red livery light engine near Grayrigg (Docker Viaduct visible) with red rural postbox on 20 March 1995.

Number 7 (July)

GWR '2251' Class 0-6-0 No.2263 calls at Tenby with a Shrewsbury-Pembroke Dock train in August 1958 – cloudless blue skies for the start of the holiday. M.S. Welch. front cover

Railway heroes: a guest editorial. Jeffrey Wells. 387.
Written around the recent heroism of Driver Iain Black who remained at his post following the derailment of a Pendolino train at Grayrigg on 23 February 2007 (Wikipedia date) and was commended for his bravery by Sir Richard Branson. Other acts of heroism considered include that of Driver William Wallwork who remained on the footplate when his train "missed the points" at Crow's Nest Junction and flew into some occupied sidings; Driver John Axon, who on 9 February 1957 stayed on his locomotive after the brakes failed on a down gradient at Chapel-en-le-Frith; Shunter Norman Tunna of the GWR at Birkenhead who moved burning wagons containing high explosives during a WW2 air raid; and James Kennedy, a security officer at British Rail Engineering, who paid for his life by attempting to stop a pay-roll robbery on 21 December 1973. Another kind of heroism was provided by Charles Dickens who came to the assistance of the wounded following the Shorncliffe accident on 9 June 1865. (dates where missing obtained from Wikipedia).

North East Coast and Hills. Geoffrey Skelsey (phot.). 388-9.
Colour photo-feature with excellent extended captions. Selby station with DMU for York in 1977; Hawthorn Dene with DMU and Durham Coast behind in early 1981; Hull Paragon station with class 124 Trans-Pennine DMU (still with wrap-rond windscreen) and Craven DMU in 1977; Saltburn station with Zetland Hotel behind and DMU in 1977; Grosmont station with Metro-Cammell DMU on 12.11 Whitby to Middlebrough in 1977; Hartlepool station with DMU in 1981 (also shows analogue station clock and fine ironwork).

Hennessey, R.A.S. 'Sparks' – the electrical consultants. Part 1. The groundbreakers. 390-6.
Sharp pen portraits of the Hopkinson brothers (John and Edward). John Hopkinson was a brilliant mathematician, an FRS, and holder of forty patents. In association with Mather & Platt he worked on the Giant's Causeway Tramway which used a third rail for the current: Hopkinson conducted experiments to find a suitable insulating material and this led to moulded pocelain insulators. Edward was associated with the Bessbrook & Newry Tramway which also employed a centre third rail, but employed a short section of overhead where the line crossed a public road. This led to John inventing the Hopkinson bow collector, subsequently used on the Snaefell Mountain Railway and Manx Electric Railway: it is still employed on the former, but the latter opted for trolley poles for current collection. Both brothers were involved in the electric works for the City & South London Railway (Hennessey notes that C.E. Spagnoletti was also involved in this project) . These works included Edison-Hopkinson dynamos which generated 500Vdc, and the Mather & Platt motors for the 14 Beyer Peacock locomotives. John Hopkinson was involved with municipal tramways in Leeds and Liverpool. Edward eventually became vice chairman of Mather & Platt and was involved with the Blackpool & Fleetwood Tramroad in 1897. Hennessey notes that the names tend to be confused in most literature, but both considered that "if it ran on rails and was driven by electric power it was electric traction. Ulster features in two early electric traction systems, but down in the South in Cork in 1889 a Conversazione organized by the Christian Brothers another influential scheme was developed. This was a 2ft gauge exhibition line which was developed to demonstrate electric traction. It was created by the Rev. Brother Dominic Burke with the assistance of Gerald Percival. This line was successful in that the Cork municipal engineer was instructed to investigate electric light and traction in the city and this brought Charles Merz who was to become a major player in electric traction into the picture as a consultant for the Cork electric tramways where he showed that by diversity between lighting and traction rhe magnitude of the total load would be reduced. This led to the North East Coast grid and to electrification of the North Tyneside lines of the North Eastern Railway, and to the Shildon to Newport electrification..Both these lines used electricity supplied by NESCO (Newcastle upon Tyne Electric Supply Co.) or its subsidiariary. In Cork he had met William McClellan who became his partner in the a firm of consulting engineers formed in 1902. The North Eastern Railway electrification works brought Merz into contact with Vincent Raven and both had hoped to electrify the York to Newcastle main line, but this was vetoed by the cautious Butterworth. Thomas Tait, Chairman of Commissioners, Victoria Railways in Australia contacted Merz with a view to electrifying Melbourne's suburban railway system. The first report envisaged an 800V dc third rail system, but a second report advocated overhead electrification at 1500V dc. An attempt was made to minimize overall costs: the electric trains served oil-lit stations. Manual signalling was retained and the sliding doors fitted to the rolling stock were hand operated. Subsequently, Merz and McClellan were involved in suburban electrification in Buenos Aires and main line and suburban electrification in New Zealand (Christchurch to Lyttleton in 1929), South Africa and India (suburban Mumbai/Bombay and the severely graded main line to Igatpuri and Poona up the Ghats). G.B. Gill acted on behalf of the Partnership in India, Francis Lydall (portrait) in South Africa and C.H. Lydall in Argentina. The National Grid was formed between 1926 and 1933. The Central Electricity Board co-ordinated electricity generating policy. The Weir Committee (formed of Lord Weir, Wedgwood and Sir William McLintock) incorporated two case studies: the Great Northern mainline to Leeds and Doncaster (which was estimated to produce a 7% return) and the LNWR line from Crewe to Carlisle which only yielded a 2.5% return (a map from the latter is reproduced). There is an extensive critique of a late Merz project: the GWR 1938 proposal to electrify from Taunton to Penzance. It is suggested that this was mainly a bluff to persuade the coal owners to lower their prices. It is argued that part electrifications tend to lead to poor returns, and that the Manchester-Wath-Sheffield electrification failed from this factor. Part 2 see page 564 et seq. See also letter from Andrew Wilson (p. 509) who disputes that the selection of 3kV rather than 1.5kV for the proposed Taunton to Penzance electrification was an example of GWR "wish to be different", but was due to the lightness of the traffic and an attempt to reduce costs: Wilson was surprised that the GWR did not consider diesel-electric locomotives...

A Midland electric Centenary. Gavin Morrison (phot.). 397.
Colour photo-feature: Lancaster-Morecambe-Heysham: trains at Morecambe Promenade station, crossing the River Lune, and at Scale Hall all taken on 9 October 1965. See also letter from David Cordingley on p. 572 who notes that Scale Hall station had a very short life, he also notes that several types of mast, including some wooden ones, were used to support the catenary..

Alexander, David. Attilio Franco, Piero Crosti and locomotive preheaters. 398-405.
A short introduction includes a brief mention of the 53 B12 (GER 1500 class) 4-6-0s equipped with ACFI feed wter heaters under Gresley and the modification of this apparatus to be fitted within the restricted space available on No. 2001 Cock o' the North (excellent illus. clearly shows this equipment). Then outlines the lives and development processes of Attilio Franco and Piero Crosti who succeeded him. The former had begun as an automobile engineer, but turned to the development of preheater boilers in the 1920s. Sadly, some of the more interesting early projects, notably the Tubize Franco articulated locomotive and the application to the cab-in-front Class 672 of the Italian State Railways are not illustrated. The former, an 0-6-2+2-4-2-4-2+2-6-0 with two fireboxes and eight cylinders is illustrated in W. Cyril Williams' Modern articulated steam locomotives.. J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1933, 23, 85 (Paper No. 299) in Figs. 56 and 57 (former is out of sequence). On test very low exhaust temperatures were achieved. The later applications of preheater boilers to the Italian 625, 685 and 740 classes is both described in detail and illustrated. A total of 227 locomotives on the Ferrovie dello Stato were fitted with Frnaco-Crosti boilers. In Italy the system enjoyed two advantages: coal was expensive and the locomotive stock was relatively old and inefficient. The system was also evaluated in Germany where over 30 BR50 Deutsche Bundesbahn 2-10-0s were modified. Coal savings of 15% were achieved but corrosion was severe in the preheater drums. This probably influenced the decision to fit ten BR 9F with Franco-Crosti boilers. The experiment was unsuccessful due to corrosion and to the difficulty of the exhaust entering the cab which made working conditions intolerable and made signal sighting hazardous. Some of the other systems briefly mentioned in the article, but not in the precis were subject to correction by Peter Swift (letter p. 572)...

Flann, John L. The Weymouth Harbour Tramway. 406-12.
The Wilts, Somerset & Weymouth Railway was promoted to serve Weymouth, but the powers were taken over by the GWR in 1850 and the destination was reached in 1857 over mixed gauge (to accommodate the LSWR) from Dorchester. The GWR acquired a shareholding in the Weymouth & Channel Island Steam Packet Co in 1857 and obtained an Act to enable it to reach Weymouth Quay in 1864: the line opened on 16 October 1865 and was worked by horses for freight. The Tramway was converted to standard gauge in 1874. Much of the freight carried was Jersey potatoes. Trials were conducted with steam in 1878 and powers were obtained in 1880. These limited speed to 4 mile/h. In 1888 the Steam Packet Company experienced financial difficulties and services were taken over by the GWR. Passenger trains were worked over the tramway from 1889 and gradually improvements were made to ease operation: the track was lowered under Town Bridge, the quays were strengthened and curves were eased, but freight shifted to road and passenger sailings ceased in 1887. Latterly traffic could be handled by Class 33 diesel electric locomotives. Prior to this special motive power had prevailed beginning with two former Bristol & Exeter Railway 0-6-0Ts which had been built for the Culm Valley Railway in 1874: these were numbered 1376 and 1377. Former Burry Port & Gwedraeth Valley Railway 0-6-0STs Nos. 2194 Kidwelly and 2195 Cwm Mawr displaced these in 1927. These were joined by ex-Cardigan & Whitland Railway No. 1331, but this was replaced by 1366 class 0-6-0PT No. 1367 in 1935. Illus.: D2397 on freight on quayside on 22 September 1962 (J.S. Gilks, colour); No. 1376 with four clerestory carriages on quayside; 57XX No. 3759 with vans at Weymouth Quay station on 11 July 1960 (J.S. Gilks, colour); 2195 Cwm Mawr on freight c1927; No. 2194 Kidwelly on passenger train passing Portland Railway Hotel c1927; No. 1368 on quayside in September 1957 (2 illus.: T.G. Hepburn); D33 114 on 09.55 Waterloo to Weymouth Quay in Commercial Road and later returning along quayside on 14 September 1974 (T.J. Edginton: colour); No. 1367 on down boat train on quayside in September 1957 (T.G. Hepburn); Nos. 1369 and 1368 on trains for Waterloo at Weymouth Quay station and former working along quay on 30 September 1961 (Gavin Morrison); 41298 on LCGB special on 3 July 1966 (Gavin Morrison). See also letter from Andrew Kleissner on page 572 who noted that the Weymouth boat trains were hauled by class 74 electro-diesel locomotives between Waterloo and Bournemouth in the early 1970s...

To Scarborough by the sea. 413-15.
Colour photo-feature:B16 No. 61447 shunting passenger stock on 29 June 1959 (Ken Fairey); 82026 with express headlamps (shunting??) in August 1961 see letter on page 509 from David Stewart-David who states that 82026 was shunting; D49/2 No. 258 The Cattistock and C7 No. 706 (both in pre-WW2 apple green) in Gasworks Carriage Sidings in August 1938; 4P compound No. 1048 (LMS crimson lake) at same location and date as previous; preserved K4 No. 3442 The Great Marquess and K1 No. 62005 in Londesborough Road patform on 6 March 1965 on railtor of coast route to Whitby (Alan Tyson); D49/2 No. 62739 The Badsworth (very dirty) on expresss working in September 1960; A5/2 No. 69835 on shed in June 1957 (W. Oliver); B1 No. 61319 on return excursion passing Falsgrave signal box. 

At Eastleigh Works. Roy Hobbs (phot.). 416-19.
Colour photo-feature: 34102 Lapford with most of casing removed, 34109 Bideford, 34033 Chard (all unrebuilt form) and 41284 on 18 August 1963; rebuilt West Country No. 34037 Clovelly in immediate ex-works condition on 16 August 1964; U class No. 31621 on 18 May 1963; A1X Terrier No. 32678 being prepared for service as static exhibit at Butlin's Minehead as No. 78 Knowle (but still looking very naked) on 9 May 1964; BR Class 4 2-6-0 76059 on 18 August 1963; 34019 Bideford in ex-works condition in October 1964; BR class 4 4-6-0 No. 75016 in fully lined green livery at Works open day on 16 August 1984 (electric locomotive No. 20002 also partly visible; No. 926 Repton in pink undercoat being made ready for preservation in North America in September 1966.:

Nisbet, Alistair F. Auchtermuchty and the Fife & Kinross Railway. Part 2. 420-5.
Part 1 see page 340 et seq. Motive power was mainly of the former NBR types, although the LNER introduced Sentinel steam railcars including No. 310 Prince Regent and No. 314 Queen of Beauty and Tweedside. Following the withdrawal of the railcars passenger services were worked by the C15 class. Freight was mainly worked by J36 or J37 0-6-0s. Signalling is described. The line was blocked by snow several times and four Gresley 0-6-0s (classes J38 and J39) were derailed at a snowploughing incident at Mawcarse on 17 March 1947 (illustrated). Driver Peter H. Robertson was killed when his locomotive was derailed during permanent way repairs near Strathmiglo on 27 November 1949. A bridge over the railway collapsed under the weight of an articulated lorry carrying a mechanical digger: one man was trapped and died. In February 1952 several farm workers were injured, and one was killed, when their tractor and trailer were hit by a freight train at Gospetry Farm near Milnathort in fog. Passenger services were withdrawn from 5 June 1950 and all services ended on 5 January 1970. Illus.: C15 No. 7453 at Ladybank on 25 July 1948 (J.L. Stevenson); Strathmiglo station on 17 June 1960 (W.S. Sellar); Auchetrmuchty station 1960; Ladybank station; preserved NBR 4-4-0 No. 256 Glen Douglas at Mawcarse Junction on Scottish Rambler railtour on 17 June 1960 (W.A.C. Smith) and at Auchetrmuchty on 13 April 1963.

The GWR '2251' Class 0-6-0s. 426-7
Colour photo-feature: No. 2206 at Caerphilly Works in fully-lined green livery in ex-Works condition in March 1962 (J.M. Wiltshire); No. 2210 (in plain green) as assisting engine inside No. 7915 Mere Hall south of Earlswood station on 25 August 1962 (Michael Mensing); No. 2219 in fully-lined green livery at Bath Green Park mpd on 11 February 1962 (Hugh Ballantyne); No. 2286 in fully-lined green livery on freight at Portmadoc in June 1961 (Douglas Tritton), and No. 2221 in very dirty condition at Lechlade on 8 June 1962 on 16.26 Oxford to Fairford passenger train (Hugh Ballantyne). 

Johnson, E.M. Chorlton Junction – meeting point of the Midland and Great Central lines into Manchester. Part One. 428-33.
Chorlton Junction came into existence as an indirect consequence of the Midland Railway's attempts to improve its access to Manchester. Initially, from 1867 access was provided to Manchester London Road via the Manchester Sheffield & LIncolnshire Railway (MSLR) at Hyde Junction. This was improved via a joint MSLR/MR line from Romiley Junction to Ashbury's East Junction via Reddich and Belle Vue from 1875. The MR had a large goods depot at Ancoats. Space was limited at Manchester London Road. In 1873 an Act was obtained for a railway to link Alderley with Throstle Nest Junction on the Cheshire Lines Committee. This was initially envisaged as a CLC joint line, but the GNR was not interested at that time, and subsequently the MSLR withdrew leaving the South District Railway to be built by the Midland. The powers to Alderley were allowed to lapse and the section from  Throstle Nest Junction to Heaton Mersey enabled the Midland to acquire an independent route into Manchester. The line was constructed by McGregor and Bodman, was inspected by General Hutchinson on 2 December 1879 and opened on 1 January 1880. This led to the construction of Manchester Central Station and to the Midland Hotel. The MSLR appeared to have second thoughts and obtained an Act for the Manchester Central Station Railway on 25 September 1886 which in misleading fashion ran from Fairfield to Chorlton Junction on the South District Railway. It was opened in stages: J.D. Nowell was the contractor. Together with Chorlton-cum-Hardy the line opened up areas suitable for residential development in Alexandra Park and Fallowfield. The signal box at Chorlton Junction combined Midland practice with MSLR additions and the staff tended to call it "Tennis Court Junction" from the proximity of tennis courts. The signalmen held the key for these courts and in return were supplied with tea and cakes. A local service was operated between London Road and Central stations. In 1898 the GNR returned to Manchester opening Deansgate Goods Station and by restoring through passenger services to King's Cross. From about 1885 the MSLR with the GER operated services from Manchester to Harwich: "the "North Country Continental". In 1925 the LNER ran a Pullman car service between London King's Cross and Manchester Central. Motive power is briefly discussed and included the long B12 and B17 workings bewteen Manchester and Harwich, and the use of Ivatt Atlantics on the Woodhead route. Excursion traffic, including traffic for Belle Vue and for Maine Road (the Manchester City ground) is noted. See also Part 2 page 496 and on. Illus. See also letter from W.Tollan on p. 572 who notes that St Werburgh Road was near a church dedicated to St. Werbugh in Wilbraham Road and letter from David Hughes on p. 701 who adds his own memories..

Bennett, Alan. Southern sunshine: Southern style. 434-6.
Southern Railway publicity material aimed at leisure travel mainly in the 1930s. Hints for Holidays was an important annual brochure and the covers for the 1934, 1935 and 1938 issues are reproduced in colour: the 1935 issue featured a lady smoking a cigarette in an elasticated yellow swimsuit, the 1934 issue featured a donkey being ridden with abandon by a not-so-young lady and 1938 featured a manly hulk on water skis. The cover of Winter Holidays in Southern England produced in 1929 appears to show diners eating outside on a pier in darkness: surely highly improbable. Golf in the Sun All the Year Round in Southern England and on the Continent of 1931 had a cover featuring a lady golfer. Yachting on the Sunshine Coast (1932) is not illustrated and covered fascilities from a then odourous Erith to Weymouth. Inside pages illustrated include one for Brighton (from Hints for Holidays of 1931 and sunshine statistics from Hints for Holidays for 1934. See also letter from Sydney Diggles (page 637) who states that Mrs Grundy was not a Dickens character, but was created by Thomas Morton (that error proves that Alan Bennett is not the Alan Bennett, KPJ)..

Halliday, Stephen. Fraud, liquidation and ingratitude: the early finances of the London Underground. 437-42.
Charles Tyson Yerkes brought some highly dubious financial techniques from the United States, where he had promoted transport systems in Chicago including the elevated Loop railway, to London. In London he electrified the District Line and completed some of the tube railways notably the Waterloo & Baker Street Railway and the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway. He was associated with the.banker Edgar Speyer and with Robert William Perks, a legal expert who was at the time of his meeting with Yerkes, solicitor to the Metropolitan Railway: Perks subesquently became Chairman of the Metropolian District Railway during the difficult electrification period of 1902-06. Another speculator involved in the Underground at this time was Whitaker Wright and his London and Globe Finance Corporation who attempted to finance the Waterloo & Baker Street Railway, but when this venture failed and  London & Globe failed he attempted to flee to New York. The Solicitor-General, Sir Edward Carson, claimed that the issue was a civil action, not a criminal one, but a determined creditor had him arrested and brought back to Britain. Mr Justice Bingham sentenced Wright to seven years penal servitude, but Wright swallowed a cyanide capsule and when dead he found to have had a loaded revolver in his pocket. Following Yerkes's death in 1905 Speyer became alarmed at the financial state of the underground railways and approached Geoge Gibb of the NER to become General Manager. He in turn appointed Walter Gott from the advertising department of the GNR to improve the company's image whilst greatly reducing overheads. The American investors brought in Albert Stanley "to keep an eye on Gibb" and he (as Lord Ashfield) chaired the London Passenger Transport Board from 1933, having served in Lloyd George's war cabinet. Illus. (only some of which are directly relevant): Baker Street underground station in 1863; Yerkes portrait; Wyldes farmhouse where the underground railway to Hampstead planned to locate a station and which spurred Dame Henrietta Barnett to campaign for the enlargemnt of Hampstead Heath; a Metropolitan Railway first class carriage; Central London Railway locomotive and passenger car and Lord Ashfield with his daughter. Neither the Metropolitan nor the Central London were initial members of the Underground Group!....

Smith, Michael J. Stop! Proceed with Caution. 443.
Text omitted from previous article (in two parts: pages 312 and 346), Accident at Victoria District Line on 22 November 1962 when a train from Wimbledon to Dagenham East ran into the rear of an Ealing Broadway to Mansion House service due to travelling at excessive speed and thus in contradiction of the stop and proceed rule. The driver of the colliding train as relatively inexperienced. Col. McMullen conducted the inquiry which stressed the need for application of the rule during training. He was also critical of the poor quality tail lamp of the train impacted upon. See also letter from A.J. Robertson (page 509) who lists three further incidents..

Remnants of the Mumbles Railway. Neil Taylor (phot.). 444
Colour photo-feature based on photographs taken on 2 February 2008: Oystermouth station building and three former traction poles;; eleectrical control box with SWT Co. Ltd (South Wales Transport Co) near St Helens cricket & rugby ground; Blackpill electrical sub-station (as Junction Cafe).:

Readers' forum. 445.
NER B16 4-6-0s. Editor
See colour photo-feature on page 350: caption implied that cylinders were inside (one was KPJ): it ws the Stephenson link motion which was insid.
Export or die! David N. Clough
Writer refers to last part of the Rutherford series (see p 238 et seq) stating that Rutherford's observations on the Paxman engines were a "little rose-tinted"
Export or die! L.A. Summers.
Writer (page 317) had criticised Rutherford series (see pp. 52, 100, 174 and 238) for implying that diesel traction brought "considerable savings", but Kevin P. Jones responded on p. 379 noting that on page (shunters see page 270 diesel shunters had been sought during WW2 for their high productivity). KPJ had stoked the fun by criticing the Western Region's 0-6-0 diesel shunters and has subsequently been punished for this by seeing one preserved at the NRM when he had paid to see steam locomotives. Summers correctly concludes that Riddles did not serve the best interests of steam traction (or railway economics).
British Railways in North America. James Evans.
See article on page 337 et seq. Writer was employed in the British Railways office in New York as a relief clerk during the early 1960s by which time it was a joint operation of the London Midland Region with CIE under a Vice President, George F. Luther. The office was located in 5th Avenue opposite St Patrick's Cathedral. Staff travelled out on either the Queen Mary or Queen Elizabeth. Includes several anecdotes: one was from a Bostonian who had acquired a steam locomotive from Ireland: the Lady Edith and wanted to know how to make it steam. Another concerned the collapse of a peg board which recorded hotel reservations in London, and which fell off the wall. He travlled on the Twenieth Century Limited, saw coal traffic at Roanoke and travelled in the cab of a Pennsylvaia RR GG1 electric locomotive.
Goods instruction notices. Kenneth Farmer.
See article on page 277 et seq where the author transcribed GWR Instructions concerning the handling of freight and in particular on the maintenance of weighing machines and weighbridges. The letter writer, a former Weights and Measures Inspector is critical of the transcription, especially the suggestion that such machines could be forced out of service by the failure of the goods staff to balance the machine correctly. The letter writer records how weighing machinery was verified by a metal stamp, and that this could be defaced by a zealous inspector. The writer also notes how such machinery was balanced. He also notes that Weights & Measures was a local government responsibility whereas Cross had implied that this was a central government function.  
The slow train. Don Rees.
In article beginning p. 326 it was stated that all the stations listed were in England: Four Crosses and Buttington are in Wales
Styal and Handforth. Rob Sawyer.
Information sought.

Book reviews. 446.
LMS Journal – LMS 85th Anniversary Issue. Bob Essery. Wild Swan. MJS ***.
"...provides, insights, gems and surprises": at present this Issue has been shunted into a loop, but will eventually return to the main line on steamindex.
Along lost lines. Paul Atterbury. David & Charles. DWM *
"delighted with the style of the book but very disappointed with the substance." Also notes several errors

Salisbury standpoint. Paul Strong. rear cover
Panorama from above Salisbury Tunnel of Tunnel Junction with Class 50 approaching on a Waterloo to Exeter train on 31 May 1984.

Number 8 (August 2008)

SR 'USA' 0-6-0T No.DS238 Wainwright outside Eastleigh Works in June 1963 after being repainted in malachite green livery for its role as Ashford Works shunter. (A. Drake/Colour-Rail). front cover

That Sunday, that summer. Michael Blakemore. 451
Comment on the end of steam traction in August 1968 and on the muddled captions provided for the exhibits at the NRM's event staged to mark this event: the 1968 Show. Errors in the information provided with the exhibits,: this was wildly inaccurate in the case of the preserved K4 The Great Marquess which implied that Viscount Garnock was responsible for the name, and that the B4 0-4-0T was one of the last steam locomotives on the books of the Southern Region. KPJ failed to note these trivia as he was accompanied by his two youngest grandsons who were hell-bent on derailing the miniature train. Response from NRM in shape of Stephen Richards (letter p. 637), who has a creative approach to spelling..

Made in America: the Southern's 'USA' tanks. 452-3.
Colour photo-feature: DS 233 (ex- 30061) shunting alongside Southampton Ocean Terminal with Queen Elizabeth dawrfing everything on 9 June 1964; 30067 shunting near Southampton Ocean Terminal (A.C. Sterndale); DS 237 Maunsell (ex-30065 in malachite green shunting at Ashford on 5 January 1965 (David Idle); 30072 acting as Guildford shed pilot on 27 July 1963 (Roy Hobbs); 30073 in malachite green livery near Canute Road, Southampton on 8 March 1966 (Colour Rail).

Clarke, Jeremy. The Croydon, Oxted & East Grinstead Railway. 454-60.
The Surrey and Sussex Junction Railway was authorised on 6 July 1865 to construct a line from Croydon to Oxted and form a junction with the Three Bridges to Tunbridge Wells line, but the LBSCR allowed the powers to lapse when the line was partly completed. The Croydon, Oxted & East Grinstead Railway was authorised in 1878 to construct a line which was to be jointly owened with the South Eastern Railway as far as Crowhurst Junction where a spur enabled trains to work towards Tonbridge: the spur closed in 1965. The railway opened on 18 February 1884. The line had relatively severe gradients: 1 in 100 to reach a 450ft summit at Woldingham, and 1 in 70 in the vicinity of Dormans. The stretch between Selsdon and Sanderstead was electrified on 30 September 1935 which it is stated was in connection with the Southern Heights Light Railway (KPJ: this seems improbable as the powers for the Southern Heights Light Railway had lapsed in 1931: see Arthur R. Nicholls Backtrack, 13, 271.). A station was opened at Riddledown on 5 June 1927 to encourage house building. Hurst Green was originally envisaged as being the location for diving trains, but this activity remained at Oxted. Lingfield station was designed to cope with traffic from the racecourse. There was no regular interval service until 1955. Steam was displaced by a mizture of diesel electric multiple units and diesel electric hauled trains. Services to East Grinstead were electrified from 5 October 1987, but services to Uckfield are operated by diesel railcars. Illus.: M7 No. 30056 crossing Oxted Viaduct in October 1955 (R.C. Riley, colour); I3 No. 32090 passing East Grinstead East signal box on 12 September 1950 (R.C. Riley); H class No. 31512 at Oxted station with push & pull set No. 605 (R.C. Riley, colour); C2X No. 32445 at Selsdon on 30 August 1955 shunting freight (R.C. Riley); H class No. 31523 propelling push & pull set away from Upper Warlingham in 1956 (R.C. Riley); I3 class No. 2091 leaving Oxted with 09.28 Tunbridge Wells West to Victoria on 20 June 1946 (H.C. Casserley); H class No. 31278 at Oxted with Tunbridge Wells West service on 5 August 1961 (R.M. Casserley); class 4 2-6-4T No. 42105 at Selsdon with London Bridge to Tunbridge Wells West train on 12 September 1950 (R.C. Riley); p. 459 upper class 4 No. 42103 arriving Oxted  with London Bridge to Tunbridge Wells West train on 4 April 1959 (H class in bay working bunker-first (R.C. Riley) see also letter from Brian Sullivan (p. 572) on recent impressions of Oxted station ; p. 459 lower Woldingham Viaduct see letter from Patrick Hecks on p. 572 which states was Riddlesdown viaduct; Riddlesdown station; 80086 at Woldingham with a Victoria to Brighton train on 23 June 1954 (R.C. Riley). .

Atkins, Philip. Much ado about nothing (as it turned out). 461-7.
Towards the end of WW1 the Government via the Railway Executive Committee urged the railways to consider designing a range of standard locomotives and this policy was pursued via the Association of Railway Locomotive Engineers (ARLE) which was chaired at that time by Churchward, and subsequently by George Hughes. In the early stages two works, Ashford under Maunsell and Derby under Fowler were especially active and their current designs were to influence the activities of the Committee. At Ashford work was well advanced on the N class 2-6-0 which had 5ft 6in coupled wheels and the K class 2-6-4T with 6ft coupled wheels which Atkins notes were in advance of current Swindon designs with their outside valve gear. Further designs were prepared by William Hooley which featured parallel boilers and round-topped fireboxes, different cylinder and coupled wheel sizes and  several proposed boiler pressures. Derby.developed a 2-8-0 design based on the recent 2-8-0s constructed for the S&DJR and which featured work by James Clayton. Designs for a 2-6-0 and the 2-8-0 were then circulated to ARLE members for comment. Hooley then harmonised the two designs which led to the 2-8-0 design being modified with long travel valve gear and these designs were cirulated to all members (KPJ: by the way this completely debunks any myth that long travel valve gear was only known to Swindon). Some companies appear to have to made no input: Crewe, Eastleigh, Stratford, Brighton and seemingly Darlington. Only the Caledonian of the Scottish railways made any observations. The Caledonian Railway suggested a 2-6-0 with 21 x 28 in cylinders and 5ft 8in coupled wheels. Swindon proposed a 2-6-0 with a parallel round-top boiler and 20½ x 28in cylinders: there is a diagram of this at the NRM. Horwich proposed a range of common 4-4-0, 2-6-0, 4-6-0 and 2-8-0 designs with parallel round-top boilers with grate areas of 32ft2. Cox, when asked, was unaware of these proposals. There were several submissions from Gorton which included a 2-6-0 (J. Stephenson Loco. Soc., 1951, 44-5), a 4-6-0 and a 2-8-0. There was even a suggestion for 4-cylinder 4-6-0. In the absence of Raven, Stamer was partially involved in the ARLE proposals, and the unpublished memoirs of George Heppel indicate that he discussed the topic with James Clayton. Furthermore, the S3 three-cylinder 4-6-0 which shared some common features with the T3 0-8-0s had 5ft 8in coupled wheels to conform with one of agreed coupled wheel sizes although this was non-standard at Darlington!. Subsequent St Rollox designs included a 2-8-0 with a 6ft 6in round-top boiler and 23 x 30in cylinders, a 4-6-0 sharing the same boiler and cylinders, but with 6ft 8in coupled wheels, and a 2-8-2 or 2-8-2T. There is a St Rollox drawing dated 29 October 1918 for a 2-10-2 with 28 x 30in cylinders. Finally, E.B. Trotter Standards that were never built (Trains ill., 1954, 7, 60-2) outlined some Derby big engine designs for 2-80 and 2-8-2Ts with 6ft 6in round-top boilers and 23 x 28in cylinders, a 4-4-0 with 21 x 28in outside cylinders and a 4-6-0 with 23.4 x 30 in cylinders. Atkins considers that these may have been intended to show the absolute limits. Both Raven and Gresley had considered that it was more important to establish the overall loading gauge and weight limits on British railways.

Paterson, Anne-Mary. Keith: the vital link to the south and London. 468-71.
Joseph Mitchell and Murdoch Paterson (to whom the Author is related) were responsible for designing and constructing the Highland Railway's initial mainline from Inverness to Keith where the railway made an end-on junction with the Great North of Scotland Railway and thus made communication between Inverness and Aberdeen possible. The Inverness & Nairn Railway opened on 5 November 1855. The Inverness & Aberdeen Junction Railway was authorised on 21 July 1856 to extend the line to Keith. This required the construction of major bridges to cross the Rivers Findhorn and Spey. The former is still in service and was an early example of an open-top box girder bridge. The ironwork was supplied by William Fairbairn of Manchester. The crossing of the Spey was also accomplished by a similar structure but with a longer span. This was never completely satisfactory and was replaced in 1906. Includes portraits of William and Murdoch Paterson and an interesting three-angled portarit of Joseph Mitchell housed in Inverness Town Hall. Map. Illus. of viaducts/bridges over the Findhorn, at Nairn and across the Spey (engraving of original and photograph of its replacement..

The class 73 electro-diesels. Paul Joyce (phot.). 472-3
Colour photo-feature: 73 139 (rail blue with large logo and numerals) at Clapham Junction in May 1985; 73 209 (Inter-City livery) on Gatwick Express at Gatwick Airport on 28 December 1991; 73 136 (plain rail blue livery with small logo) passing under signal cabin on approach to Clapham Junction on coal empties in May 1985; 73 204 Stewarts Lane, 1860-1985 in full Gatwick Express livery speeds through Earlswood on the Quarry Line on 11 May 1999.; No. 73 205 London Chamber of Commerce with class 33 No. 33 301 with four car push & pull unit in Experimental Dept. livery performing tests for Eurostars near Basingstoke on 12 October 1990.

Crosse, J. The future of the Pullman train. 474-8.
Research Projects Ltd conducted a survey: The Character of Pullman Traffic, which was based on face-to-face questionnaires conducted on both Pullman services and on ordinary services in both first and second class coaches. It was fairly clear that British Rail was wishing to exit from second class Pullman services. See also letter from Andrew Colebourne on page 637 who observes that Brighton Belle sets were not painted in reversed greay and blue and livery, but in standard Rail Blue and grey livery with embellishments..

A good day's sport: London & North Eastern Railway handbills from the David V. Beeken Collection. 479.
"Football & Theatre" (special excursions on New Year's Day 1932 from Darlington and intermediate stations to Sunderland (and from the intermediate stations only) to Newcastle; "New Zealand cricketers at Sunderland: Saturday & Mondat 18th & 20th July" (cheap day returns from within 20 miles of Sunderland); "Excursions to Doncaster for the Races" (8th, 10th and 11th September 1931 by ordinary train from North East, thence by special train from York at 10.30; return in like manner); "Darlington" (Football Club's home games in 1920s: as displayed versus Walsall on 1st March 1924 from Catterick Bridge: match was hand-written; station was rubber-stamped).

What happened in '68. 480-3.
Colour photo-feature marking the fortieth anniversary of the end of steam traction on British Railways (the Editor is to be congratulated for showing that this event did not take place entirely against a background of pit bings and dark satanic mills): Rose Grove, Burnley, on 31 July with 8F No. 48665 leaving on 13.10 freight for Fleetwood (M.H. Yardley); class 5 No. 45231 shunting ballast train from Waterslack Quarry at Grange-over-Sands on 2 August (David Idle); 8F No. 48448 at Hoghton on Wyre Dock to Rose Grove coal empties on 11 April (Hugh Ballantyne); 75048 at Cark & Cartmel with short freight from Ulverston on 1 August (David Idle); 8F No. 48191, the Copy Pit banker returning to Rose Grove on 3 August (David Idle); class 5 No. 44894 on local freight at Windermere on 1 August, and later hauling freight towards Kendal (David Idle); Class 5 No. 44758 leaving Carnforth with empty wagons for Preston on 17 July (M.H. Yardley); No. 75048 at Grange-over-Sands on 2 August (note camping coaches just in view) (David Idle); and No. 70013 Oliver Cromwell at Carnforth on 10 August (David Idle). 

Wilson, Andrew. The Hellifield station collision – 22nd December 1955. 484-8.
Involved two northbound overnight Anglo-Scottish sleeping car trains, the first of which (for Edinburgh) was stopped in the station for attention to brakes dragging on two of the sleeping cars. The second (for Glasgow) hauled by Royal Scot 46109 Royal Engineer ran into it mainly due to the failure of the signalman Robinson at Hellifield South Junction failing to place the intermediate signals at Otterburn to danger in spite of the train in the platform. The accident might have been reduced in scale if Driver Blakemore had not missed seeing the outer home signal. Nevertheless, Col. McMullen placed the blame upon the signalman. As was usual in the days of railways the damage was rapidly repaired and services were rapidly restored.. See also letters on page 637 from Rory Wilson and Allan Patterson who are both critical of the failure to emphasise the inherent design limitations of the intermediate block signals which always cleared to green once a train had moved into the next section. This liimitation was compounded by the lack of one-pull fascilities. Letter on page 573 from Peter Tatlow makes it clear that the breakdown crane illustrated.on pp. 487-8 was based at Leeds Holbeck and was a Ransomes & Rapier machine supplied in 1931. Another letter on pagge 701 from Ken Metcalfe who fired the locomotive on the Holbeck breakdown train: he also fired for Driver Charlie Blakemore (who evidently didn't get fired). .

Wells, Jeffrey. The changing scene at Vitriol Works. 489-91.
Hannibal Becker's Vitriol Works were probably opened before the Manchester & Leeds Railway and were situated next to the Rochdale Canal. A signal box was opened by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway probably before 1886 and was known as Vitriol Sidings or Vitriol Works Sidings. There is one photograph (by the Author in 1990) of a later signal box opened in 1953 known as Vitriol Works which is extant. The remaining photographs were taken by Jim Davenport in the 1950s: Fairburn 2-6-4T No. 42111 on Bradford Exchange to Manchester Victoria semi-fast (express headlamps) leaving Middleton Junction; class 5 No. 44946 on a Liverpool Eschange to Bradford express; Fowler 7F No. 49508 on a Hollinwood to Moston Exchange Sidings freight; Fairburn 2-6-4T No. 42290 on a Middleton stopping train; Stanier 2-6-4T No. 42629 on a Bacup to Manchester Victoria service; LYR 0-6-0 No. 52102 passing with an eastbound freight; Hughes 2-6-0 No. 42709 with a Littleborough to Blackpool excursion.

Morse, Greg. A railway church. 492-5.
This article is mainly about St Saviour's Church in Swindon, and the affection which the poet John Betjeman had for it. Sir George Gilbert Scott had been responsible for the architecture of two churches: Christ Church in the Old Town and St. Mark's in the New Town (The Great Western Railway's church). By the late nineteenth century these were inadequate to serve the spiritual needs of a growing population and the Rev. Maurice Ponsonby of St. Mark's instigated the construction of a a timber building using the parishioners' (those from St. John's were also involved) own skills. William Dean's daughter laid the foundation stone. The building was consecrated by Dr Ellicott, Bishop of Gloucester on 11 January 1890 and was dedicated to St. Saviour. The growing congregation led to an extension being built by the parishioner's own labour and this was dedicated on 28 October 1905 by Dr Forrest Brown, Bishop of Bristol. It eventually became apparent that the wooden structure had a limited life and the building was encased in Cotswold stone which led to another rededication by the Bishop of Malmesbuy on 31 October 1961.

Johnson, E.M. Chorlton Junction – meeting point of the Midland and Great Central lines into Manchester. Part 2. 496-501.
See also Part 1: Page 428. For a time there was a great deal of traffic, both passenger (Withington booked 233,900 tickets in 1901) and freight which included that conveyed by the Great Northern Railway, and for the Manchester Ship Canal. But there was competition from Manchester Corporation electric trams and this was intensified by the opening of reserved track on Kingsway, and from the LNWR's Styal line, opened in 1909. The Junction saw a great variety of motive power: many trains were handled by GCR 9A and 9F 0-6-2Ts, later LNER classes N4 and N5. The MR 0-6-4Ts were briefly replaced by Stanier's three-cylinder 2-6-4Ts. Modernisation introduced some strange designs, notably the Fell and Crossley diesels. The closure of Manchester Central in 1969 was a death blow to passenger traffic and freight traffic ceased in 1988. The former junction is now on a cycleway and may see trams again. Illus.: B1 coming off Fallowfield line with 16.13 boat train ex-Hull for Manhester Central and Liverpool Central; rebuilt Scot No. 46110 Grenadier Guardsman passing with express from St. Pancras; B12 No. 8535 with North Country Continental; Jubilee No. 45597 Barbados working "wrong line" with up express for St. Pancras; Britannia Pacific No. 70042 Lord Roberts with 16.25 for St Pancras on 9 September 1958; 4F No. 44332 passing signal box and tennis courts with return excursion from Hope Valley on 28 March 1959 (Easter weekend); B1 No. 61161 with Liverpool to Hull express on 30 December 1951; WD No. 90291 on empty wagons on 14 October 1961. See also letter from David Hughes on p. 701 who adds his own memories.

Kell, Roger J. The Benton curves. 502-5.
These provided access between the East Coast Main Line with the electrified Newcastle to the Coast services. A1 No. 60144 King's Courier and B1 being turned on the triangle in March 1963; J27 No. 65852 on permament way train in March 1963; V3 2-6-2T No. 67646 with inspection saloon on south east curve in 1963; Q6 No. 63402 hauls empty coal wagons; A1 No. 60150 Willbrook hauling private commpany excursion off coast line via north west curve for Edinburgh in 1964; J27 No. 65832 with coal empties via south east curve, and English Electric Type 4 rejoining mainline with diverted freight on a Sunday in 1963. See also letter from Howard Burchell on page 573 which continues the story from 1973 until the present which includes the introduction of Metro services and most of the curves falling out of use..

The Torbay branch. 506-8.
Colour photo-feature: King departing Kingswear with express formed at leat in part of stock in carmine & cream livery for Paddington on 10 July 1960 (J.S. Gilks); No. 4090 Dorchester Castle on Torbay Express at Torquay in April 1959 (both locomotive and chocolate & cream liveried train are in immaculate condition (M.G. Paine); Castle No. 5059 Earl St. Aldwyn on 17.20 Newton Abbot to Kingswear stopping train leaving Goodrington Sands in June 1961 (P.W. Gray); No. 4978 Westwood Hall leaving Kingswear with coal train for Torquay Gasworks in June 1962 (P.W. Gray); No. 1470 with auto coach leaving Churston for Brixham in May 1959; BR class 5 No. 73096 on clifftop above Goodrington with train for Kingswear in May 1959 (L.F. Folkard) and view from above Kingswear station showing train awaiting departure, turntable, crriage sidings and tourist boats on Dart on 10 July 1960 (J.S. Gilks).  

Readers' forum. 509.
Stop! Proceed with caution. A.J. Robertson.
See feature on pages 312, 346 and 443.. One further accident between 1945 and 1979 is listed: namely between Stratford and Leyton on 5 December 1946. There were also two further incidents in 1984: on 20 August between Leyton and Stratford, and on 11 December at Kilburn.
Sparks – the electrical concultants. Andrew Wilson.
See page 390 et seq:disputes Hennessey's assertion that selection of 3kV rather than 1.5kV for the proposed Taunton to Penzance electrification was an example of GWR "wish to be different": it was due to the lightness of the traffic and an attempt to reduce costs: Wilson was surprised that the GWR did not consider diesel-electric locomotives...
Scarborough. David Stewart-David.
See photo-feature on page 413 et seq: No. 82026 was shunting, not running express.

Book review. 510.
Castleman's corkscrew – Volume One. The Nineteenth Century. B.L. Jackson. Oakwood. ME. *****
"a work of quality and detail"

Dying embers at Rose Grove, David Idle. rear cover
3 August 1968: 8F No. 48715 in steam for very last rime.

Number 9 (September 2008)

LNER B17 4-6-0 No. 61641 Gayton Hall on the turntable at Sheffield Victoria after arriving with a Yarmouth - Manchester train. (Derek Penney). Front cover
See also colour-photo feature page 544

Stand and deliver. Michael Blakemore.
Monopolistic policicies of magazine distributor.

Keeping up with the 'Jones'. 516-17.
Colour photo-feature of preserved Jones Goods No. 103 with its startling yellow livery: at Inverness on 26 August 1965 (David Idle); in Inverness station with excursion for Forres on 24 August 1965 (Brian Magilton): remainder with two preserved Caledonian Railway coaches: near Moy on 21 August heading north (Brian Magilton); leaving Forres on 26 August (David Idle), and near Dalnaspidal on climb to Druimuachdar on 21 August (J.S. Gilks).

Wells, Jeffrey. The Chatburn to Hellifield Line — and other matters. 518-24.
Part 1 began on page 134: this covered the line as far as Clitheroe; this part forms the continuation to Hellifield to provide access to the Midland Railway Settle & Carlisle line. The first sod of the extension was cut near Gisburn on 8 January 1874 and the line opened on 1 June 1880. The article cites both Company (LYR Board) Minutes and reportage in the Blackburn Standard and the Railway Times. Very shortly after the line opened (14-16 July 1880) brake trials were conducted in the presence of Barton Wright of the LYR, William Dean of the GWR, William Stroudley of the LBSCR and John Ramsbottom of the LNWR. The Board of Trade was represented by Yolland, Hutchinson and Marindin. Brakes evaluated included those by Westinghouse, Earnes' (Eames??), Sanders' and LYR (see Ottley 3225 for Report by Douglas Galton on brake experiments made at Gisburn on the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway on the 14th, 15th and 16th July 1880.. To accommodate the Pullman cars being introduced by the Midl;and Railway very considerable works were required on the tunnels on the approach lines from Manchester. An additioinal tunnel was required at Farnworth, and the tunnel floors at Sough and at Wilpshire had to be lowered. Holme & King were the contractors for the Sough works, and serious difficulties were encountered and this led to arbitration under Sir John Hawkshaw.

Grainger, Ken. Sheffield Victoria in September 1957. 525-9.
"Had we but known it, 1957 was Sheffield Victoria's Indian Summer" when there were still five restaurant car expresses to Marylebone, plus major cross country services. The Woodhead route had been recently electrified, and a change of motive power was essential for trains proceeding to or from Manchester. Illus. (all black & white): V2 No. 60820 waiting to couple onto Bradford portion of The South Yorshireman; A3 No. 60104 Solario departing with up South Yorkshireman; B16/3 No. 61476 arriving from York with Bournemouth express; B17 No. 61633 Kimbolton Castle on the North Country Continental for Harwich; C13 No. 67424 on local train for Penistone, and two illus. of D11 No. 62670 Marne (one alongside electric locomotive No. 27002. See also letter from Jean C. Massey (page 701) concerning anecdote involving her parents.

Biddle, Gordon. Sir William Tite and railways. 530-6.
Tite was born in City of London on 7 February 1798. Articled to architect David Laing and then set his own practice in 1824. Died in 1873. The Royal Exchange in London was probably his most significant work. He thwarted Gilbert Scott in his Gothic design for the Foreign Office (Tite was an MP) and this led indirectly to the Gothic St Pancras. Tite was briefly a director on the GWR, and Biddle shows that he used directorships to gain advantage, notably in the case of Lord Petre being paid £120,000 for land worth about a quarter of the amount when required by the impoverished Eastern Counties Railway.Many important railway stations. He worked closely with Locke and Brassey. His stations on the London & Southampton Railway included those at Nine Elms, MIcheldever (originally Andover Road), Winchester, Southampton and Windsor where special arrangements were made for the Queen and her cavalry. Illustrations include a portrait; Nine Elms terminus of London & Southampton Railway; Royal Exchange; Windsor & Eton Riverside in 1984 (colour, Author); Gosport in terminal decline in 2008 (Author); Lancaster in 1994 (colour, Author); Burton & Holme (Lancaster & Carlisle Railway in 1938) (D. Thompson); Carlisle Citadel frontage in 2008 (colour, Author); Scottish Central Railway station at Stirling c1910; Perth Joint Station pre-1884 and St. Denys in 1987 (R.C. Riley).

Rose, Peter. Anne: a railway clerk's career. 537-41.
Anne started work during WW2 in the Goods Office at Barnby Dun on the LNER in 1940. Prior to then she had been a pupil at Thorne Grammar School and she lived at Edenthorpe. She subsequently worked at Ollerton, Gainsborough Central and at Aberdeen..

Those Network SouthEast days. Keith Dungate (phot.). 542-3.
Colour photo-feature of a remarkable assortment of traction adorned in Chris Green's flamboyant red, white and blue livery: two English-Electric Class 50 locomotives Nos. 50 027 Lion and 50 028 Tiger at head of 06.55 Plymouth to Paddington parcels train at Reading on 17 March 1988; Class 119 DMU No. L588 at Redhill with 20.07 service to Tonbridge on 22 August 1988; Class 86 electric locomotive No. 86 401 at Euston with arrival from Liverpool Lime Street on 25 July 1987 (apologies for anyone looking for type 86 at Liverpool Street!); 4-VEP No. 3135 leaving Chichester as 13.35 Brighton to Portsmouth Harbour on 21 October 1988; class 310 EMUs Nos. 310 065 and 310 091 calling at Watford Junction with service to Euston on 1 May 1987. (KPJ: the Network SouthEast was introduced with a day of free travel for card holders: all pre-Macgregorization).

The LNER's B17 Class. 544-6.
Colour photo-feature (see also front cover): B17/6 No. 61645 The Suffolk Regiment at Fordham with a Harwich boat train in 1958 (Derek Penney); No. 61653 Huddersfield Town heads past Northern Rubber Company, Retford with a relief Harwich boat train on 24 December 1957 (train formed of former LMS and GWR stock) (Derek Penney); No. 61657 Doncaster Rovers at Rotherwood Sidings, Sheffield in 1958 (Derek Penney); No. 61659 East Anglian at Liverpool Street in June 1959 (D.H. Beecroft); No. 61666 Nottingham Forest at Long Melford with a Cambridge to Colchester local in June 1959 (note fluted water crane and AEC bus) (G.W. Potter) ; No. 61620 Clumber in charrge of Harwich boat train at Woodhouse in 1958 (Derek Penney); No. 61656 Leeds United arrives Liverpool Street from Yarmouth express in April 1958, also 70003 John Bunyan awaiting departure (John C. Hart) (in days when East Anglia had train service on 365 days per annum); No. 61618 Wynyard Park on Cambridge shed in 1959 (Derek Penney). 

Wrottesley, Michael. 'The Great Bear'. 547-52.
Sources listed (sadly fails to record superb photographs of locomotive at Bath and notes by Brian Arman in Railway Archive, 2008 (17) 39-43). Notes that the cab was very restricted in dimensions which must have made the locomotive both difficult to drive and to fire. Steaming was believed to be difficult, and the Author attributes this to inexperience, and the same problem was encountered with the very similar Princess Royal class until firemen developed skills. The trailing axleboxes were a major source of trouble due to overheating, and the Author cannot understand why outside boxes were not fitted as this would have alleviated the problem: the Raven Pacifics suffered in the same way. Performance is restricted to a tale related by Tuplin (source not stated) of an illicit footplate journey made by E.K. Harrison when the fireman on the 18.30 did all the stoking before leaving Paddington and let this burn through on the way west. Alan Wild considers that this was an improbable story. The colour illustrations include two "F. Moore" postcards (both with the leading footsteps removed very soon after entering service, and one with the doctored livery, i.e. crimson lake rather than chocolate and cream as in the photograph on which the painting was based; the other of the Bear leaving Parsons Tunnel was presumably pure fiction). The black & white illus. include one of the boiler with original superheater; The Great Bear (without leading footsteps) about to leave Paddington in 1909; with four cone ejectors in Old Oak Common shed in early 1914; leaving Paddington with 18.30 for Bristol in 1920; rear view in 1923; on 10.45 Paddington to Cheltenham passing Twyford c1922; smokebox being cleaned at Old Oak Common in 1923; passing Kensal Green gasworks in 1921 on 10.45 to Cheltenham (which it worked as far as Swindon) and official photograph of as rebuilt as No. 111 Viscount Churchill.. See also letters on page 637 from Allan S. Carter (drivers); B.J. Harding (Pacific not broken up prior to Castle No. 111 Viscount Churchill entering service), and Les Summers (concerning Hawksworth involvement in later Pacific design). See also letter from Peter Davis (p. 702) who makes it clear that Collett did not like the locomotive as it might out-perform his Castle class. Also argues that Webb radial truck used rather than a Cartazzi or Bissel truck as these were to hand being used on 36XX and 31XX tank engines..

Rutherford, Michael. The development of the large British passenger tank engine. Part 1. Roots and background. (Railway Reflections No. 144). 553-9.
Includes socio-economic factors which led to the development of the need for large tank engines to work passenger services into the expanding suburbs. Large tank engines were initially used for banking duties on severe gradients, notably the Lickey and Cowlairs inclines, and to tackle the difficult South Devon Railway which had been constructed for atmospheric motive power: one of Brunel's greatest failures and which led to Gooch creating a personal fortune through the supply of steam motive power in the form of powerful 4-4-0STs..

The North Wales Coast line revisited. 560-3.
Colour photo-feature: Class 5 No. 45133 passes under pseudo-medieval arch at Conway with relief boat train from Holyhead on 22 June 1964 (Alan Tyson); Britannia No. 70025 Western Star hauls down fitted freight on slow line past Abergele in June 1963 (Geoff Rixon); class 5 No. No. 45101 approaching Prestatyn with a Llandudno express on 22 July 1964 (Alan Tyson); BR Caprotti Class 5 No. 73138 awaiting departure from Llandudno in April 1965 (J.H. Moss); The Welsh Dragon complete with headboard and carriage roof boards on non-corridor stock which may have been push & pull fitted hauled by Class 2 2-6-2T No. 41276 on shore section at Deganwy (service linked Llandudno with Rhyl); 9F No. 92115 approaching Llandudno Junction with 10.10 Sheffield (Midland) to Bangor in August 1959 (G.H. Hunt); Caprotti class 5 No. 44749 approaches Llandudno Junction in June 1963 (Geoff Rixon); No. 46138 London Irish Rifleman leaving Britannia Bridge with up relief express (B.J. Swain); Britannia No. 70052 Firth of Tay departing Rhyl with return excursion to Nuneaton on 22 July 1964 (Alan Tyson); Royal Scot class Nos. 46167 The Hertfordshire Regiment with an up exprress and 46152 The King's Dragoon Guardsman with down local at Bangor; class 5 Nos. 45369 and 45282 outside Llandudno Junction shed on 11 June 1963 (Geoff Rixon)..  

Hennessey, R.A.S. 'Sparks' – the electrical consultants. Part 2: The age of controversy. 564-9.
Part 1 began on page 390: Philip Dawson, author of Electric traction on railways (1909) from which portrait taken. Consultant to the LBSCR and to the GER (which did nothing). The Brighton company adopted high voltage AC electric traction at Dawson's instigation, with the aim of extending its system to Brighton: as instanced by the LBSCR Chairman, Sir Charles C. Macrae in 1922 . Notes that O.S. Nock studied under Dawson. Kálmán von Kandó was a a Hungarian who worked with Ganz & Co. to develop three-phase electric traction which required twin wired catenary and motive power which could only operate at a limited number of fixed speeds. Nevertheless, the Valtellina line of the Rete Adriatica, Italy, employed this system and the Metropolitan Railway toyed with employing this system on the Circle line! Hennessey considers that James Dalziel and Josiah Sayers have received insufficient recognition for their pioneering work on the Lancaster-Morecambe-Heysham electrification. Dalziel, 1876-1947, was Chief Electrical Assistant on the Midland Railway. Together with Josiah Sayers, the Telegraph Superintendent, was responsible for high voltage AC Lancaster-Morecambe-Heysham electrification of 1908, and both travelled with Sir Guy Granet to USA on fact finding mission to discover what to do with recently acquired LTSR. Author of several papers. Alexander Blackie William Kennedy (1847-1928) was born in Stepney;. educated at the City of London School, following which he was a marine apprentice. He was Chief Draughtsman at Palmers of Jarrow on Tyne. By 1874 he was professor of engineering at University College, London and was involved in consultancies with Jenkin and then with Donkin. One of his major projects was the Waterloo & City Railway which instigated the use of power cars. He was involved with the conduit system adopted for the tramways operated by the London County Council. Other projects included the British Aluminium Company's works at Kinlochleven and the GWR's sole electrification project: the Hammersmith & City line. He was a consultant to both the LSWR and LNWR. He was involved in several major committees: the Electrification of Railways Advisory Committee which reported in July 1921 (this advocated 1500 and 750V DC) and Sir John Pringle's Electrifiaction of Railways Advsory Committee of 1928 which led to the Weir Report .

Crossing places. John Spencer Gilks (phot.). 570-1.
Colour photo-feature of level crossings and their manually operated gates: Parbold Cabin (signal box) on Southport to Wigan line in June 1984; Kirkbank with crossing keepers on 29 May 1964 as pick-up goods delivers water in cans (train hauled by 45696 Arethusa); Dr Ian Cantlon in his Wolseley 1500 having gates opened for him to cross Caledonian main line at Myreside near Forfar on 26 May 1966; Lolham signal box and wide crossing on ECML where it encountered King Street (between Peterborough and Tallington) in August 1971.

Readers' Forum. 572-3.
The Falmouth branch. Alan Wild.
Critical that all the illus. uised in feature on page 260 et seq featured 45XX class (KPJ barely noticed as it was the norm in the early 1950s) and outlines motive power used in the last steam and early diesel days. This included 57XX and 94XX 0-6-0PTs, a 61XX, Grange and County class 4-6-0s and D63XX (hunting in pairs) on the through services to Paddington.
A Midland electric Centenary. David Cordingley.
See colour photo-feature on page 397: notes that Scale Hall station had a very short life, and that several types of mast, including some wooden ones, were used to support the catenary..
Chorlton Junction. W. Tollan.
See article on page 428 et seq: ecumenical letter notes that St Werburgh Road was near to a Church of England place of worship in Wilbraham Road: cites Manchester Church Directory.
The Weymouth Harbour Tramway. Andrew Kleissner
See article on p. 406 et seq: noted that the Weymouth boat trains were hauled by class 74 electro-diesel locomotives between Waterloo and Bournemouth in the early 1970s
Push-pull on the Southern Region. Nick Watson

The pictures of the Three Bridges to East Grinstead page 380 prompted Nick Watson to record his observations made between 1957 and 1960 when he noted the family saloon in use and that two sets were combined on the 18.10 service from Three Bridges which was banked by a class 4 2-6-4T. On the Gatwick Airport opening day in 1958 many had to stand in the driver's compartment, and during snow Tilley lamps were fitted in front in case of fallen trees on the line, and there was a crew of eight with saws and ropes. Now the line if it had survived would be closed for two weeks: such is the efite Macgregorized railway.
Attilio Franco, Piero Crosti and locomotive preheaters. Peter Swift.
Corrections to the feature on page 398 et seq: Joseph Beattie introduced feedwater heaters to the LSWR: these were of two types. One mixed exhaust steam with the feedwater, the other arrangement fitted alongside the boiler consisted of concentric tubes with steam inside and feedwater outside. Pumps were used to feed the heated water. William Adams got rid of them, but Dugald Drummond adopted the Stroudley system diverted some of the exhaust into the tank and thus preheated the water. Also corrects the brief note on the Anderson Steam Heat Conservation System and cites Holcroft's Locomotive adventure Vol. 1. Fianally it is considered that the author failed to make it clear that Franco-Crosti system combined both the heat from the exhaust steam, and from the exhaust gases to preheat the water.
The Croydon, Oxted & East Grinstead Railway. Patrick Hecks.
See illustration page 459 lower: Riddlesdown Viaduct not as stated, also notes that fire at Sanderstead station (see text) was cuased by discarded cigarette.
The Croydon, Oxted & East Grinstead Railway. Brian Sullivan.
See illustration on page 459 upper: recent impressions stating changes since then: see further lertter from Christopher Prout on page 701 who corrects statement made in this communication that photograph on page 459 was taken from a "footbridge" - it was from the steps to a signal box..
The Benton Curves. Howard Burchell. 573.
See feature on page 502: continues the story from 1973 until the present which includes the introduction of Metro services and most of the curves falling out of use.
The Hellifield Station collision. Peter Tatlow.
The breakdown crane illustrated.on pp. 487-8 (feature beginning page 484) was based at Leeds Holbeck and was a Ransomes & Rapier machine supplied in 1931.

Book Reviews. 573-4.
The lost railways of Somerset. Stan Yorke. Countryside Books. ME ****
Very long review which reminds the reader of the complex nature of Somerset: heavy indutry and docks at Avonmouth, coal worked in the Somerset Coalfield, as well as the more traditional view of cider production and dairying. The railways presented comparable diversity from the main line from Bristol to Taunton and on to Exeter, the long disappeared Somerset & Dorset Railway, and few branch lines extant in any form.
Whitehaven: the railways and waggonways of a unique Cumbrian port. Howard Quayle. Cumbrian Railways Association. GBS *****
"thorough and beautifully-written" and "exceptionally well illustrated"
Railway ships and packet ports. Richard Danielson. Twelveheads. MB ***
Includes industrial harbours, such as Grangemouth, as well as packet ports. Also includes vessels used on lochs and lakes.

A Somerset country junction. Hugh Ballantyne. Rear cover.
2251 class No. 2268 running light through Yatton station on 17 August 1963. BR railcar in bay platform with Clevedon service. GWR running-in board noting connections to Cheddar Line and Clevedon.

October

LMS Princess Royal 4-6-2 No.46207 Princess Arthur of Connaught climbs through the north London suburbs at Kilburn with down 'Mid-Day Scot' in September 1961. (A.C. Sterndale). Front cover
See also colour photo-feature on pp. 606-7. and Editorial correction on p. 764: train was alleged to be at a far more select venue of "Kenton"

"This is your action news reporter with all the news that is news on the scene at the railway station. Pardon me, sir, did you see what happened...?" Michael Blakemore.
Editorial based on The Yorkshire Evening Press's column "The way we were". Such surprising items from the past as the export of coal, railway activity during the night (York now sees no sleeping cars, mail trains, or newspaper trains). Once upon a time people were really dependent on trains to provide food when roads were blocked by snow.

Williams, Sitwell D. Knight express. 580-9.
The names given to the Southern Railway N15 King Arthur class, and their sources, mainly from Sir Thomas Malory's Morte d' Arthur. It is clear that some names were not selected because of the unsavoury activities of some of the quasi-mythical knights. The history of the locomotive class is also surveyed and includes both the ubiquitous smoke deflector plates fitted, and their strange experimental predecessors, and the fitting of Lemaitre blastpipes to some locomotives under Bulleid. It is noted that Sir Torre represnted the SR at the Stockton & Darlington Centenary celebration, and that some were based at the LNER Heaton shed during WW2 when members reached Edinburgh and Leeds on freight workings. Illus.: No. 30736 Excalibur (malachite green) on turntable at Bournemouth in 1949 (colour: S.C. Townroe);  No. 738 when new at Eastleigh in December 1918; No. 30774 Sir Gaheris (malachite green).ex Eastleigh Works in May 1949 (colour: S.C. Townroe); No. 748 on turnatble at Eastleigh when brand new in September 1922; No. E453 King Arthur in 1925; No. 451 Sir Lamorak passing Surbiton with down Plymouth express on 10 September 1926 (F.R. Hebron); No. 794 Sir Ector de Maris on down Southern Belle at Merstham in May 1928; No. 30791 Sir Uwaine on Eastleigh shed in April 1957 (colour: Colour-Rail); No. 754 The Green Knight at Nine Elmsc 1930; No. 784 Sir Nerovens at Eastleigh in mid-1930s; No. 30793 Sir Ontzlake departing Waterloo for Bournemouth in July 1959 (colour: D.H. Beecroft);  No. 784 Sir Nerovens on Bournemouth to Newcastle express on Goring troughs in 1936 (C.R.L. Coles); No. 780 Sir Persant on inaugural Bournemouth Belle on 5 July 1931 leaving Waterloo (H. Gordon Tidey); No. 801 Sir Meliot de Logres departing Victoria with train of birdcage stock for Ramsgate in 1936 (C.R.L. Coles); No. 752 Linete with Lemaitre chimney and oil firing at Eastleigh in 1947; No. 30777 Sir Lamiel at Waterloo in May 1949: not ecs for Clapham Junction, but down Bournemouth (see letter from T.H.J. Dethridge on p. 764); No. 30781 Sir Aglovale climbing through Hildenborough on up boat train in 1949 F.R. Hebron); No. 30748 Vivien (with electric lighting) hauling LSWR non-gangwayed stock leaving Lymington Junction for Bournemouth in June 1955 (D.M.C. Hepburne-Scott); 30736 Excalibur with large diameter chimney on Bournemouth to Birkenhead through train formed mainly of GWR stock at Hinton Admiral in Sepetmber 1955 (D.M.C. Hepburne-Scott) and No. 30782 Sir Brian with LCGB Kentish Venturer at Margate in February 1962 (Brian Stephenson).

Baker, Michael H.C. Southport. 590-5.
Whilst the writer does not entirely neglect the history of railways in the Southport area, he is perhaps too eager to record his life there as a photographic student during the 1960s when steam traction was disappearing and even the elctrified line to Liverpool was under threat of closure by the barmy Beeching (who according to Baker should have been sent to Iceland or Afghanistan). His arrival was long after the closure of Lord Street station and its service of CLC trains which provided a very circuitous route to Liverpool, but the Palace Hotel at Birkdale (which had had a station on the CLC route) was the venue for a student gig with the Temperance Seven. There were still corridor business trains to Manchester, the electric trains no longer served Crossens, and there were still through carriages to Euston. Illus.ex-LYR 2-4-2T No. 50850 on station pilot duty at Chapel Street in August 1960 (colour: R.S. Greenwood); Jubilee departing Chapel Street with business express for Manchester Victoria in January 1964 (author); Caprotti valve gear double chimney class 5 No. 44756 departing on 16.25 for Manchester Victoria in April 1964 (colour: Brian Magilton); exterior of Chapel Street station in 1900s; exteriors and interior of Lord Street in 1900s; LYR electric multiple unit at Maghull c1912; former LMS EMU M29866 in dark green livery at Crossens in 1961 (colour: J.G. Dewing); Class 5 No. 45330 and Britannia on Grand National special at Chapel Street in March 1967 (author); Roe Lane Junction (author); class 5 on Grand National Day special at Burscough Junction on 26 March 1966 (author); class 507 EMU at Chapel Street in neat corporate livery with Merseyrail identification in 1980 (author). See also letter page 701 from Robert Quance whose memories went back to the time when there were  express trains for businessmen rather than the current desolate "service" to Manchester. Letter from Roger N.H. Jones (page 764) notes that LYR electric multiple unit at Maghull was one of the lightweight vehicles used for through services on to the Liverpool Overhead Railway, that a diesel multiple unit to Lime Street replaced the former through carriages, and further notes on the Meols Cop triangle. Letter from John Temple (Volume 23 p. 62) shows the rich diversity of motive power on the Manchester expresses, and even notes that one of the EMUs (M28311) was far faster than the others..:.

The Metro-Vick Co-Bo diesels. 596-7.
Colour photo feature of "lumpen-looking machines" with Crossley engines (forever associated by KPJ with red Manchester Corporation buses): D5718 at Lancaster Castle (J. Mitchell); D5718 with 15.26 Barrow to Manchester express at Farington Junction in September 1965; D5701 with D716 with 13.03 Workington to Manchester Victoria express approaching Carnforth on 30 July 1965 (David Idle);; D5707 with clouds of exhaust as it passes Dalton Junction with 11.25 Euston to Workington express on 13 April 1966 (David Idle); D5711 leaving Carnforth with 10.40 Barrow to Manchester Victoria express on 3 August 1976 (Carnforth mpd coaling tower in background) (Brian Magilton).:

Reohorn, John. Cambrian locomotive sheds and rosters – 1898. 598-605.
Details obtained from a report into the locomotive affairs on the Cambrian Railways by Vincent Raven which led to the resignation of the Locomotive Superintendent, Aston. The report is in the National Archives a+t both Kew and in Edinburgh (RAIL 92/141). The article uses the report only to extract information about the locomotive stock and the depots to which it was allocated.. The locomotive classes considered were the Volunteer class of 0-4-2; the Small Goods (Queen class); Small Passenger 2-4-0 (24 class or Albion class); the Mountaineer class of 0-4-0ST; the Seaham class of 2-4-0T; the Small Sharps (4-4-0: 16 class or Beaconsfield type); Large Sharps (Aston bogies or Large Passenger); Aston Goods or 75 class; Aston Passenger Tanks (0-4-4T). The Mid-Wales Railway provided Sharp Stewart Goods which became Cambrian Railways Nos. 48 and 49 and some Kitson 0-4-2 and 0-6-0s. There is a note on the numbering system adopted by the Cambrian Railways. There were locomotive depots at Aberystwyth, Brecon, Builth Wells, Caersws, Kerry, Llanidloes, Llanfyllin, Machynleth, Moat Lane, Oswestry, Penmaenpool, Portmadoc, Pwllheli, Welshpool, Wrexham and Whitchurch (although the last only existed in GWR period). Illus: many of the photographs are from those taken by W.H. Burman. See also earlier article by same author in Volume 21 page 80 et seq and letters on page 701 from Peter Davis which notes some errors and adds some detail, and from John Richards mainly concerning Llanelwydd Quarry near Builth Wells.

Out in the 'Mid-Day Scot' .  606-7.
Colour photo feature: No. 46221 Queen Elizabeth (green) at Carlisle on up train in mid-1950s (Gavin Wilson); No. 46246 City of Manchester (red) on down train at Kensal Green in September 1961 (A.C. Sterndale); No. 46207 Princess Arthur of Connaught (red) on down train at Kensal Green in September 1961 (A.C. Sterndale) No. 46234 Duchess of Abercorn (green) on down train at Rugby in 1961 (Paul Riley); No. 46246 City of Manchester (red) on down train at Kilburn in September 1961 (A.C. Sterndale). See also front cover.

Idle, David (phot.). London freight. 608-9.
Colour photo feature (photographs taken in late days of steam freight in London area): Hall class No. 6998 on ballast train at Southall en route from Hayes to Princes Risborough via Greenford Loop on 12 November 1965; Southern Region Q1 No. 33027 shunting empty milk tank wagons at Wimbledon on 12 August 1965; 8F No. 48183 crossing Battersea Bridge with 13.15 Willesden to Hither Green freight on 25 August 1964; BR class 5 No. 73155 with 15.26 Nine Elms to Feltham near Putney on 25 August 1964; and WR 4575 class No. 5569 with train of vans at West Drayton on 22 August 1964.:

Nisbet, Alistair F. Roads for rails. 610-15.
LNER documents dated 1 December 1932  as viewable in National Archives at Kew and in Edinburgh which considered converting the Brightlingsea branch and the Mid Suffolk Light Railway which meandered across Suffolk from Haughley to Laxey into roads served by buses and lorries. In the case of the Brightlingsea branch there were potential problems in Wivenhoe's town centre with providing access for buses en route to the railway station. The conversion costs would have been high. The East Coast floods of 31 January 1953 severely damaged the line and it was not reopened until 7 December, but succumbed to a Beeching closure on 15 June 1964. The Mid-Suffolk opened on 20 September 1904 (1908 see letter from David Chappell), and the LNER did not take it into ownership until 1924. There were 28 public crossings and the main traffic was grain and sugar beet. Passenger receipts in 1930 were £537 (total for year). The line closed on 26 July 1952. Two maps. Illus. Letter from David Chappell (page 764) identifies several errors in the section on the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway: concerning opening and closing (for freight) dates, the Debenham branch (did carry traffic for a time) and names of stations, sidings, etc: Name of "Thorndon" station was Aspull & Thorndon, there was no "h" in Goram's Mill. The guard's name was Keable, not Keeble. J15 class only used between 1946 and 1952. Trains departed from a separate station at Haughley. There were 116 level crossings.:.

Patterson, Allan. High Wycombe South Signal Box in 1987. 616-19.
Experience of working a GWR type signal box on the former GC/GW Joint line when train services had declined to DMU services from Marylebone to Banbury, one return Leamington to Paddington commuter train, and two freight workings: to Thame with oil tanks from Ripple Lane, and municipal waste from Northolt to Calvert. The signalling incorporated some unusual features which in part stemed from its former junction with the Maidenhead branch: the most significant was the up extension which enabled up trains to leave ona relief line rather than be directed immediately back onto the main line. There were also timber signal arms and a lever to operate a locking bar. The illus. are all in colour and were taken by the author between 22 September and 28 October 1987 and show both the exterior and the interior of the signal box; No. 37 893 on the Thame oil tank train; No. 47 609 on the up residual Leamington Spa to Paddington working and a DMU departing for Marylebone.

Rutherford, Michael. The development of the large British passenger tank engine. Part 2. Variety – the spice of life. (Railway Reflections No. 145). 620-9.
Table 1 lists British lines electrified by 1906. The Hoy 2-6-2T was designed to achieve a high rate of acceleration, and was used to compare the performance of steam against electric traction on the LYR Liverpool to Southport line. Aspinall gave details of the comparative performance in his Presidental Address to the Instn of Mechanical Engineers in 1909. The 2-6-2Ts were moved to serve the Oldham branch and other services from Manchester Victoria, but were found to be prone to derailments, and there was trouble of water leakage from the tanks. (Mason). The superheated radial tanks displaced the 2-6-2Ts which were then used for banking and shunting. On the LBSCR Marsh with the assistance of Basil Kingsford Field introduced the I3 class 4-4-2Ts with superheaters. In November 1909 the I3 tanks, mainly No. 23, were tested against the LNWR Whale Precursor class 4-4-0 No. 7 Titan on the Rugby to East Croydon run with the Sunny South Express. The superheated engines returned very low coal and water consumptions and were able to run non-stop from Willesden Junction to Rugby. These tests enabled Bowen Cooke to obtain approval to fit superheaters to the Geoirge V class 4-4-0s. Field was later invoved in the design of the LBSCR J class 4-6-2Ts. Six were originally authorised, but only two were built. The first was fitted with Stephenson link motion, but the second had Walschaerts valve gear. They had a good reputation for acceleration, but water surging was expeienced in the tanks. The same problem afflicted the Baltic (4-6-4Ts) and well tanks were fitted in an attempt to remedy this. A tendency to derail was rectified by modifying the springing on the bogies. John H. Adams of the NSR was responsible for a 4-4-2T (class K) which was similar to the LBSCR I3 class. It is noted that the Webb design of Watford 0-6-2T was based upon a twenty year old design, namely that of the Cauliflower 0-6-0. Whale introduced a 4-4-2T and Bowen Cooke produced a 4-4-2T which was capable of working through from Shrewsbury to Swansea on the Central Wales line. Both the 4-4-2T and 4-6-2T designs appeared to be capable of fast running according to Nock. The Pckersgill 4-6-2Ts were also judged to be good according to Nock. The Robinson 4-6-2Ts are also mentioned. Illus.: 0-10-0T Decapod of GER (coloured); LYR Hoy 2-6-2T No. 454 at Southport; ex-LNWR 0-6-2T No. 6986 at Soho Road, Birmingham (colour); LYR 2-4-2T No. 230 at Ansdell with 12 corridor coaches in June 1911; Marsh LBSCR 4-4-2T No. 22; NSR John Adams 4-4-2T (K class) No. 46 at Stoke  

Biddle, Gordon. Sir William Tite and railways. Part 2. 630-5.
Part of Liverpool Lime Street station was designed by Tite, but very little of his structure remains. In France Tite was closely involved with the Paris-Rouen-Le Havre railway and especially with two stations in Rouen. The attractive stations in Dieppe and Yvetot are both described and illsutrated (excellent photographs by author). It is noted that although Tite did not design the magnificent station in Huddersfield he was responsible for the overall ambience which reflects the superb station in several other buildings. Barnstaple and Crediton stations reflect Tite's interest in the North Devon Railway. Finally, the neat timber stations and ecclesiastical structures at Brookwood Cemetry, and at the London departure point for the funeral  trains reflected Tite's genius.

Penney, Derek (Phot.). Two 'Clauds' are better than one. 636
Colour photo feature: D16/3 No. 62530 on Cambridge shed in 1958 and No. 62618 on March shed in January 1959 (with seemingly vast numbers of locomotives on shed in what is now a railway ghost town.

Readers' Forum. 637.
1968. Stephen Richards.
Response to Blakemore Editorial on page 451: published with "revue" rather than "review", but the NRM event was a sort of revue: the ultra short train rides were fun, however, and with the just the right amount of sense of adventure, but the credit crisis began at York. See also letter from N.H. Stanbury from Tunbridge Wells on page 702..
The Great Bear. Allan S. Carter
See feature on page 547 et seq Jack Street's I drove the Cheltenham Flyer states that David Daniels drove both The Great Bear and Viscount Churchill: letter writer great grandson of Driver Daniels.
The Great Bear. B.J. Harding
See feature on page 547 et seq: Pacific not broken up prior to Castle No. 111 Viscount Churchill entering service (official photograph of Castle taken on 5 January 1924 prior to Pacific being dismantled).
The Great Bear. Les Summers.
See feature on page 547 et seq: argues that Hawksworth was not involved in later design of Pacific: see writer's article in Backtrack, 2000, . 14, 238 and book: A new update of Swindon steam. Great Western Society.
The Hellifield Station Collision. Rory Wilson.
See feature on page 484 et seq: critical of the failure to emphasise the inherent design limitations due to lack of one-pull fascilities.
The Hellifield Station Collision. Allan Patterson.
See feature on page 484 et seq: critical of the failure to emphasise the inherent design limitations of the intermediate block signals which always cleared to green once a train had moved into the next section. Also critical of the original text for failing to appreciate that the Edinburgh train was making a scheduled stop..
The future of Pullman. Andrew Colebourne.
See feature on page 474 et seq: observes that Brighton Belle sets were not painted in reversed greay and blue and livery, but in standard Rail Blue and grey livery with embellishments.
NER B16 4-6-0s. G. Morris.
Comments that the white painted rods on No. 61447 (page 350) were intended to show cracks
Southern sunshine: Southern style. Sydney Diggles.
See feature by Alan Bennett (page 434) wherein it states that Mrs Grundy was Dickens' character,not so she was created by Thomas Morton
Reviews of Tay and Dee Disaster books. Peter R. Lewis.
See reviews on page 254: considers that the reviewer was unfair in his criticism of the "exessive" detail in the writer's books on the Dee and Tay bridge disasters.

Book Reviews. 638
Tickets of the Welsh Highland Railway, 1922-1936. Derek Lystor and John Keylock. Welsh Highland Heritage Group. GBS ****,
"handsome and very reasonably priced booklet"
The railway photographs of P.W. Pilcher. David J Patrick. LNWR Society. MB *****
Percy William Pilcher, born 1866: outstanding pioneer of 'amateur' railway photography. Earliest photographs probablyn taken in 1881 in Boston and Grantham areas.Taught at Shrewsbury School from 1892 where his hobby blossomed around jointly-owned station. Superb compilation by LNWR Society includes many LNWR locomotives photographed at station, shed and lines radiating from Shrewsbury: 'Jumbos', Webb Compounds, 0-6-0s, 'Experiments', 0-8-0s and 'Claughtons'. Skilled at recording moving trains, especially dramatic shots on Whitmore troughs. Book includes some of Pilcher's Great Northern subjects and the GWR presence at Shrewsbury. More unexpected pictures include a GWR broad gauge train, the Festiniog Railways double Fairlie James Spooner at Tan-y-Bwlch, a Midland Railway Baldwin 2-6-0 and an 'ROD' 2-8-0 near Colwyn Bay. The quality and sharpness of the photographs is remarkable for the time, a tribute to Pilcher's ski1l with glass plates. Inclusdes full listing of Pilcher negatives, with reference numbers for National Railway Museum where negatives now reside. Book puts many more recent photographic albums to shame; reproduction is first rate, the captions are detailed, and great value.
Devon Railway Stations. Mike Oakley. Dovecote Press. MB ***
Well-produced work falls into the 'reference' category rather than a 'good read'.
Jack the Station Cat and the Midnight Mice. Alan Cliff. Gwasg Helygain Ltd. Jamie McD/DWM ****
Jamie McD is revewer's grandson (aged seven) and he liked it.
Steam in Ulster in the 1960s. Richard Whitford and Ian McLarnon Sinclair. Colourpoint. DWM ***
Well-reproduced pictures and extended, informative captions, gives a good general impression of the last decade of steam in Northern Ireland: thoroughly competent and interesting book.
Austerity Ulster (Photos from the UTA Archive 1). Norman Johnston. Colourpoint. DWM ****
Origins in old photo album in loft: a collection of official photographs taken by, or for, the Ulster Transport Authority in 1947-1959. Eclectic selection of both trains and buses.
Scenes from the Past: 50 The 'Buxton Line' - Part One. Stockport, Davenport and Hazel Grove to Disley, New Mills (Newtown) and Whaley Bridge. Gregory K. Fox. Foxline, DWM ****
Book subscribes firmly to the 'Edgington principle'; that is, the shorter the line the more that is likely to be written about it: follows standard Foxline format being profusely illustrated and enthusiastically captioned, with a splendid amount of detail.

Crossing the canal at Worcester. (Michael Mensing). Rear cover
No. 7006 Lydford Castle crosses Worcester & Birmingham Canal with 17.35 Paddington to Hereford on Sunday 27 August 1961.

November (Number 211)

BR Britannia 4-6-2 No.70013 Oliver Cromwell raises steam at Carnforth shed on 10th August 1968. (David Idle). front cover 
In readiness for its appointment on the following day's 'Last Steam Train' which it worked from Manchester to Carlisle. After 40 years' absence from the main lines, No.70013 made a welcome return in summer 2008. See also colour photo feature pp. 644-5..

Real heritage – real soot in your eyes. David Lloyd-Jones.
Guest Editorial: visit a live steam line rather than watch a simulation on your PC (KPJ saw the NNR J15 run round its train in Sheringham on a perfect October day on the same day that No. 211 arrived, so he feels smug).

Focus on the 'Britannia' Pacifics. David Idle (phot.). 644-5.
Colour photo-feature: 70020 Mercury on Crewe North shed on 8 November 1964; 70052 Firth of Tay at Nottingham Midland on 24 April 1965; 70005 John Milton approaching Oxenholme with 10.40 Windermere to Euston express on 30 July 1965; 70049 Solway Firth at Willesden mpd on 8 March 1964, and 70029 Shooting Star passing Scout Green with 13.20 Euston to Glasgow on 15 July 1967. See also front cover

Summers, L.A. Steam, diesel and electric — towards the ultimate answer. 646-53.
Cites a very considerable number of references, notably C.M. Cock's Presidential Address to the Institution of Locomotive Engineers, and a very long examination made in the late 1950s into the false economics of American motive power where electrification would have been more appropriate for the Zipfian routes which carried the bulk of the traffic. After all this it is not clear whether the Author considered that there was further scope for steam locomotive development in Britain, or whether every effort should have been made to electrifiy what should have been electrified long ago. Bill Deedes once made a comment on how much more comfortable it was to travel from his home in Kent to Cambridge by electric train than it was to travel to Oxford by an odourous, rattling DMU (of which the Adelante admired? by Summers is yet another of this species).. See letter from Martin Johnson (page 764) on the application of Cost of Ownership to the analysis of motive power decisions. Even sharper comment from Alan de Burton (Vol. 23 page 62).. Further slings and arrows on page 124 (Volume 123) from (1) Doug Landau who slams the assumption that No. 71000 Duke of Gloucester had an inadequate ashpan — it was over-draughted and (2) from Clements and McMahon who show how steam fell off the tracks due to lack of coal during and following WW2. Part 2 of this saga is presumably Electrification and the 'Jazz' in Volume 24 page 536 wherein River class 2-6-4Ts are envisaged rolling into the Strand on suburban trains from the Dartford Loop..

Emblin, Robert. The Great Central position: a final examination. 654-8.
The Great Central's finances have been the subject of several articles, notably in Volume 9 page 129; Volume 10 page 266 and Volume 15 page 707. Detractors of the Company's finances included Michael Bonavia History of the LNER (1983) and Jack Simmons (notably a private communication which called it a "ramshackle railway"; KPJ one would think that he was unaware of the crumbling Midland). These are Emblin's concluding lines: "Given the apparent reluctance of the GCR's detractors either to look at or to comprehend reliable data and/or contemporaneous professional assessments — preferring instead to indulge in unbridled and fanciful speculation about what might have happened to the Great Central if the Railway Grouping had not occurred, it is worth recalling some words of Sir Sam Fay (GCR's General Manager) during his Presidential Address to the Institute of Transport on 2nd October 1922: "Figures which can only be used by a process of deduction, such as a mixture of movement up hill and down dale or on the level, may be of use to a limited number of persons who have time to indulge in mental exercise by tossing them up and about and speculating upon what would happen if they were only different. They are calculated to waste the time and exhaust the patience of men who are engaged in actualities. See also letter in next Volume on p. 189 from J.H. Bates which refers to the wanton destruction of railways in the UK and the similarly governed Latin America (vide Marples and McGregor) and that in the period when the GCR was constructed it was normal to wait thirty years before profits emerged. See also letter from David Hodgkins on page 253 of Volume 23 which cites paper by Nicholas Crafts, Timothy Leunig and Abay Mulutu Were British railway companies well managed in the early twentieth century? Economic History Review, 2008, 61, 847 which concludes that only the SECR was worse at that time.. Illus.: incorrect caption used for first photograph: see Editorial letter page 764 for correct caption.

Thrower, David. Southern gone West: the Bodmin & Wadebridge line. Part One. 658-67.
An Act of Parliament was approved on 23 May 1832, and part of the line opened on 4 July 1834 on what has become one of the best cycleways in Britain. The line reached Bodmin from Wadebridge on 20 August 1834 and was formally opened on 30 September 1834. The first locomotive was an 0-6-0 (later 0-4-0) named Camel supplied by Neath Abbey Ironworks. A second locomotive, supplied as an 0-4-0, from Neath Abbey was named Elephant. The early locomotives were prone to failure and horse traction was sometimes substituted. Passenger services were extremely sparse. One of the major traffics was sand used as fertiliser. There was a short branch line to Ruthern Bridge. Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch portrayed the line in his Cuckoo Valley Railway. The LSWR secured ownership of the line in 1845 without Parliamentary approval in its bid to extend westwards.From thence it was forced to supply its own motive power by sea. Illus.: O2 0-4-4T with two corridor coaches on banks of River Camel near Grogley on 10 September 1960 (Peter E. Gray, colour); Bodmin at Bodmin terminus with LSWR directors in 1886; O2 0-4-4T with two corridor coaches at Polbrock near Grogley with 16.05 Bodmin North to Padstow on 10 September 1960 (Peter E. Gray, colour); Bodmin terminus in 1888 showing sand drops; 0298 class 2-4-0T at Padstow with |Bodmin train on 16 June 1926 (H.C. Casserley); 8750 0-6-0PT No. 4694 at Bodmin North with 16.23 to Padstow in September 1962 (Barry Gant, colour); O2 No. 30200 leaving Wadebridge for Bodmin North with two carmine & cream Maunsell coaches in August 1954 (R.C. Riley);  Dunmere Halt in 1962; 0298 2-4-0T No. 30585 at Hellandbridge on way to Wenford Bridge on 13 July 1961 (Peter E. Gray, colour); 0298 2-4-0T No. 30585 at Dunmere crossing on 19 August 1954 (H.C. Casserley); Boscarne Junction signal box on 5 May 1959 (T.J. Edgington); 2-6-2T No. 4574 entering Bodmin General with 14.35 Bodmin Road to Wadebridge in July 1961 (Peter E. Gray, colour); Grogley Halt on 19 August 1954 (H.C. Casserley); No. 30585 in Pencarrow Woods on 19 August 1954 (R.M.. Casserley); 30585 shunting at Wenford Bridge on 13 July 1961 (Peter E. Gray, colour);  Boscarne Junction on 19 August 1961 with No. 4585 on 15.28 Waadebridge to Bodmin Road and 30585 returning to Wadebridge (R.M.. Casserley); Nanstallon Halt on 19 August 1961 (R.M.. Casserley).

Bennett, Alan. Devon: a bold and beautiful prospect: the Great Western Railway verdict. 668-71.
Illustrated mainly by publicity material in colour plus extracts from several publications with much purple prose (S.P.B. Mais in Holiday Haunts, 1939 and Glorious Devon, 1928 and A.G. Bradley's Rivers and streams of England, 1909. There was also publicity material aimed at the TransAtlantic trade: GWR Ports and Hrabours (1935) and Great Western Railway of England via Plymouth (1932). The pictorial (colour with one exception): Devon (1938 brochure cover); Glorious Devon frontispiece; Plymouth (Holiday Haunts 1938, frontispiece); River Dart paddle steamer (black & white); map from Great Western Railway of England via Plymouth; cover for Plymouth 1933 and Glorious Devon within Holiday Haunts 1934.:

Steam at Crewe. 672-5
Colour photo-feature (mainly from the time of transition from electric traction to steam): Duchess 46245 City of London (in maroon) departing on down Lakes Express in July 1963 with AL5 electric alongside and green EMU in background (Brian Magilton); Jubilee No. 45554 Ontario under the wires; 3F 0-6-0T NO. 47646 taking water in works yard in June 1964 (Brian Magilton); Western Region No. 7822 Foxcote Manor arriving with 11.15 Aberystwyth to Manchester Piccadilly under the wires in July 1963 (Brian Magilton); ex-Works Duchess in maroon No.  46251 City of Nottingham (Jim Carter); rebuilt Scot No. 46110 Grenadier Guardsman taking over excursion train from AC electric in April 1963 (J. Slater); Class 2 2-6-2T No. 41232 running round local train for Market Drayton and Wellington service in July 1963 (Brian Magilton);  rebuilt Patriot No. 45526 Morecambe and Heysham in 1961; Duchess No. 46238 City of Carlisle (maroon) on 13.20 Euston to Glasgow with EMU arriving alongside in July 1963 (Brian Magilton); 9F No. 92120 possibly ex-Works (Jim Carter).:

Smith, Michael J. "In the interests of their own ambitions": the story of the bitter rivalry between London's Metropolitan and District Railways. Part One. 676-81.
The Metropolitan Railway opened from Paddington to Farringdon Street on 10 January 1863. Following upon the success of this line John Fowler, its Engineer enviages what would eventually become the Circle Line and this led to the passing of two Acts on 29 June 1864. The first enabled the Metropolitan to extend at both ends: to South Kensington and to Tower Hill. The second established the Metropolitan District Railway to fill the gap and to enable capital to be raised. The two companies did not work together and this was aided by hte fierce rivalry between Edward Watkins and Jmaes Staats Forbes. There were many lengthy and expensive disputes over the aptly named Cromwell Curve and the completion of the "Circle" was forced upon the two companies by the City of London establishing the Metropolitan Iner Circle Completion Railway with an Act of 7 August 1874 and ten years later the Circle Line was complete and opened on 6 October 1884. The delay was due to both of the original railways doing everything possible to gain some minute advantage, and these wars extended to the sort of nonsense which is an everyday part of rail travel in the 21st century where tickets were not honoured by the competitors. Illus.: p. 681: Earl's Court station with train for Putney Bridge: see letter from George Jasieniecki on page 189 of next volume who gives date as 1900...

Lost over Rannoch. Tom Heavyside (phot.). 682-3.
Colour photo-feature of the West Highland line: Class 27 No. 27 110 on 12.20 Oban to Glasgow Queen Street at Crianlarich with class 25 No. 25 229 alongside in 1978; Class 37 No. 37 027 Loch Eil at Spean Bridge with engineers' train with ballast hoppers on 16 June 1982; No. 37 012 Loch Rannoch with freight on Rannoch Moor on 15 July 1983; 37 430 Cwmbran (in Inter-City livery) with three Mk 2 coaches in Scotrail livery on 14.50 Fort William to Glasgow near County March Summit on 28 August 1992, and 25 082 on 17.44 Oban to Glagow in Glen Falloch on 16 May 1978. Snow visible in first and last locations: all (except where noted) locomotives and carriages in corporate rail blue livery. Class 37s with loch names adorned with West Highland terriers.

Maggs, Colin C. Railway curiosities: special trains. 684-5.
Special trains ordered by passengers: notably one ordered by Lowenfield when he was left behind in the Swindon refreshment room as the train left before the allotted ten minutes whilst en route from Paddington to Teignmouth. He expected the Great Western Railway to pay for the special which he ordered to carry him from Bristol to Teignmouth, but he lost the case which the railway brought against him for not paying for the special. Harry Rosslyn used to hire a special from the North British Railway to convey himself and salmon caught in the Tay from Perth to Dysart. The Duke of Bedford when he was staying at Cairnsmore served by the Portpatrick & Wigtownshire Railway station at Palnure used to have food and water conveyed by special train from England to serve for himself and his guests. In 1933 the Romney Hythe & Dymchurch Railway provided a special to convey a bride from Dungeness to the church in Lydd when the railway was normally closed in the winter. In 1957 the Western Region organized a special from Paddington to Shrewsbury to convey scooter riders and their machines. Writer was guilty of "unique error" in claiming that Portpatrick & Wigtownshire Railway was only one with English company involvement: not so Forth Bridge enjoyed Midland, Great Northern and North Eastern Railway financial involvement.: see letter in Vol. 23 page 62 from Peter Davis..

Rutherford, Michael. The development of the large British passenger tank engine. Part 3. More variety. (Railway Reflections No. 146). 686-95.
Bewildering variety, including some of the innovative designs produced for British Colonies, notably the 4-8-2T and 4-10-2T designs introduced onto the 3ft 6in gauge Natal Governments Railway in 1888 and 1899 by the Locomotive Superintendent W. Milne, who was succeeded by R.W. Reid (formerly of the Highland Railway) in 1896. These tank engines were supplied by Dübs. Reid was replaced by Hendrie who introduced a more powerful 4-8-2: the Dübs B type and this led to a 4-8-0 supplied by NBL in 1904 with a wide Belpaire firebox In 1906 six of the 4-8-0s were rebuilt as 4-8-2s: the first Mountain type to run anywhere. The 4-6-4Ts supplied by Beyer Peacock for the New South Wales Government Railways under William Thow, and in 1913 Beyer also constructed forty 4-6-4Ts for the Dutch State Railway, a design which may have influenced the Robinson 9N 4-6-2T introduced at Gorton in 1910. Brief mention of the large tank engines produced for the Irish narrow gauge cuminating with the Lough Swilly Burtonport Extension 4-8-4Ts. Before considering Irish "standard gauge" designs mention was made of the successful Gooch inside-cylinder 4-4-0Ts for the broad gauge which were followed by inside-cylinder 4-4-2Ts on the Taff Vale Railway. In 1893 Sharp Stewart delivered three 4-4-2Ts to the Dublin, Wicklow & Wexford Railway: the 52 class. They were large locomotives built for the Kingstown to Kingsbridge mail trains. Ivatt whilst at Inchicore modified his class 42 2-4-2T design into a small 4-4-2T. The Cork Bandon & South Coast Railway had Thomas Conran as its Locomotive Superintendent for thirty years until his death in February 1887. Replaced briefly by J.J. Johnstone and then by his son James W. Johnstone.Whilst the latter was in charge took over two side tanks from the Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway when it opted to replace its Irish standard gauge line by narrow gauge in 1885. Johnstone increased the power of the locomotives partly be rebuilding and partly by a limited number of purchases. Small 4-4-0Ts supplied by Dübs were gradually reconstructed as 4-4-2Ts, but one was rebuilt as a 4-6-0T and this was followed by further purchases of this wheel arrangement from Beyer Peacock between 1906 and 1920. Theese were the Bandon tanks. The Wilson Worsdell Whitby Willies were initially 4-6-0Ts, but were soon modified to 4-6-2Ts to increase coal capacity. The later Raven three-cylinder 4-8-0Ts and 4-4-4Ts shared virtually the same boiler (and the LNER produced a standard boiler for all three classes). Notes that the Furness Railway expanded a 4-4-2T (delivered under Pettigrew) into an inside-cyliner 4-6-4T design under Rutherford/Sharples. There is brief mention of the Whitelegg 4-6-4T designs for the LTSR and GSWR and of the Midland Railway's endeavours to sell the former to either the GWR or SECR The unsatisfactory Belfast & County Down Railway Baltic tanks were far less successful than the earlier 4-4-2Ts which were supplied again in 1924 and 1945. Also brief mention of the Fowler 2-6-4T and the class's amazing propensity for speed.
Illus.: LTSR 4-4-2T No. 80 Southend-on-Sea (F. Moore: colour); Cork Bandon & South Coast Railway 4-6-0T No. 464 at Cotk Glanmire Road in March 1961 (colour); former LBSCR 4-6-2T as Southern Railway No. 2325 at Eastleigh shed in April 1938 (colour); TVR C Class 4-4-2T No. 170 with sailing ships behind; Ivatt GNR C2 class 4-4-2T No. 1550; Dublin & South Eastern Railway 4-4-2T as GSR No. 457 at Broadstone in 1931; Robinson 4-4-2T Class 9L as C14 No. 67447 on Marple Viaduct with local from Hayfiled in 1953 (E. Oldham, colour); Robinson 4-4-2T Class 9K as C13 No. 5018 (RCTS Locomotives of the LNER Part 7 Fig. 48 shows it as No. 18 in c1924); first Cork Bandon & South Coast Railway 4-6-0T as supplied by Beyer Peacock in 1906;  Belfast & County Down Railway 4-6-4T as UTA No. 223 in ex-Works condition at Belfast Queen's Quay in 1953; ex-furness Railway 4-6-4T No. 11101 in LMS workshop grey; Class 4 2-6-4T No. 42593 pilots Jubilee 45698 Mars on a Liverpool to Glasgow express in Lune Gorge in June 1961 (Derek Cross, colour); A5 (GCR 9N) 4-6-2T No. 69819 at Manchester London Road on 12 May 1954; Metropolitan Railway 4-4-4T in original ownership and as LNER No. 6417 at Nottingham Victoria; BCDR 4-6-4T as UTA No. 225 at Belfast Queen's Quay (Gordon Coltas); Fowler 2-6-4T No. 42338 at Coventry station in snow in December 1962 (Paul Riley, colour); two Caledonian Railway Wemyss Bay 4-6-2Ts at Beattock Nos. 952 and 953;A8 4-6-2T No. 69865 working bunker first assisting B1 No. 61115 on climb to Ravenscar on scenic excursion on 26 June 1955 (K. Hoole); V1 class 2-6-2T No. 2907 probably at St. Margaret's Edinburgh (F. Moore).

On East Anglian lines John D. Mann (phot.). 696-7.
Photo-feature (black & white): one remarkable feature of which is that in spite of the considerable changes since photographs were taken all the lines are still open and some have greatly improved services: Melton on East Suffolk line with class 31 No. 31 008 with wagons of stone for Wickham Market bypass on 9 April 1974; Class 105 EMU arriving from Norwich en route to Cromer handing single line token over at North Walsham and crossing city-bound train on 14 September 1977 (now all done from Colchester); Southminster with No. 47 102 shunting a sand train on 5 May 1975; Charlie Sadler helping lady off DMU at White Notley on Braintree branch on 26 March 1974 (and where are the plans to extend to Stanstead Airport?); Manningtree station with class 08 on freight on 15 May 1979. 

Grainger, Ken. All roads lead to Sheffield. 698-700.
Travel arrangements for the unveining of the Great Central Railway's War Memorial at Sheffield Victoria on 9 August 1922 (see article in previous Volume page 584 et seq)

Readers' Forum. 701-2.
Crossing the canal at Worcester, Editor
See caption on back cover of October issue: train was travelling from Hereford towards Paddington.
Sheffield Victoria station. Jean C. Massey.
See article on page 525: during Suez Crisis her parents travelled by train to Burns' Night at Victoria Hotel, but found that their tickets expired at midnight, but were able to make return journey on early workmen's tickets whilst attired in evening dress.
The Hellifield station collision. Ken Metcalfe.
See page 484 et seq. As a passed cleaner at Holbeck he fired the breakdown train summoned to assit in clearing up the accident.
Croydon, Oxted & East Grinsteead Railway. Christopher Prout
See letter from Brian Sullivan on page 572 refering to illustration on page 459 upper which corrects statement that photograph was taken from a "footbridge" - it was from the steps to a signal box..
Chorlton Junction. David Hughes
See two articles beginning pages 428 and 496. Between 1953 and 1961 attended Chorlon Grammar School: notes utter lack of passengers at Wilbraham Road station, running in turns from Gorton Works and the motive power seen.
Cambrian locomotive sheds and rosters. Peter Davis
See article on page 598 et seq: points out individual locomotives which were "missing" from the list and adds to some of the intracies of working the South Wales Express operated in association with the Brecon & Merthyr Railway: suggests that the Cambrian locomotive turned on the Tal-y-llyn Junction triangle rather than running to Brecon to turn. Response from original author on page 62 (Vol. 23).
Cambrian locomotive sheds and rosters. John Richards.
See article on page 598 et seq: Llanelwydd Quarry near Builth Wells .Response from original author on page 62 (Vol. 23).
Southport, Robin Quance.
See article on page 590 when train services were already past their prime: these memories go back to the time when there were  express trains for businessmen rather than the current desolate "service" to Manchester and KPJ considers that he is correct to imply that Coronation Scot vehicles were employed to convey first class customers (seem to remember vehicle with no gangway at leading end of premier Southport express) or are we both incorrect and confusing this with the Blackpool club cars whhich left Victoria at about the same time? John Macnab (letter p. 764) confirms that Coronation Scot 1938/9 stock was used on Southport business express..:.
The Great Bear. Peter Davis. 702
See article page 547 et seq makes it clear that Collett did not like the locomotive as it might out-perform his Castle class. Also argues that Webb radial truck used rather than a Cartazzi or Bissel truck as these were to hand being used on 36XX and 31XX tank engines..
1968. N.H. Stanbury.
Comment on letter from Steven Richard on page 637 concerning the 1968 Revue staged at NRM:  spelling, grammar, and lack thereof

Book Reviews. 702
For the love of trains: the story of British tram and railway preservation. Denis Dunstone. Ian Allan. AJM ****
Sandy (who wrote on this subject in Backtrack: see Volume 22 page 164 et seq; 346 et seq; and 599 et seq) is critical of Dunstone for contributing so little to the Talyllyn Railway and to compare railway with the far more successful canal preservation. Notes the excellence of the illustrations. Amazingly Norfolk Country Library has purchased two copies so expect further comment. Here it is: Mullay fails to note that Dunstone paints with a larger brush than did its reviewer and extends the study back to Prince Albert and his encouragement to preserve early steam power..
The Derbyshire Times railway album. Clive Hardy. At Heart. DWM ***
Black & white photographs mainly drawn from the Derbyshire Times.
A portrait of the North Eastern Railway. David and Claire Williamson. NERA. GBS *****
"excellent overview"; "generous captions"; "there is an index and a map". "strongly recommended" and never ever likely to be seen in the Norfolk bilbliographic wasteland

Works train at Colwall (J.S. Gilkes). rear cover
18 July 1965: Colwall station, Malvern Hills behind: engineers' train with lights from working in Colwall Tunnel.

December (Issue No. 212)

GWR '28XX' 2-8-0 No.2898 near Reading West with a Berks & Hants line freight in May 1964. (Derek Penney). front cover

Sleepers awake. Michael Blakemore. 707
Editorial: the automatic homonym detector wrecker was disambiguated by KPJ: it was the permament way sort, not the attendant with the morning coffee sort.

Digging their own graves, David Idle (phot.); David Mosley (captions). 708-9.
Colour photo-feature of UTA WT class 2-6-4Ts (Jeeps) working spoil trains from Maghermorne quarries on the Larne line to near Belfast to construct the M2 Motorway

Crosse, J. 1962 — the last real Summer? 710-13.
Western Region summer timetable: fare options, named trains, sleepers (sleeping car services with four-berth second class still available), named trains, refreshments, car hire, car transport through Severn Tunnel,, loadings for diesel hydraulics, Peak type diesel electric locomotives and the King class. The gradual transition from steam to diesel traction. See also letter from Michael Mensing (February 2009) p. 124 concerning Western Region power ratings of Warships and Westerns compared with Peaks. DMU illustrated page 713 was not a class 119 or 120, but an Inter City class 123. Mensing also notes Western Region adoption of 24-hour clock for its 1964 timetable..

Paterson, Anne-Marie. The Aviemore Line. 714-17.
Pressure from the proposed Glasgow & North Western Railway which would have reduced the Glasgow to Inverness distance by 45 miles (and removed the poetry from Inversnaid), and from several proposals involving the Great North of Scotland Railway led the Highland Railway to seek a direct route from Inverness to Aviemore which cut out the long meander via Nairn and Forres. The new line, surveyed by Murdoch Paterson, called for a severe climb to a summit at Slochd (1315ft) and several major civil engineering works, including Culloden Viaduct, Findhorn Viaduct (suggested by Sir John Fowler and the design of which clearly mirrors his genius), Tomatin Viaduct, Slochd Viaduct and Dulnain Viaduct.

Binks, Micheal B. How permanent is the permanent way? 718-25.
Bullhead rail, witth its chairs, had been largely displaced by flat bottom rail, the bulk of which was now Continuous Welded Rail which was purchased in long lengths and extended still further by in situ Thermit welding. At one time fishplates were removed in the spring, coated with grease and rebolted to ensure that thermal expansion could be accommodated. Rail was manufactured from steel with a 0.45 to 0.8% carbon content. Manganese steel was used to limit wear in high severity situations. The GWR used fang bolts to secure chairs to the timber sleepers then used. Concrete sleepers are used with flat bottom rail and secured by Pandrol clips (illus. p. 720 bottom). Jim Harper (letter page 189 March Issue) corrects caption to first illustration: the trailing crossover was partially protected by disc signals..

Thrower, David. Southern gone West: the Bodmin & Wadebridge line. Part Two. 726-33.
Train services. Includes a tantalising note on diversion of Cornish Riviera over the line when the route via Plymouth was closed during WW2 bombing at Plymouth in 1941 and 1942, although does note that the train was divided. The route was also used as a divertion for milk and perishsables traffic when the Royal Albert Bridge was closed for repair in 1960. Motive power includes the Beattie 0395 class 0-6-0WT retained for the Wenford Bridge china clay traffic and the quest for replacements which included the P class 0-6-0Ts and the PDSWJR 0-6-0T A.S. Harris: neither option was successful.

The GWR '28XX' goods. 734-5.
Colour photo-feature: No. 2856 near Madeley Junction on down freight on 27 August 1962 (Michael Mensing); No. 3816 with train of iron ore tipplers near Hatton in 1962 (Derek Penney); No. 2898 near Reading West in May 1964 with very mixed freight (Derek Penney); No. 2823 near Acocks Green with up freight on 13 March 1959 (MIchael Mensing); Mo. 3820 at coaling stage, Banbury shed on 12 October 1963 (R.C. Riley).

When Mail went by Rail. Hugh Ballantyne (phot.). 736-8.
Colour photo-feature: 90 018 with five Mk 1 vans on 16.14 Glasgow to Cardiff near Crawford with Tinto Hills behind on 11 August 1995; EWS 67 021 with four mail vehicles on 15.53 Plymouth to Londn postal at Narroways Hill Junction, Bristol on 26 July 2000; 47 712 Lady Diana Spencer on 12.15 Penzance to Paddington at Cockwood on Exe Estuary on 6 July 1993; 47 501 Craftsman at Bolton Trinity Street with train for Cardiff on 1 November 1990; 73 129 City of Winchester (Network South East livery) passing Kensington Olympia with empty stock for Dover on 14 August 1998;90 020 Sir Michael Heron (Royal Mail livery) on down North Eastern TPO at King's Cross on 17 June 1993; final Down Special TPO at Crewe on 14 May 1993; final up North West TPO at Stafford on 9 January 2004  behind 90 029 Institution of Civil Engineers

Well done, the High Speed Trains! Gavin Morrison (phot.). 739
Colour photo-feature: three units in Paddington station on 22 July 1978; 254 011 at Burnmouth with 13.00 King's Cross to Edinburgh on 22 June 1978 (both in dignified original livery); three sets in ice cream parlour InterCity livery at St Pancras on 24 March 1994. See also rear cover.

Scholey, Keith. Stations without rails   — London's railway offices. 740-1.
The major "northern" companies (LNWR, GNR, Midland and GCR) with the GWR and LSWR used to maintain offices in central London to book tickets, make reservations and answer enquiries. They also acted as locations for receing freight and parcels and settling accounts. WW1 greatly reduced their number, WW2 diminished this still further and nationalisation killed this activity. Illus.: LNWR Parliament Street office decorated for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee (Longest, Noblest, Wisest Reign), LMS Fleet Street office before and after modernisation in 1930.

Flann, John L. Railway docks, harbours and shipping interests: c1900. 742-7.
The Stockton & Darlington Railway and the port of Middlesbrough. Both Port Darlington, reached in 1830,  on the Tees estaury and Middlesbrough were created by the SDR. Parliamentary poliucy on the railway ownership of docks and shipping services gradually emerged. Thus the Chester & Holyhead Railway was permitted to operate ships as the major function of the railway was to serve Dublin, but the LSWR was only permitted to operate limited services to Le Havre and the Channel Islands. The North Eastern Railway operated seventeen docks and handled 42 million tons of minerals in 1904. At Blyth the railway extended its coal staithes wich were shipping 3 million tons of caol in 1905.The staithes at Dunston instigated by the colliery owners was shipping 2 million tonnes by early 1900, but this is far less than the 7 million handled at Tyne Dock. The Hartlepool Dock & Railway Company was promoted in 1832 and built Victoria Dock.Further dock building was encouraged by the arrival of the Stockton & Hartlepool Railway which the LNWR had hoped to acquire, but which was purchased by the NER. Battle to gain access to Hull Docks led by Hull & Barnsley Railway in the end led to Hull Joint Dock Act of 1899 whereby NER and HBR shared access. The South Eastern Railway and its harbour at Folkestone and packet service to Boulogne, and thence to Dover where it operasted packet services via a subsidiary. The London Chatham & Dover Railway also obtained access to Dover and obtained the lucrative Royal Mail contract. Very fast services were operated over this route and traffic grew rapidly. Finally the LSWR nurtured traffic through Southampton Docks, and acquired this major enterprise in 1892. Letter from N.P. Fleetwood in Volume 23 page 253 questions the acccount of the relationship between the North Eastern Railway, Hull Corpooration and the Hull & Barnsley Railway: this last being busier and more profitable than implied in the article herein..

Rutherford, Michael. The development of the large British passenger tank engine. Part 4. The illusion of standardisation. (Railway Reflections No. 147). 748-59.
The development of the Great Western standard locomotives initially under Dean, but mainly under Churchward led to the tapered boiler with Belpaire firebox used for several locomotive classes on the GWR and eventually to Stanier locomotives on the LMS and the British Railways standard classes. The boiler design had originated at the Brooks Locomotive Works. in the USA under John Player. At Swindon the boiler drawings were prepared by George Burrows. The initial tank engines to use this boiler were No. 99 (later No. 3100), a 2-6-2T, and No. 2221, a large-wheeled 4-4-2T, later known as the County tanks. The 2-6-2T (large Prairies) went through a number of modifications to number plates, wheel sizes etc, but tended to share the same duties: 31XX, 3150, 5101, 61XX (with higher boiler pressures intended for suburban services) and the ultimate 81XX series with smaller driving wheels. The last 5101 to enter service was under British Railways in December 1949. A table helps to dismbiguate the bewildering number series, wheel sizes and other minor variations. The origins of the LMS 2-6-4T and 2-6-2Ts stem from mainly unfulfilled schems on the Midland Railway, of which only the Deeley 0-6-4T came to fruition.

Manton, Elizabeth. A Few Words of Sympathy. [Christmas poem]. 760.
Submitted by Vivian Guerrier whose great grandparent
Clerk to railway contractor who perceived
As is apparent
Verse at Christmas is well received

Rolling Stock Focus: Longmoor Military Railway —  on active service. Roy Hobbs (phot.). Mike King (captions). 761
Colour photo-feature: former LMS corridor coach and ambulance train vehicle AD3382 on 30 April 1966; ex-SECR birdcage brake thirds with roofboards WD5322 and WD 5312 in olive drab livery in May 1965, and ex-LSWR saloon WD3007 in dark blue livery on 30 April 1966.

Lumley, John W. A day out — 1950s style! 762-3.
Father was a guard and at weekends used to work day trips to Brighton using suburban multiple units. He took his family with him, signed off at Brighton spent the day with grandparents, signed on again and worked an evening return. Many of the trains were packed, but ran rapidly.

Readers' Forum. 764
Kilburn not Kenton. Editor.
See October Issue front cover: caption corrected
The Great Central position. Editor
Correct caption for illustration of Chesterfield Central on opening  page 654
Roads for rails. David Chappell.
Very long list of errata in section of Nisbet's article relating to Mid-Suffole Light Railway (page 610) (major errors noted thereat).
Knight express. T.H.J. Dethridge.
See article on King Arthur names (page 580): 30777 Sir Lamiel at Waterloo in May 1949: not ecs for Clapham Junction, but down Bournemouth: :
Towards the ultimate answer. Martin Johnson
See article by Summers on page 646 et seq: applies the management tool of Cost of Ownership to motive power decision. The purchase of 0-6-0PT shunting locomotives by the Western Region rather than diesel electric shunters could be justified through the lack of fascilities to maintain electrical equipment (KPJ finds this argument preposterous when diesel electric shunters had been in demand from the military for field duties); compounding had been evaluated on British railways (Webb compounds on LNWR, French de Glehn compounds on GWR) but compounds required long runs to achieve maximum benefits: in France coal was dear, especially on routes south of Paris. Writer also wondered why roller bearings with grease lubrication had not been adopted. When the Kings went for scrap there were 30 new boilers, and a set of Timken roller bearings to have supplied one locomotive.
Southport. John Macnab.
See letter from Robin Quance (page 701) who wondered if Coronation Scot stock was used on premier Southport to Manchester Victoria business service: writer confirms this.
Southport. Roger N.H. Jones.
See article on page 590: notes that LYR electric multiple unit illustrated on page 592 at Maghull was one of the lightweight vehicles used for through services on to the Liverpool Overhead Railway, that a diesel multiple unit to Lime Street replaced the former through carriages, and further notes on the Meols Cop triangle..:. 

Book Reviews. 765
Colour-Rail catalogue No. 18. MB. *****
Where would Backtrack without its assistance from Chesham?
Branch lines from Brookwood. Peter A. Harding. Author TJE *****
And why is wooded Surrey so conducive to excellent small publications? This one includes the National Rifle Association's narror gauge tramway serving Bisley Camp.
Jack the station cat takes charge. Alan Cliff. Gwasg Helygain. Aileas McD/DWM ****
Well received in Edinburgh.
The Sheffield Star railway album. Clive Hardy. At Heart. DWM ***
Great variety according to reviewer: covers Sheffield Star area.

Index to Volume 22. 766

High above the Forth. Gavin Morrison. rear cover
12.00 ex-King's Cross for Aberdeen at north end of Forth Bridge on 20 April 1981. Magnificent original livery: now service operated by Slow Bus. See also page 739.

2008-11-14