Haynes Owners' Workshop Manuals
It came as quite a shock to find that Flying Scotsman had descended to the level of a Ford Cortina as Kevin had always associated the publisher with oily hands and car workshop manuals, and was taught to regard them as inferuior to the products of the car manufacturers and presumed that the Rolls Royce manuals would be leather bound. Although the firm still produces car workshop manuals (and the range has grown to be enormous) it has also spread its activities to other forms of transport including aircraft and ships — and now railways and model railways. The railway owners' manuals seem to be significantly more detailed than the Great Locomotive Series
Philip Atkins. Flying Scotsman: LNER classes A1/A3 Pacific
No. 4472, 1923 onwards: am insight jnto maintaining, operating and restoring
the legendary steam lcomotive, Sparkford: Haynes Publishing/National
Railway Museum, 2016. 172 pp.
This book gopes into remarkable depth as is shown by the tables on
page 66 which shows the boilers fitted to No. 4472 between 1922 and 1962
and the history of boilers Nos. 27021 and 27020 fitted immediately after
preservation and in the recent major restoration respectively. On page 67
there are the instructions for routine boiler maintenance as set out by A.H.
Peppercorn in June 1949. Reviewed in
Backtrack, 2017, 31, 126 by APT
Geoff Smith and A1 Steam Locomotive Trust Tornado:
new Peppercorn class A1, 2008 onwards: owners' workshop manual.
Sparkford: Haynes, 2011. 154pp.
The Workshop Manual approach seems to be especially appropriate for
this unique locomotive which captures the spirit of the original Peppercorn
design rather than forming a replica. However, one must look elsewhere if
seeking information on the original design.
Drew Fermor. GWR/BR (WR) Castle class Nos. 4073-7030
(including 3, 3 & 4 row superheater versions): a guide to the history
and operation of Britain's most successful express passenger steam locomotive
type. 2014. 156pp.
If the Castle class had regularly worked Anglo-Scottish expresses
on the northern legs of their journeys; had routinely handled express traffic
to Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool, or even worked to Dover or Southampton
then the claim made in the sub-title might be worth considering. Further,
services to Bristol, Plymouth and Cardiff were not significantly better than
those noted to Manchester or Newcastle. The class might be better considered
as the final legacy of Brunel: whatever its merits it was ill-suited for
wider usage; and the author fails to note how Sir William Stanier did not
follow a four-cylinder layout for his most numerous passenger design: the
Jubilee class. His initial Pacifics followed Churchward practice, but the
Coronation class represented a huge move away from Swindon design.
This workshop manual shares with the others on locomotives a section on the
anatomy of the locomotive and thus places it within a structural historical
context of Daniel Kinnear Clark. It also
emphasise maintenance; something which the operator of railway motive power
neglects at his or her peril. It lacks detailed analysis of the influence
which the exchange trials with the LNER and LMS made, but does not query
why these were not repeated after nationalisation. Certain aspects of the
design would have been highly unwelcome elsewhere on British Railways, notably
the dangerous access to the inside vave gear, the lack of two water gauge
glasses and the manual coaling.
Unlike the majority of the Workshop Manuals this one lacks a bibliography.
Moreover, some of the detail contained in RCTS The locomptives of the
Great Western Railway. Part 8. Modern passenger classes is missing: for
instance "No. 4089 ran for a few years in the early thirties in an experimental
lighter shade of green." (page H15). Fermor does, however, criticise the
brief period when British Railways attempted to enliven locomotives with
a lighter green livery.
Paul Moss. London Underground: 1863 onwards (all
lines and extensions): designing, building and operating the world's oldest
underground rail network. 2014, 189pp.
This is a pleasantly surprising work as it covers far more than the
rolling stock and rolling stock maintenance as it extends to the stations
and to the establishment of an immediately identifiable corporate image and
criticism of where that coherence has been breached: "today the integrity
of the complete Victoria line has been compromised, as the design of many
of its stations has been tinkered with" (p. 121). It is highly critcal of
the former Circle line stock (C stock), but notes that the D stock for the
District line was a great improvement, altough suffered from some major defects.
The 1983 stock is also highly criticised, but it had a very short life. Misha
Black is praised for his great contribution. Eduardo Paolozzi's Tottenham
Court Road station is also shown.
Andrew Charman. Steam locomotive driver's manual:
the step-by-step guide to preparing, firing and driving a steam locomotive.
2015. 165pp.
This is quite different from the other manuals listed on this page
as it might be, probably is, used to assist drivers, and their assistants
(firemen), and those who manage such activities, to perform their tasks
without risking the safety of their passengers who in the case of smaller
gauge lines may be travelling in more primitive vehicles than those of standard
gauge. The author bases the text on his long experience of driving on the
Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway. As the list of heritage railways
on pages 161-2 shows this is a considerable number of people.
Richard Gibson. Stephenson's Rocket 1829
onwards: an insight into the design, construction, operation and maintenance
of the iconic steam locomotive. 2016. 156pp.
Reviewed in Backtrack,
2017, 31, 126 by RW
Kevin McCormack
Great Western 'Kings'. Haynes. 2011. 152
pp.
Review by Phil Atkins in Backtrack, 2012, 26,
443.