Number 1 (January)

All manner of 'Manors'. T.B. Owen. front cover
Swindon 4-6-0 Nos.7822 Foxcote Manor, 7819 Hinton Manor, 7827 Lydham Manor and 7828 Odney Manor polished to perfection at Machynlleth shed ready for Royal Train duty in August 1963: see also 34 top

Seats in all parts. Michael Blakemore. 3.
Editorial comment upon first class travel, being reduced by some franchises (alias bus companies) and on removal of refreshment facilities on trains

Robin Mathams and Dave Barrett. The Trent Valley Railway. 4-12.
Sir Robert Peel, MP for Tamworth, was a prominent supporter of a railway which would shorten the journey to Ireland, Scotland and the North of England. The initial initiative came from Manchester: where on 11 April 1844 the Board or 'Provisional Committee' met and comprised wealthy, entrepreneurs: the Chairman being Alderman William Copeland of the Copeland Spode China Company, MP for Stoke-on-Trent and former Lord Mayor of London. Robert Gardner (Deputy Chairman) and Henry Tootal were directors of a Manchester silk manufacturing company. Some including Henry Tootal, were directors of the Manchester & Birmingham Company, while others held shares in, or were directors of, other railway companies. The Royal Assent was granted on 21 July 1845. Edmund Peel was made Chairman. with Edward Tootal as Deputy Chairman. Originally it was envisaged that what became the North Staffordshire Railway would be built as part of the line: see also Allan C. Baker and Mike G. Fell. The railway through Colwich. Rly Archive, 2013 (40) 2-37. The two lines shared the same architect John Livock. The consulting engineers were Robert Stephenson, George Bidder and Thomas Gooch and the contractors were William MacKenzie, John Stephenson and Thomas Brassey. There were 58 cuttings and 57 embankments and many level crossings all of which were removed when most of the route was converted to four tracks. Shugborough Tunnel was the major work and as it was near to the Earl of Lichfield's estate one of the portals needed to be decorated, as did a bridge over the main approach avenue: Livock provided the decorative features. His styles varied from Egyptian for the Earl, Jacobean for Colwich and for a gate keeper's cottage at Mancetta, Tudor Gothic for Atherstone and Bulkington, and Elizabethan at Rugeley. The line was inspected by Captain Coddington on 24 June 1847 and opened on 26 June 1847. It was sold to the London & Birmingham Railway on 14 April 1846. The illustrations are a mixture of early drawings and photographs and contemporary colour images taken by Mathams unless stated otherwise: Rugeley station c1870 and c1900; Lichfield station (very early engraving); River Trent Viaduct (colour); Atherstone station (colour); Gooch single plate cast iron girder bridge with No. 46234 Duchess of Abercorn hauling express being watched by spotters beneath; ornate bridge over avenue at Shugborough (colour); Shugborough Tunnel north portal (LNWR postcard); Shugborough Tunnel southern portal (Egyptian style) with Pendolino (colour), Tamworth station c1906, Class 86 No. 86 230 on down express (all in corporate blue livery) near Stockton Lane in 1976  (colour: Edward Talbot); down express emerging from north portal of Shugborough Tunnel  (colour: Edward Talbot).

Portrait of a 'Clan'. Roger J. Kell. 13
Photo-feature on No. 72009 Clan Stewart: at Gl;asgow St. Enoch with 17.30 for Carlisle in August 1964; at Carlisle Citadel in 1965; and at south end of Carlisle station with stopping train for Bradford Forster Square in December 1964.

Ken Harper, Ron Herbert and Peter Robinson. Settle-Carlisle: a history of snow! 14-23.
Previously published in Cumbrian Railways, 2013, 11 (1): adds authenticity with short biographies of each author. The worst stretch for snow blocakges is between Horton-in-Ribblesdale and Crosby Garrett and within that in the rock cutting at Dent station, at Shale Cutting, at Salt Lake Cutting and on the fellside near Mallerstang. Refers to J. Slindon's reminiscences of 1947 published in Rly Wld, 1981, 42, February. Tends to cover significant years with the notable exception of the WW2 period when there must have been dreadful disruption in 1941. The years considered are: 1881 (report in The Times for 19 January), but on 3 March ten locomotives were stuck and 600 men were employed on clearing the line. In early December 1882 most railways into Carlisle were blocked. Expresses were trapped on the S&C at Dent andf passengers included two MPs: Robert Ferguson and Robert Allison, the latter was a Director of the company. Bill Mitchell in One hundred tales of the Settle & Carlisle Railway details this episode. 1933 was very severde when there were severe blizzards on 23 and 27 February. The winters of 1963 and 1979 were very bleak: KPJ had personal experience of the former when he traversed the line on the afternoon train from Kilmarnock and the track was frozen over the summit and that of his young wife and eldest daughter following later were diverted via Ingleton behind an A3 and did not appreciate the significance of this event! Illustrations: Dent station on 1 March 1986 covered in snow and two class 31 diesel locomotives hauling morning Leeds to Carlisle train having cleared drift in Shale Cutting on same day (three colour photographs by Peter Robinson); two Midland Railway 0-6-0s with tender cabs and snowploughs with mess van in between at Carlisle Durranhill c1900; similar pair as previous in action at Ribblehead in deep snow c1900; ex-Midland Railway/LMS timber snowplough at Hellifield c1928; Shale Cutting partially cleared of snow; excavator at wwork on snow in Shale Cutting in 1947; Dent in February 1947 with Class 5 amidst snow; Shale Cutting full of snow in 1963; Arten Gill Viaduct with snow being tipped over side in 1963; Ais Gill on 17 February 1979; 4F No. 44726 with snowplough fixed and protected tender at Skipton in December 1964; Class 37 with two independent snowploughs at work in Shale Cutting in 1986; independent snowplough No. ADB965214 at Kirkby Stephen on 20 February 1986.

Jeffery Grayer. Open house at Longmoor. 24-7.
Colour photo-feature with extended text on the Final Open Days in 1968 and 1969 (all WD locomotives wore blue livery with red lining, coupling rods and valve gear: WD 2-10-0 No. 600 Gordon on 8 June 1969 (Roy Hobbs); Gordon hauling Bulleid Preservation Society special plus five coaches belonging to Military Railway on 5 July 1969 (Hugh Ballantyne); 0-8-0 diesel No. 610 General Lord Robertson with 11.15 from Liss to Longmoor Downs on 5 July 1969 (Hugh Ballantyne); Austerity 0-6-0ST No. 196 Errol Lonsdale on 8 June 1968 (Roy Hobbs); No. 92203 Black Prince after being named during 1968 with David Shepherd (Roy Hobbs), and Gordon arrives at Liss Forest on final open day (Hugh Ballantyne).

From 'Glen' to 'Glen'. 28-9
Colour photo-feature on former NBR Reid Class D34 Glen class 4-4-0 from Colour-Rail unless stated otherwise: No. 9035 Glen Gloy at Eastfield shed in August 1939; No. 62457 Glenfinnan at St Margaret's shed in Edinburgh; Nos. 62496 Glen Loy and No. 62471 Glen Falloch at Crianlarich Upper on Fort William to Glasgow train in August 1959 during filming for BBC Railway Roundabout programme; No. 62471 Glen Falloch on Branch Line Society excursion to Selkirk on 4 April 1959; and preserved No. 256 Glen Douglas in NBR livery on RCTS Fife Coast Tour on 28 August 1965 climbing between Burtisland and Kinghorn (Derek Penney).

On the works trip. 30-1
Black & white photo-feature (all locomotives fitted with large smokebox headboards): Class 5 No. 44918 heading Raleigh Bicycle Company excursion to London from Nottingham during Coromation Year on 6 June 1953; Class 5 No. 45350 at Dalston East Junction with an excursion organkised by the shop stewards at de Havilland Aircraft Company, Hatfield, for an excursion to the circus at Kensington Olympia on 24 January 1959;  Jubilee class No. 45650 Blake at Cricklewood depot having arrived with Raleigh Bicycle Company excursion from Nottingham in June 1958; Class 5 No. 45395 at Euston with an excursion train for the Trainees and Apprentices Association of Birmingham.

Observing good 'Manors'. 32-5
Colour photo-feature (all are probably lined green): No. 7808 Cookham Manor at Swindon on 21 June 1964 (David Idle); No. 7819 Hinton Manor with Crewe to Aberystwyth train at Welshpool with No. 7821 Ditchleat Manor alongside; No. 7820 Dinmore Manor with 18.05 Birmingham Snow Hill to Leamington Spa leaving Acocks Green & South Yardley on 2 May 1961 (Michael Mensing); No. 7819 Hinton Manor leaving Shrewsbury on down Cambrian Coast Express on 12 September 1964 (Michael Mensing); Nos. 7819 Hinton Manor and 7822 Foxcote Manor at Minffordd on Royal Train taking HM the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh in August 1963 (see also front cover); No. 7823 Hook Norton Manor leaving Machynlleth with down Cambrian Coast Express on 24 May 1962 (Malcolm Thompson); No. 7809 Childrey Manor approaching Bentley Heath crossing near Knowle & Dorridge station with 18.05 Birmingham Snow Hill to Leamington Spa on 23 July 1962  (Michael Mensing); No. 7806 Cockington Manor on St. Blazey shed on 17 March 1960 (R.C. Riley), and No. 7813 Freshford Manor at Redhill depot on 21 December 1962 (David Idle).   

Alan Bennett. The St. Ives Branch. 36-44.
A late addition to the broad gauge, the line opened on 24 May 1877 and encouraged the transition from fishing and mining to tourism. Much is based on reports in local newspapers like The Royal Cornwall Gazette and The West Briton. The GWR leased the Tregenna Castle and eventually purchased it and developed it as a luxury holiday hotel. The Company greatly promoted the area in its publicity literature notably that written by Maxwell Fraser and S.P.B. Mais and in its series of Holiday Haunts. Illustrations: St Ives station with 2-6-2Ts Nos. 4549 arriving with six coaches and No. 4570 on 4 August 1961 (colour: Peter W. Gray);  Pothminster beach with saddle tank train heading towards St Erth c1900; No. 4570 hauling passenger train near Carbis Bay on 19 August 1961 (colour: Peter W. Gray);  map; broad gauge saddle tank on short passenger train on Porthminster Point with track being prepared for gauge conversion in May 1892; 44XX 2-6-2T leaving Carbis Bay viaduct with train for St Ives in 1928; Nos. 4549 and 4570 shunting stock from Cornish Riviera Express at St Erth on 30 July 1960 (colour: Peter W. Gray); Lelant station in 1928; panorama of St Ives with sleeping car in station in mid-1930s; No. 4549 with five coach Saturdays Only train for St. Erth on 9 September 1961 (colour: Peter W. Gray); all remainder: black & white: Peter W. Gray: No. 4561 at St Ives engine shed on final day of steam working; No. 4571 at Carbis Bay on 30 July 1960; Nos. 4554 and 4568 climbing away from Lelant with Cornish Riviera Express on 30 August 1958 and No. 4540 running round its train at St Erth on 24 July 1957.

Mike G. Fell. Barnum & Bailey's Circus Train. Part One. 45-52.
Contains three concise biographies: Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810-1891), James Anthony Bailey (1847-1906) and William Robert Renshaw (1845-1923). The first two were American showmen and the first contributed to the nomenclature of British railway rolling stock and motive power. Renshaw was a British mechanical engineer who established a rolling stock manufacturing business in Stoke-on-Trent and built  Barnum & Bailey's Circus Train and the huge fireproof steel screen for the circus at Olympia.  The rolling stock was described by Chris Leigh in Model Railway Constructor 1983, 50 (594 October); 1984, 51, (604 August); 1985, 52 (618 November); 1986, 53 (622 March) and (627 August). It was provided on a huge scale and included sleeping cars and bogie vehicles capable of conveying elephants and camels as well as many flat wagons onto which road vehicles could be loaded. The word Barnum entered the railway literature: both the GWR and LNWR (Webb) had locomotive types known as Barnums and the GCR had rolling stock lnown as Barnums: Fell does not consider that there is any direct connection with the circus train. Illustrations: advertisement for tour of Barnum & Bailey's Circus (colour); prograamme cover for Barnum & Bailey's Circus at Olympia which includes portraits of both proprietors (colour); advertisement for W.R. Renshaw rolling stock manufacture; stock car No. 118; sleeping car No. 56; stock cars and sleeping cars, advertising car No. 1; elephant being loaded in Germany; sleeping cars in Germany; elephants and train in Hamburg. Concluded page 104.

David Cullen. Gresley's mighty Mikados. 53-7.
The P1 2-8-2s were developed ftom the A1 Pacific design and sharing the boiler and the three cylinders and conjugated Walschaerts valve gear. They wsere intended to haul 100-wagon coal trains from Peterborough tio Ferme Park or from Wath to Immingham. They were fitted with boosters and steam reversing gear, but the boosters were later removed. The original boilers lasted until 1942 when they were withdrawn in very poor condition. The locomotives lasted until 1945. The P2 class was introduced for hauling heavy 500-ton sleeping car expresses on the Edinburgh to Aberdeen route where double-heading was not permitted with Pacifics. [KPJ saw them as a child at Dundee Tay Bridge and was greatly impressed]. They incorporated Chapelon ideas including the Kylchap exhaust system and No. 2001 Cock o' the North was fitted with the ACFI system of feed water heating and Lentz rotary cam poppet valve gear. They had huge boilers by British standards with 50ft² grates, 2714ft² total heating surface plus 777ft² of superheater. No. 2001 Cock o' the North was sent to the French stationary testing plant at Vitry-sur-Seine where several problems were encountered including overheating of the oil in the cam-box. The external shape owed something to the W1 high pressure locomotive. No. 2002 Earl Marischal was fitted with the Gresley arrangement of Walschaerts valve gear and was modified with extra smoke deflectors. No. 2006 Lord President was fitted with a combustion chamber and No. 2005 was fitted with a single chimney. Illustrations: P1 No. 2393 on up coal train near Hatfield; No. 2393 on Hornsey shed; No. 2394 without booster on up coal train near Ganwick; P2 No. 2001 Cock o' the North in oiginal condition on turntable at Edinburgh Haymarket on 1 August 1937; No. 2002 Earl Marischal with smoke deflectors on Ferryhill shed; No. 2006 Wolf of Badenoch on Haymarket shed

Alistair F. Nisbet. Fantastic foolery — a Deputy Lord Lieutenant in Court. 58-60.
Algernon Charles Fountaine of Narford Hall and his relationship with the Great Eastern Railway at East Winch station in Norfolk on 18 March 1890 when he stopped a train from King's Lynn which was scheduled to pass through without stopping albeit at a crawl due to exchanging tokens. The writer calls it an "express", but such have yet to appear in Norfolk except on even slower buses. The stationmaster at East Winch was upset by this intervention and reported it to his management and this resulted in court appearances at Grimston and at the Quarter Sessions Assize in Swaffham where Lord Walsingham imposed a hefty fine and bound him over. All these junketings were reported in the local press. Illustrations; Narborough & Pentney station; D13 No. 8035 at East Winch on 30 June 1936 (H.C. Casserley); B12/3 approaching East Winch on 31 May 1960; East Winch platform in May 1968 and station building as domestic residence in 1999.

Deltic on trial. John Turner with photographs by Antony M.S. Darnborough. 61
Three photographs  taken whilst prototype Deltic was on test between Leeds and Carlisle in the late summer of 1956. The locomotive was hauling Dynamometer car No. 3 and two of the Mobile Test Units. The locations were between Skipton and Keighley, See also letter from Geoff Senior  (p. 190) on turning the test train at Shipley.

Book reviews. 62.

Underground heritage. Antony Badsey-Ellis. Capital Transport. 144 pages. PR ****
The Underground in the London Passenger Transport Board era earned a reputation for its high standards of corporate design. Fortunately, LT's successors have resisted the temptation to sweep away all vestiges of the old while introducing the new and, as a result, many historic features remain intact today. This colour survey looks at the Underground's heritage from a slightly unusual angle by examining individual architectural and other heritage features: thus five pages are devoted to designs of platform canopy valances which emphasises that the Underground took over a number of lines originally operated by former main line companies such as the Eastern Counties Railway and the LTSR and their initials can still be found in the canopy brackets.
Signs – many featuring the classic Johnston typeface – appear in a number of sections throughout the book – whether they appear on the backs of platform furniture, across the bars of 'roundels' or are 'pointing the way'.  The reviewer who has lived and worked in and around London all his life, found this book to be an excellent guide to what can still be seen of the Underground's rich architectural and design heritage. His main criticism is that it appears to have been printed using a typeface similar to Johnston This would be excellent for posters or signs but I found it rather tiring on the eyes when used for relatively small text.

Wylam - 200 years of railway history. George Smith. Amberley Publishing. 128pp. CPA ****
Wylam can justifiably claim to have been the 'cradle' of the steam locomotive 200 years ago, and its role is closely examined. Recent research has unravelled some of the conflicting, and at times practically undocumented, threads in this saga which took place in the far north of England. Although born in Wylam, contrary to popular mythology George Stephenson did not invent the steam locomotive per se, the first reliable example of which, Puffing Billy, was built there by William Hedley in 1813, one year before Stephenson completed his little known My Lord at Killingworth. The author is at great pains to give due credit to the other pioneering players in the development of this literally world changing invention, in addition to the far from infallible George Stephenson, ie Hedley and Timothy Hackworth, both of whose immediate descendants broke into print in ardent support of their respective claims that these had both been the true inventors of the steam locomotive. Others, such as Nicholas Wood and Charles Blackett, were also closely involved in a more intellectual and financial capacity respectively. Nevertheless, the relationships between these various personalities, despite of or rather because of their common aim, were sometimes far from harmonious. Thus the God-fearing Timothy Hackworth, having been obliged to resort to the rival Robert Stephenson & Co. for the manufacture of the pistons for his own entry to the Rainhill Trials, Sanspareil, accused the Stephenson enterprise of deliberately sabotaging these to the detriment of his locomotive's performance at this world-changing event.
Two locomotives built at Wylam by William Hedley survive to this day, the Wylam Dilly, in the Royal Scottish Museum in Edinburgh, and Puffing Billy in the Science Museum, South Kensington, in addition to which there is a working replica of Puffing Billy (which strictly conforms to the health and safety requirements of the present day, which were notably absent in the original) at the North of England Open Air Museum at Beamish. This highly informative book is produced to the usual high standards of this publisher.

Dr. Beeching's remedy: a cure for a century of the railway's ills. David N. Clough. Ian Allan, 160pp. GBS ***
David Clough concentrates on the long pre-history of the Macmillan era bombshell: the unplanned overbuilding of railways, the refusal to adapt the network to changed realities obvious for 50 years, Government neglect of fair regulation when monopoly had long passed away, the sad realities of declining traffic and outdated facilities. He also looks with sharp eyes at the 1955 Modernisation Plan, still hymned in 'enthusiast' circles as a magic key which, if only allowed to turn in the lock, would have opened the door to a revived yet somehow traditional railway system of largely undiminished extent. Flanders and Swann have a lot to answer for. He captures well the warring personalities in the background of railway policy-making, not least the abhorrent Philip Shirley, but he is perhaps too hard on the military gentlemen who, in the close aftermath of the War, found themselves in positions of responsibility: Sir Brian Robertson, in particular, was certainly not the hapless buffer hinted at here.
What a relief, therefore, to turn up a more thoughtful and balanced account, which seeks to put Beeching into his proper context and to present his work as a long-overdue corrective to drifting and incoherent policy, fulfilling a mandate properly set by an elected Government. Regrettably, though, Clough has been ill-served by his copy and production editors. The reviewer started this book with high expectations, and this is an important addition to the literature, but he gave up about halfway through in noting vexing errors of fact and presentation. Here are just a few: the inexcusable transposition of whole blocks of text on pages 9 and 12 renders an important argument incomprehensible; 'NBR' becomes contusingly 'NBL' on page 21; Sir Eric Geddes was certainly never a 'Sea Lord' (page 25); the Road Haulage Executive were not "renamed British Road Services" in 1953 (this was their trading name from the start) (p42); the British Transport Commission were (ill) housed at 55, not '51' Broadway, SW1 (p42); 'Magdalen' College, Cambridge, is not so spelled (p44); and the 'railway unions' did not 'as usual' prevent the 'Midland Pullman's' midday Leicester and Nottingham runs, a cheap slur, nor was the luxury train project 'misconceived' (p.11).  See also long letter from Charles Long on the dignified antics of the trade union on this train. The trouble with tiresome faults of this kind is that they cast doubt on other assertions which cannot readily be checked.
The ample illustrations are mainly well chosen and most were unfamiliar, although several captions read rather oddly and a sad view of Kirkby Stephen East is inexplicably described in detail as if it were, of all places, Melton Constable. There is a good biography of Beeching, but no index.
In short this is a useful corrective to the conspiratorial sentimentality which has passed for history in some other contemporary publications but Backtrack readers may well prefer the magisterial insiders' account in Holding the Line by Lord Faulkner and Chris Austin.

LNER Passenger Trains and Formations 1923-68, the principal services. Steve Banks and Clive Carter. OPC (Ian Allan). AJM ***
This profusely illustrated and lavishly produced book is an "attempt to portray how the LNER and Eastern Region went about the business of carrying its passengers while steam was king". It is arranged into chapters entitled The Expresses, Through coaches and workings, Cross-country workings, Secondary expresses, Sleeping car trains, Pullman car trains, and Final developments'.
The LMS/LMR predecessor volume by Clive S. Carter in 1987 was arranged by individual service (Royal Scot, Thames-Clyde Express), with diagrammatic representations of the train rake at different times in the service's history, followed by a brief text. The successor volume has a combined geographical and chronological approach. Neither arrangement is entirely successful: the London Midland work concentrated too much on 'down' services, but this book's problem is not so much how its material is arranged, but the amount missing.
BR's Eastern Region, and the LNER's Southern Area before it, operated main line services out of three London termini — King's Cross, Marylebone,and Liverpool Street, so the reader would reasonably expect the authors of this book to review these trains. King's Cross in fact takes up the lion's share, with detailed descriptions of the make-up of Anglo-Scottish and Yorkshire services, including through coach working to Inverness and even North Berwick and Rothbury. Cross-country services are also well described. GCR lines are included, but Liverpool Street is less fortunate. The authors say that they found East Anglian services difficult to research and any "major passenger trains" out of Liverpool Street were not apparently important enough to be dealt with in this volume, despite the book being described as "a major tour de force" (these two quotations from the publisher's blurb). The threadbare index reflects this omission, listing Inverness but not Ipswich, Neyland but not Norwich. Since the authors are, after all, working from an Eastern Region perspective, fans of the former GER lines will be very disappointed. The book has a Great Northern bias and North Eastern enthusiasts may notice that their area, which formerly had its own identity in both LNER and BR days (the latter until 1967), is subsumed into either King's Cross or cross-country services and there are no descriptions of the formations of the Northumbrian, Norseman or the North Eastern. But GER and NER enthusiasts will not be the only ones disappointed —Scottish readers will notice that the Waverley Route is dismissed in three sentences in a book of some 220 pages. This one should really have been called LNER Passenger trains — Great Northern, Great Central, and Cross-Country.
Despite the unfortunate lacunae, the text is rich in detail, the only error this reviewer can find being the suggestion that the cinema car on the Leeds-Glasgow service in the late 1930s operated throughout the journey when in fact the operator did not accompany the train west of Edinburgh, where he took a break. This LNER/BR volume is rich in data and attractive illustrations so that the reader can enjoyably dip into it here and there. But 'dipping' is really all the reader can do, as the index is particularly poor for a book costing so much and whose value as a reference work is thereby seriously compromised. Perhaps it is not surprising that the Norwich village library does not contain this book.

The Brighton Belle. Stephen Grant and Simon Jeffs. Capital Transport Publishing Ltd. 80pp. BCL ***
^{The book, now in its second edition, is sub-titled The Story of a Famous and Much-Loved Train' in which it succeeds admirably. The full story of Pullmans on the Brighton line is covered from the inaugural run of the Pullman Limited in 1881 through to the demise of the unique to the Southern Region of BR electric sets of the Brighton Belle.
The book tells the story well including the evolution of the 1932 Southern Electric scheme and the advanced technology of the time providing electric cooking, heating, ventilation (air conditioning) and the monocoque construction of the cars. The cars all had individual interior design and furnishings referred to later as 'Art Décor'. That, of course, was akin to other Pullman vehicles of the period. The book is well illustrated and printed. It will form a valued reference to all who remember the 'Belle'. In its later years the faded interiors, somewhat rough riding, resistance to paying the Pullman supplement and indifferent attendant service attributed to it being 'much loathed' rather than 'much loved', as in Southern Railway days. The book is inexpensive, informative and well produced. Reviewer's only regret is that there is little prototype detail about the actual cars. Most of them are now preserved, but for the moment the original composure of the sets and furnishing of the cars leaves a gap in the history of this world famous Pullman electric train.}

Winter comes to the East Coast Route. R. Hill. rear cover.
A3 No. 60050 Persimmon hauls express parcels through New Barnet station in snow of January 1963.

Number 2 (February)

'Brighton Belle'  unit No.3051 waits to leave Brighton on the 12.45 run to London Victoria on 8 June 1968. David Idle. front cover

Going the extra mile. Michael Blakemore. 67
Editorioal comment on the three mileposts which mark a point three hundred miles from London: at Quintrel Downs on the Newquay branch, on Truro station and on the approach to Carlisle on the Midland route. Also consideration of European dictat on metrication. Long response from Hugh Gillies-Smith on page 253

Great Eastern diesels. John D. Mann. 68-70
Colour photo-feature: Class 56 No. 56 116 in Loadhall livery passes Coldham with Wisbech to Glasgow Deanside with load of pet food on 2 June 1997; Class 60 in Trainload metals livery passing Colchester with EWS Monster Box wagons on 12.48 Harwich to Acton Yard working; Class 37 hauling a ballast train on Harwich branch near Bradfield (with Stour estuary in background) on 11 February 1999; Class 58 No. 58 003 Markham Colliery on 10.35 March to Barham arriving Barham Aggregates Siding on 21 March 1997; weed killing train powered by Hunslet-Barclay Class 20/9 type Nos. 20 901 Nancy and 20 225 Janis at Kirby Cross on Walton-on-the Naze line on 8 July 1997; and Class 47 No. 47 209 in Freightliner livery with heavy container train arriving Suffolk Junction, Ipswich with train en route to Felixstowe on 4 June 1997.  

Jeffrey Wells. The Hull & Holderness Railway 1852-1862. 71-7.
Anthony Bannister (who was probably the prime mover) and Lord Mayor of Kingston upon Hull, Samuel Priestman and John George Bowes Thoroton Hildyard and Sir Thomas Aston Clifford Constable of Burton Constable Hall were amongst the leading promoters of the railway. Thomas Cabry was appointed as Engineer. The intension was to reach the Holderness coast at Withernsea and develop it as a resort. The official opening took place on 26 June 1854 according to the York Herald.  The line closed to passengers in 1964. Illustrations: A8 4-6-2T No. 9881 leaving Hull Paragon on 17 April 1947 (H.C. Casserley); map; Thomas Cabry (portrait); Botanic Gardens station on 31 August 1956; Ryehill & Burstwick on 31 August 1956; Ottringham on 31 August 1956; Withersea station with V1 No. 67677 on 31 August 1956 (three views) (all H.C. Casserley).. See also letter from Leonard Rogers on page 189 who stresses correct spelling for Keyingham and from Ian A. Reed on page 253 and from Roger Brettle noting that Kingston-upon-Hall did not have a Lord Mayor at time of when railway promoted.

Alan Taylor. Carlisle Kingmoor Marshalling Yards 78-82.
Originall Carlisle was served by several small yards with a large number of trip workings between them which reflected pre-grouping company ownerships. In 1959 the London Midland Region announced that a mechanized hump marshalling yard would be constructed on a greenfield site at Kingmoor. The yard opened in 1963, but hump marshalling was to cease within twenty years due to decling freight traffic and changed methods of working. Illustrations: plan, view looking north from lighting tower in 1962; up signal box with retarders;  night view circa 1962; type 40 No. 40 064 arriving from south with Freightliner and car carrying train from Scottish car plant passing on 30 August 1979 (colour: Gavin Morrison); Type 57 No. 57 311 Parker in Virgin Thunderbird livery hauling logs for Chirk on 12 February 2008 (colour: Gavin Morrison); shunter No. 08 601 arriving with transfer freight on 30 August 1979 (Gavin Morrison). See Editorial apology for giving incorrect name to Author {Anthony Turner} .See also letter on page 381 from David Cook on the photograph showing Freightliner arriving in yard

Comrie Colliery. John Scholes. 83
Colour photo-feature of Fife NCB pit: 0-6-0ST No. 21 fitted with Giesl ejector moving internal wagons (Alan Tyson Collection); Hunslet Engine Co. flame-proof diesel locomotive working on surface on 2ft 8in gauge hauling tubs; Hunslet WN 3837 hauling 16-ton mineral wagons on 25 April 1973 (both latter: David Idle)

John C. Hughes. Ditton Junction -1912. 84-9
Accident which occurred on 17 September 1912 involving train hauled by Precedent 2-4-0 No. 1529 Cook traversing the crossovers at the junction at excessive speed. The train involved was the 14.30 from Holyhead to Liverpool and included two GWR horseboxes and some gas-lit six wheerl coaches. Fire broke out in the gas lit carriages. Help was organized quickly with a special train being run from Liverpool Lime Street conveying medical workers, including doctors. There were 15 immediate fatalities plus a further person who died in hospital. Both tyhe driver Robert Hughes and fireman Abraham Lunn were killed. The guard Henry Boardman survived. The accident was investigated by Colonel Arthur Yorke.  Sources cited include Liverpool Daily Post & Mercury for 18, 19 and 28 September 1912, and 26 November 1912, the Board of Trade Report and RAIL 410/597, 410/420 and 410/265. Illustrations: severely damaged Cook; plan of Ditton Junction; Cook being craned after accident; third brake showing fire damage; bridge over slow lines showing damage to it; tender tank being lifted by crane; 2-2-2 Cornwall and saloon (mentioned in press reports); tender frame being recovered; "Edge Hill" breakdown crane see letter from Peter Tatlow who argues that must have been Crewe crane; also letter from David Cable who included a photograph as it was in 1988.

The call of the hills, Alan Tyson. 90-2
Colour photo-feature: 9F No. 92015 stoppped at Tebay waiting for banker on 28 August 1965; Class 5 with northbound freight at Scotsman's Bridge, Greenholme on 30 August 1967; 9F No. 92116 on up freight on Brock troughs with M6 infrastructure in background on 7 May 1966; Class 5 4-6-0 No. 44964 on up express freight at Shap Wells on 4 July 1964; Class 5 4-6-0 No. 45315 on down freight on Brock troughs with M6 in background on 7 May 1966; Scout Green signal box and level crossing on 1 May 1967; Class 4 4-6-0 No. 75037 banking express freight at Scotsman's Bridge on 30 August 1967; unidentified Class 5 on four coach express heading north through Tebay on 28 August 1965.   

Colm Flanagan. The Royal Train of 1953. 93-5
Shortly after the Coronation of Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II, she with her her husband, Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh visited Northern Ireland. A Royal Train journey was involved on 3 July 1953, and this was from Lisburn to Lisahally where a Royal Navy base is situated on the River Foyle. A Royal Train was prepared from a mixture of Great Northern Railway (Ireland) and Ulster Transport Authority coaches. These were renovated and painted in the the GNR(I) livery of Oxford blue and light cream at the company's works in the Republic of Ireland at Dundalk. Motive power was provided by UTA W class 2-6-0 No. 102. A two coach pilot train was powered by U2 4-4-0 No. 86. A stop for lunch (on the train) was made at Downhill Cliffs. On leaving the train the Royal party boarded the destroyer HMS Rocket for the short journey up the Foyle to Londonderry (Derry). The Queen was scheduled to return to Mainland Britain by air, but preparations were made for a rail journey to Larne Harbour in case flying was impeded by weather. Illustrations: cover of commemorative brochure (colour); pilot train leaving Ballymoney ahead of Royal Train; Royal Train leaving Ballymoney; Royal Train between Antrim and Ballymena and approaching Bennington station with tablet catcher extended.

All aboard the 'Brighton Belle'. 96-7.
Colour photo-feature (all ten-car sets): Unit No. 3055 leading (in full umber and cream livery with coat of arms on front passing Clapham Junction on 15.00 ex-Victoria on 2 September 1964 (David Idle); units still in umber & cream, but with yellow warning panel in place of Pullman insignia on 09.20 Brighton to Victoria passing Redhill on 16 March 1968 (David Idle); unit No. 3053 leading in original Pullman livery approaching Clayton Tunnlel on 2 October 1962 (Rodney Lissenden). Finall two in corporate BR blue & grey livery at East Croydon on 24 June 1971 with 11.00 ex-Victoria and 09.25 ex-Brighton (David Idle).  

On the other side of the track. John Spencer Gilks. 98-9
Colour photo-feature on level crossing gates: Southorpe on route to Brigg on 18 July 1989 with lady crossing keeper opening gate; Foxfield with Derby lighweight DMU and red Ribble bus; East Stoke between Wareham and Wool with Class 442 Wessex EMU in Network SouthEast livery in March 1992; Astley on Chat Moss with £1000 trespass notice on 3 June 2010 and Longdon Road on Moreton-in-Marsh to Shipson-on-Stour branch on 10 April 1960.

Andrew James. An appreciation of performance writing: a tribute to Cecil J. Allen and O.S. Nock. 100-3
This is a somewhat difficult article to precis as it forms an accurate portrayal of what two of the most prolific railway correspondents got up to. KPJ gives a far more critical assessment of Nock, but is slighly less critical of man who was permitted to sit next to his idol: Sir Nigel (as shown on the Allen page). Far more worrying to Kevin as he gets older and wiser? is both author's dedication to quasi accurate looking data. Is 80.1 that different from 79.9: "yes officer I was doing 80: and so what?". It does not really matter whether its tonnages, distances, gradients or speeds such figures are tolerable in a table, but tedious in text. Andrew James is not guilty of this.  Author acknowledges assistance from David and Margaret Lloyd-Roberts for giving access to Trains Illustrated. Illustrations: Class 2 2-6-0 No. 46472 on Belah Viaduct with a Penrith to Darlington passenger train; Deltic No. D9004 on up The Talsiman at York in 1961; No, 6226 Duchess of Norfolk on up Royal Scot at Bourne End in 1938; AL6 electric locomotive No. E3162 at Rugby with 08.23 Carlisle to Euston on 27 February 1965; A4 No. 60026 Miles Beevor leaving York with up Heart of Midlothian on 5 August 1961 (Alan Tyson); No. 7013 Bristol Castle with four-row superheater and double chimney at Oxford in October 1958. See also letter from L.A. Summers on pp. 189-90.

Mike G. Fell. Barnum & Bailey's Circus Train. Part Two. 104-10
Began on page 45: William Frederick Cody was born in Le Claire, Iowa on 26 February 1846 and died in Denver on 10 January 1917. He called himself Buffalo Bill and staged spectacular Wild West shows using the Barnum & Bailey rolling stock. There were British tours in 1903 and 1904: the latter included Scotland and Cornwall, but did not return to Eastern England (covered in the earlier year). In 1905 and 1906 tours were made on Continental Europe. At the end of the Continental tours the rolling stock was returned to Renshaw at Etruria. In 1908 the vehicles were acquired by E.E. Cornforth of Trentham. Theophilus Ernest Edward Cornforth (1871-1944) traded in second-hand machinery and owned the Globe Railway Wagon Works at Etruria acquired the vehicles, the bulk of which were sold to the Alexandra (Newport & South Wales) Docks & Railway Company. This sale included threee of the sleeping cars which were converted to trailers used with the Company's steam railcars and latterly as railmotor trailers. Remarkably one car body has survived and is stored  by the National Museum of Wales. The twenty flat cars were converted into bogie bolsters, but were rapidly condemned once the Great Western took over. Three stock cars were purchased by Chatterley-Whitfield Collieries Ltd and used to haul colliers trains: they knew them as Monkey Cars, but they had gone by 1930. Illustrations: advertisement for Paris show which took place between 2 April and 4 June 1905 (colour); Manchester Corporation tram loaded with Red Indians in 1903; advertising car for Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show; rear end of ANDR passenger carriage with destination indicator and interior of same or similar vehicle showing acetylene lighting; ADNR bogie bolster wagon with unconverted sleeping car behind; ANDR 0-6-0ST No. 21 near Treforest with bolster wagons loaded with logs on 19 May 1919; elephant car at Newport in 1910 and after conversion to Transit Car No. 1.

Michael Binks. The infrastructural consequences of the demise of steam traction. 111-17.
The main losses are not illustrated; namely coaling stages and towers and water softening plants. The main additions receive more attention; namely sub-stations (although the highly distinctive homes for rotary converters on the Southern Railway are not mentioned). Some steam age structures still remain in service, like Slades Green depot whilst other more recent manifestations, like the Finsbury Park diesel servicing depot have long since vanished. Mention is made of track improvements, but there has been a remarkable lack of green field building: opposition to HS1 and HS2 and even Thameslink may explain this. Illustrations: installing third rail at Percy Main station in 1903; J21 No. 65033 taking water at Kirkby Stephen East on 7 May 1960; J72 No. 68740 being scrapped at Darlington on 30 July 1951; Shildon No. 3 shed with numbered boards still in situ for electric locomotives since departed; partly demolished parachute water tank at Dunston; electrictricity sub-station at Bexhill; Track pannelling hut at Dumpton Park in 1958; Class 4 2-6-0s (both working tender first) with No. 43120 leading on passenger train departing Keswick on 15 July 1967; Type 4 diesel electric No. D313 and Class 4 2-6-0 No. 43133 on passenger train departing Keswick on 22 July 1967; Bridge No. 87 (rail over road) at Basildon being renewed; carriage cleaning plant under construction at Shoeburyness on 1 May 1959; overhead catenary at Doncaster in 2000.

The York of yesteryear. 118-21
Black & white photo-feature: A4 No. 60015 Quicksilver in BR blue livery and with single chimney heading north on 16 July 1950 with very assorted passenger rolling stock including a Barnum coach and at least two clerestory-roofed vehicles; C7 No. 2201 arriving from north on stopping train formed partially of NER clerestory-roofed vehicles; V2 class No. 60846 on Waterworks crossing with up express freight on 6 August 1960 (Alan Tyson); A1 No. 60153 Flamboyant on down express parcels train on 8 Jone 1961; B16/2 No. 2364 on express passenger train ln late 1930s; B1 No. 61319 with parcerls train from Hull ariving at Platform 8 on 5 August 1961; J27 No. 65887 on Waterworks crossing with trip freight off Scarborough line on 4 March 1961; B16/3 No. 61454 moving light engine back to shed on 6 August 1960 (last three: Alan Tyson); A1/1 No. 60113 Great Northern on Great Northern centenary special on 16 July 1950 (Eric Bruton); and A3 No. 60060 Tetrarch coming off train from south for Scarborough on 6 August 1960 (Alan Tyson).  

Cambrian Standards. 122-4.
Colour photo-feature: Dovey Junction station with unlined green Class 3 2-6-2T No. 82021 and 43XX 2-6-0 No. 6395 (L.V. Reason); Class 2 2-6-0 No. 78006 in fully lined green with 2251 0-6-0 No. 3205 on Machynlleth depot; No. 82005 in plain green on Glaslyn Bridge between Minffordd and Portmadoc with Pwllheli passengar train in October 1964; Class 4 2-6-4T No. 80131 at Llanymynech with train from Aberystwyth to Oswestry in may 1963; lass 4 4-6-0 No. 75016 in green livery with down Cambrian Coast Express at Newtown in September 1966;down Cambrian Coast Express hauled by No. 75048 near Aberystwyth in February 1967; No. 82009 in green livery on freight at Machynlleth in October 1964

Readers' Forum. 125

Geoff Rixon. Ed
I regret to report the death just before Christmas of the photographer Geoff Rixon, whose name has been familiar in Backtrack since its earliest days. Geoff was always supportive of the magazine and ready to help with his excellent colour slides; our condolences go out to his family. Ed.

The Square Deal Campaign. Ed
The colour photograph in this article on p681 of the November issue should have been credited to The late C.S. Perrier Collection' - apologies to the owner of the collection for this omission.

Was the LMS too big? Frederic Stansfield
In his reply to my earlier letter about the size of the LMS (September issue), Doug Landau (November issue) makes many interesting points describing the company's engineering innovations. But two of Landau's examples show how engineering developments within the LMS were subordinated to business issues. LMS management's rejection of electrification proposals, because of insufficient return on capital, is unsurprising when neither the 1931 scheme nor the 1936 one linked London with a major city such as Birmingham. Also, the belt repair system to which Landau refers represented the development in Britain of "scientific management" techniques. As he indicates, this system had the business aim of reducing repair times and costs. Letter writer would agree in general with Landau's observation that the Southern Railway was the most forward looking of the 'Big Four'. However, in my previous letter I compared the LMS not with its British contemporaries but with other European railways, which received more government support. Britain's railways, including the LMS, did receive very limited government finance in the 1930s. The LNER's Shenfield electrification scheme was an example of such government help, but the LMS presumably lacked the capital to carry out electrification on the scale of British Railways' later West Coast Main Line scheme. Landau does not address the question 'Was the LMS too big?' of Peter Taplow's August article. The company's business failure to follow-up engineering developments, such as electrification and main line diesel locomotives, would suggest the opposite. The LMS was if anything too small to attract the money needed to implement its engineers' technical innovations.

Restaurant Cars and their Development. John Macnab 
Many earlier restaurant cars of lasted well into BR days: the 1953 allocation to the Scottish Region gives no fewer than 63 examples of, basically, LNER and LMSR build but also several pre-grouping examples.There were twenty LMSR plus ten of the Caledonian Pullman kind which had originally borne the names of Scottish women. The last five of these only went in mid-1961. 28 LNER dining cars were still extant. The pre-gouping types being two LNWR of 1910, one NER of 1908 and two G&SWR, these latter two having extremely interesting histories in themselves. It was only the influx of BR Standard Mkl restaurant cars from mid-1960 that ended the majority of the company-built stock, most of which had continued to run on former LMSR and LNER routes and services, the former including the splendid six-wheeled- bogied Stanier type on Far North and Oban lines and LNER examples on West Highland workings.

Early Main Line Railways Conference, Caernarfon, 19th-22nd June 2014. Grahame Boyes 
Building on the success of the Early Railways Conference series, the organising committee has arranged to accommodate the interests of historians pursuing the origin and development of main line railways between 1830 and c1870. This reflects the all-important years when railways first developed routes and networks and became major contributors to economic growth around the world. This first conference has attracted papers from authors studying subjects in several parts of the world, in addition to the United Kingdom. These are related to economic, political, social and cultural progress in several countries, and business and financial incentive and practice. They also cover developments in surveying, structural, architectural and building practices, as well as mechanical and electrical engineering. For information about the papers and other programme details, and to book your place at the conference, please go to www.earlymainlinerailways.org.uk or write to me at Flat 6, 4 Little Green, Richmond TW9 lQH.

LYR North Liverpool Electrification and Before they were Famous. R.A.S. Hennessey
Refers to the 'LYR North Liverpool Electrification' (Ian Travers) and 'Before they were famous' (Philip Atkins). Interest was heightened by coincidence in that Hennessey had just read The Limitation of Railway Electrification, Pamphlet No.119 of the Swindon Engineering Society, sponsored by the GWR Mechanics' Institution. This pamphlet brought together some elements of both articles. The speaker (29 November 1920), on whose input the pamphlet reported, was Col. H. E. O'Brien, the electrical engineer of the LYR. shortly to be of the combined LNWR-LYR and later, for a short span, of the LMS. Chairing the meeting: W. A. Stanier. One voice from the floor: a 'Mr. Hawksworth' - clearly a gathering worthy of record: how fascinating to have been present. In those relatively early days of electrification people naturally drew on such examples as were available: Liverpool- Southport and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul were O'Brien's favourites on that occasion. O'Brien and his audience touched on some crucial issues. Stanier wondered whether the Liverpool suburban electrification interfered in any way with goods traffic; he pointed out that the Hammersmith & City line (GWR-Metropolitan Railway joint ownership) ran up to 40 trains per hour. O'Brien revealed, or claimed, that the Liverpool-Sandhills stretch alone (ie first station out of Liverpool Exchange) shared occupancy with a goods traffic "Greater than ... the whole of the LB&SCR" but that "he LYR "get through it somehow'. He noted that there were nine rush hours each day to cope with in this respect, including "ladies going into Liverpool to shop" (11.00am) and a "rush going to the performances at theatre", suggesting a rich vein of evidence for social historians. On the technical side, O'Brien seemed to favour 1.5kV dc third rail for long-distance traffic which may throw some light on the slightly mysterious and much discussed plans he drew up for his proposed Crewe-Carlisle electrification. His sketch of an electric locomotive was one he employed elsewhere: a beefy Co-Co with central cab and long hoods. The 'limitations' of the title were really snags, set against a general background favourable to electrification; for example the need to erect overhead conductors in marshalling yards, or how to counteract the track-unfriendly low centres of gravity suffered by EMUs. Counter-intuitively, the Swindonians through either courtesy or breadth of mind. possibly both, seemed to react favourably to their speaker's assertions. Hawksworth praised the even torque of electric motors; O'Brien responded politely that the imbalances of steam locomotives were "not a very serious defect". Stanier brought the proceedings to a close with the dry and correct observation that electrification provided no real difficulties for the engineer, but "the real difficulties ... would be with the financiers". As O'Brien was later to discover, to his cost.

Dear Editor and LYR North Liverpool Electrification. John C. Hughes
Re: cartoon on p730: this depicts a 'Muller's Light'. introduced following a murder on the North London Railway in 1864 for which Franz Muller was later hanged. On the next page 'C. T.' of Bath, who had the alarming experience at Edge Hill, appears to have become confused. Trains were drawn from Lime Street up to Edge Hill by rope - they went down by gravity with one or two tunnel brakes added at the front end. Reference to the Waterloo accident of 1903 (p744) I should very much like to know the source for the suggestion that a broken axle might have been responsible, as opposed to the loss of a spring. Admittedly, there has always been some uncertainty about the cause of this accident, but if the engine had a broken axle I should have thought this would have been a prime suspect from the start; how many derailments have there been where a broken axle was accepted as an effect of the accident rather than its cause? Detailed response from Ian Travers on p. 253

Heavier than expected. Leonard Rogers 
Whether the story about the ER Cravens DMUs is apocryphal, as Stephen Abbott suggests in the December 'Readers' Forum', or not, I do not know. However, it is related as if it were true by the late Brian Haresnape on p36 of his BR Fleet Survey 8: Diesel Multiple Units - the first generation (lan Allan, 1985): who wrote: "To some extent the Cravens design was a victim of circumstance and, more than any other type, it was employed for services for which it was not really suitable. This was because of line closures, in particular on the ER, which robbed them of their intended role. With virtually mint condition railcars on their hands, the authorities placed them where needs arose, irrespective of their basic unsuitability in one or two classic instances. For example, the ER Class 106 units - intended for country area duties on the ex-M&GN network - were made redundant when those lines closed in 1959 and were sent south to handle the King's Cross suburban duties. It would have been difficult to have found a less desirable role for them and they were literally 'flogged to death' in an attempt to keep services running." He goes on to make the same points as Stephen Abbott about "a plethora of empty driving cabs in each rake" and only two bodyside doors in each carriage. The full diesel service on the King's Cross suburban lines was introduced in June 1959 - the M&GN main line had closed at the end of February that year - and contemporary reports in Trains Illustrated seem to bear out the truth of the operating authorities' struggles to keep services running with the DMUs that summer. What is on record is that the whole of the ER's batch of 48 Cravens two-car DMUs was delivered initially, between May 1958 and January 1959, to the DMU depots at either Lincoln or Cambridge. Information: British Railways Motive Power Allocations 1948-68, Part Seven - Diesel Railcars and Multiple Units by Jim Grindlay, published by Transport Publishing Ltd. of Ayr in 2008). Since these were the two depots which covered the Fenland area, it might well have been the intention to use the units on the M&GN originally. 29 of these units were then moved to Hornsey (and, later, to Finsbury Park after it opened in April 1960) between January and June of 1959.

The hand that rocked the cradle. Martin Bloxsom
Further information regarding items not mentioned in E. A. Pratt's British Railways and the Great War (1921). The pictures are of interest. Messrs. Emblin and Longbone ask about the coach labelling in the heading picture:. it was a Robinson matchboard teak corridor coach introduced c1911 onwards; lengthy roof board is GC pattern, and might be Marylebone, probably Platform 4, usually used for express departures. The carriage cleaners are young women busy cleaning LSWR electric stock, quite possibly at Wimbledon depot; there are several photographs taken at the same location. A good source is the contemporary 'house' magazines such as the GCR's Journal (1905-19) which has quite a lot in different issues covering the war's duration. There is a posed picture of women cleaners at Gorton cleaning a Robinson 8A 0-8-0. Women found it a filthy job but no worse than blacking grates at home, if more dangerous. Incidentally, the Soldiers' and Sailors' free buffet at Paddington was staffed by volunteers, almost certainly middle class like the Red Cross women also shown in the article. Those on hard labour were probably working class, often married and trying to earn money to keep their families going while husbands were away fighting. The clerks in the pictures will be lower middle class women earning money possibly for the first time in their lives. A splendid source of women in railway work, not as well-known as it might be, is Helena Wojtczak's Railway Women - exploitation, betrayal and triumph in the workplace (2005), the first in-depth study of women in railway work from the time of Dickens to the 21st century. Excellently researched, well written with copious notes and sources given, it has been praised by academics, railway writers and the press when it has been reviewed. Part Two covers the Great War, pp43-114. As the author notes, there is much more recorded than she has been able to put into her book. Response from Emblin p.190.

Book reviews. 126

The Isle of Man Railway. Eric E. Bird. Peco Publications & Publicity. 106 pp. BCL ***
The Isle of Man Railway has had over 25 books published about it according to the bibliography in the back of this publication. Even so, I think there might be more than that list includes ... and here is yet another one! This is a 'Railway Modeller Special' even though there are no drawings or diagrams to afford a modeller the required information. It is in fact one man's photographic record of the trains he grew up with from school days on the island through to the 1970s. Apart from six pages of mono photographs at the front covering the early 1960s all the pages are colour images of firstly the period of the red/brown engines (about half the book) and the rest are the 'green' years of the 'Ailsa' period in the railways history. Many of the photographs are repetitive and a few even repeat the same engine and train in the same position on consecutive days, which suggests that better editing would have greatly improved the final product. One gets the feeling that every image that the author took has been included despite the quality of the old colour film in use. Never the less, there are still many locations within the island that this book portrays for the first time as far as this reviewer has seen. I only visited 28 years running from 1958 whereas Eric Bird lived through every season and covered the system far better than I did. If you need another picture book of the Manx, Beyer Peacock 2-4-0s with just two small images of 'Caledonia' and one of the Donegal railcars, you will find a space in your book shelf (or on your coffee table) for this latest publication. If you have missed out on previous publications, then this is a good 'starter' on this popular subject.

The Furness Railway- a history. Michael Andrews. Barrai Books. 248pp. MB. *****  
There is such a wealth of published railway books that you wouldn't think it possible that there weren't still some important railway companies still without a decent 'standard' history. That was true of the Furness Railway - but no longer. This compact but once busy and significant railway in the north west of England may only be known today for a scenic journey around the 'Cumbrian Coast' line. However, its origins lie intermingled with the history of the industry of the area - ironworks, the docks and ship- building of Barrow, coal. Today, traffic to and from the nuclear power station at Sellafield is the only remaining commercial freight move- ment. How the Furness area and its railway rose to prominence and declined to what remains today is the subject of this superb study. Frankly, to review this book in detail would be pretentious, for it's the work of nearly 50 years by Dr. Andrews (a 'proper' doctor who was latterly Chief Medical Officer of the BRB), a long-time member of the excellent Cumbrian Railways Association, who sadly died in 2010 before his magnum opus had been brought to publication. Herein is all you'll need to know about the beginnings of the FR and its early development, the growth of the iron trade and the town and port of Barrow, the Lakeland branches to Coniston and Lake Side, shipping services (these included Irish and Manx sailings and pleasure craft on the lakes), the promotion of the tourist trade, wartime consequences and relationships with other railways penetrating the area. The amount of historical detail is tremendous but the work is immensely readable and copiously illustrated and this reviewer unhesitatingly awards it top rating: surely it will come to be one of those books described as 'definitive'.

A detailed history of the Stanier Class Five 4-6-0s Volume 1 - Nos.5000-5471. John Jennison. Railway Correspondence & Travel Society, (Locomotives of the LMS' series). 288pp. MB. *****
The LMSR 'Class 5' 4-6-0s can be regarded as one of the most successful mixed traffic locomotive designs ever. An LMS 'standard' if ever there was one, the class ran to 842 engines, but in fact it was hardly a standard at all — boiler differences, experimental valve gears, double chimneys and so on provided a measure of variety among such a large class. At last the RCTS 'Locomotives of the LMS' series has tackled the Class 5s, a monumental task it has begun with the locomotives completed before the Second World War. It starts with an essay on the origins and introduction of the 'Black Fives', touring the various pre-grouping designs: the 2-6-0 era on the GWR, GNR and LSWR continued by the 'Big Four; the LMS's excellent Horwich Moguls and the GWR's famous 'Halls' which ushered in the 4-6-0 mixed traffic type. There follow details of design and specifications, boilers, frames, tenders, liveries, allocations and duties, repairs and maintenance, lastly withdrawals — with a cameo on the four (or was it five?) named engines. Furthermore, there's no stinting on pictures and tabular information in the intimate way for which the RCTS series have rightly been praised. This is a magisterial work and as with previous locomotive studies from the RCTS down the years we should be grateful to its industrious researchers and writers who have devoted their endeavours to leaving us these legacies. Vol.Il will describe the Class Ss built during the war and after nationalisation — by British Railways until 1951 - along with their post-war and BR era operation; it is keenly awaited.

The history of the Cheddleton Hospital Railway, 1895-1954 R.B. Cornwell. Author. 136pp, RH ****
In their massive and bold programme, typically Victorian, of encouraging the construction of regional mental hospitals ('asylums' in those days) the Commissioners in Lunacy applied a set of clear criteria regarding locations. These ought to be on rising ground, near a main railway line, South facing, and conveniently close to urban areas for recruiting labour and minimising travel times. Consequently, Staffordshire CCs asylum, at Cheddleton (aka 'St Edward's Hospital' or Cheddleton County Mental Asylum) was built near the NSR Churnet Valley Line, not far from Leek. Because it was on rising ground, the 175 acre site required a zlg-zag railway formation to gain the higher ground. The 'Lunacy Committee' of the County Council was, like the Commissioners, at the cutting edge. To power the hospital it installed the latest thing: three Parsons turbo-generators, very audacious for 1898. As well as lighting the hospital, the generating station took modernisation a step further and powered the one-mile branch line that served the complex. Hence, the Cheddleton Hospital Railway (opened 1899) a 220V dc line owned and run by the County Council. Passengers were brought and taken away in a former American-built, ex-LCC horse tramcar, locomotive hauled. The main purpose of the branch, however, was to bring supplies and above all quantities of coal to serve the Lancashire boilers that fed the turbines and the laundry, 200 tons each month. For their motive power, the authorities purchased an unusual locomotive, a product of Thomas Parker, Wolverhampton delivered by the electrical contractor, Lowdon Bros, Dundee. It had a peculiar driving arrangement: a motor that actuated a gear train, with final drive outside the driving wheels that, accordingly had outside bearings. Legend has it that counter-intuitively for 'quiet' electric traction it made an infernal din on the move: noisy gears, rattling steel floor, bumping over rail joints. For all that, it soldiered on for half a century requiring little more heavy attention than an occasional armature rewinding, a credit to the robust simplicity and reliability made possible by electric power. About a third of the text covers the building and running of the asylum itself. Although rather grim to modern sensibilities it represented a huge step forward from previous arrangements with such appointments as dining rooms, pleasantly laid out grounds, smartly uniformed nurses, and flowers in every ward for its thousand or so patients. Having set this scene, the author presses on with the history of the railway, built on the original steam-worked railway of contractor W Brown & Son, detailing its permanent way, rolling stock, current distribution, conductor suspension and the unique locomotive, the railway's only motive power throughout its existence. This admirable book is abundantly illustrated with photographs, diagrams and maps. The text takes great advantage of surviving archives and many secondary sources listed in its bibliography. Also, it is an unusually readable example of the genre, not short of wry asides and observations. As with the Cheddleton Hospital Railway, you get a good return on your initial investment in this thoroughly-researched work.

The great railway conspiracy. David Henshaw (Third fully revised edition). A to B Books, 304 pp. GBS *****
Fifty years ago your reviewer published his first railway article of many hundreds, an earnest attempt, concocted with a colleague, to reconcile regard for railways with the seemingly inexorable logic of current government policy. It was called 'Towards An Enthusiast's View of the Beeching Report'. Two years later he met Richard Beeching for the first time, in the unlikely environs of the Cambridge University Church. Throughout that decade, inspired by Beeching himself and by the very mixed experience of almost ceaseless travel around the network, he became convinced just how necessary a harshly critical railway policy was. Despite shortcomings much was achieved in that time, with benefits that underlie the triumphs of today's railway industry. Such opinions as these might suggest that there can be little common ground with David Henshaw's newly-revised edition of his 22-year-old book. It is an angry work: angry at the destruction of a generations-old symbiosis between communities and railways, angry at the questionable economic assumptions underlying a supposedly impartial process, angry at political manipulation, angry at the deviousness of some railway managers. All this is understandable. What the book does well is to marshal evidence pointing to the strategic flaws in the Beeching project, some continued long after his resignation and half-suspected even by those of us who supported him at the time. Henshaw gives a lively and thorough account of successive political attitudes towards the industry, from Grouping to Privatisation, especially during the two most dangerous decades. His narrative is honest and convincing, although maybe tending (as the title suggests) towards a 'Da Vinci Code' approach, finding plots and stratagems where there was in reality a sadly British lack of cohesive policy coupled with a lazy response to supposed popular attitudes. There is perhaps rather too much stress on the 'contributory revenue' chestnut and the questionable Professor E.R. Hondelink is given a little more credit than he deserves. More fundamentally Henshaw may not fully realise the consequences of the dire political and economic circumstances which were a forbidding background to the whole era. These rendered unthinkable the comfortable underlying assumption that loss- making secondary rail services would have been saved for 'good social and environmental reasons' (p10l) if only the railway authorities had made a stronger case. Such attitudes were inconceivable before 1968 and only grudgingly accepted for many years afterwards. In a short review there is no room for a detailed analysis but one or two questionable points about Beeching himself struck your reviewer. Henshaw's characterisation of him as "awkward and uncomfortable in social situations" (p162) is not generally true, even if he lacked his predecessor's unerring common touch. And it is certainly wrong to say that he suffered "a muddled and rather grubby end" to his working life (p114): he went on to a successful business career and chaired the important and effective Royal Commission on Assizes and Quarter Sessions, with acclaimed results. There is much more here than commentary on the Beeching years and the later part of the book clearly dissects the chaos consequent on flawed privatisation, as well as the potential for further reopenings, accompanied by sound observations on the abject failure of supposedly entrepreneurial operators to launch year-round operation of secondary services (a recurrent claim by opponents of closures was that 'proper management' would 'make lines pay', a vain hope then and now). Nothing is harder for a reviewer than to consider a book whose basic concepts he doubts, but even those of us who applauded the principles behind the Beeching project need to be reminded of the mistakes inherent in it. We should also understand how passionately others dissent and if you read just one book arguing that case then this should be it. Those who saw the original edition should certainly consider acquiring its well-produced and reasonably-priced successor, enhanced as it is by a fine selection of illustrations and by excellent graphs and diagrams, together with colour reproductions of posters and maps. Your reviewer, though, remains convinced that had Beeching not done the job set by his political masters, someone else would have done worse later, probably with fewer positive proposals: doubting readers may like to muse on Margaret Thatcher's likely attitude towards a largely untrimmed railway undertaking had one (improbably) survived until 1979.

Winter morning in Worcestershire. J. Gordon. rear cover
4P compound No. 40928 at Blackwell having been banked up Lickey Incline by 94XX 0-6-0PT in March 1957.

Number 3 (March)

LNER V3 2-6-2T No.67611 awaits departure from Balloch for Glasgow Queen Street on 14th June 1959. Derek Penney. front cover

Beware the tricks of memory. Michael J. Smith. 131
Guest editorial by an octogenarian on memory failures: refers to LT&SR tank engines "seen" at Turnham Green" and to trains departing from the bay platform at King's Cross Metropolitan line station in 1941.

Euston regenerates. 132-3
Colour photo-feature: Euston during demolition and reconstruction: Duchess Pacific No. 46220 Coronation in Platform 2 having arrived on sleeper in 1961; Class 5 No. 44766 arriving on 10.11 ex-Birimingham in Platform 6; Platform 5 eith building work nearly obscuring entrance to Northern Line; Jubilee No. 45723 Fearless hauling empty stock (previous three all 13 June 1964: David Idle); Class 304 EMU in 1966 (T.J. Edgington).

R.A.S. Hennessey. Waiting for the wires: electrification leads and lags: 5-105 years. 134-7
Paper is a useful insulator for electricity: Roger has unearthed some early electrification proposals which feature some improbable destinations like the Mablethorpe Loop in a Merz and McLellan plan within the Weir Report of 1931. As usual Roger introduces several relatively unknown schemers and planners: the first being David Halliwell who reported on electrifying the Manchester South Junctiion Railway in 1924 and envisaged using the Bury third rail system. Brief mention of the various schemes from 1903 onwards to electrify Great Northern suburban services including the reuse of close-coupled four-wheeled coaches sandwiched between electic motor cars; parts were incorporated into the Northern Line and the rest had to wait until 1976. Bisacre, a civil engineer who married a rich publisher's daughter, advocated an electrified Glasgow suburban railway network using 1.5kV traction in the 1920s. Destinations included Kirkintilloch and Busby (latter still waiting for Scotland to act). Eric R.L. Fitzpayne, in chatrge of Glasgow Corporation Transport, envisaged a rapid transit system based on a motorway network for Glasgow, but was mainly overtaken by Sir Robert Inglis who advocated an electrified suburban railway network. James Charles Inglis, General Manager of the GWR requested Crompton to draw up plans for electtric traction through the Severn Tunnel. Very vague refernce to statement by Crompton in 1916 which is difficult to autheticate due to chained library atmosphere of IEEE website. Illustrations: map LNER 1931 proposals by Merz & McLellan (seems more in line with requirements of electricity generation in Yorkshire and on south Humberside rather than with railway requirements); Class 309 in maroon livery at Shenfield in May 1963; East Coast electrification 1959 stle map; Bisacre's proposals for Glasgow (map); Bisacre's proposals for Glasgow for electric traction (diagram); Blue Train on test run alongside Clyde from George Blake 's Glasgow electric published by Scottish Region in 1960 (Ottley 714) the photographer was a freelance one see Frank Jones page; Robin Barnes impression of Crompton's bipolar gearless electric locomotives for working through Severn Tunnel (see also letter from  Nicholas Daunt on p.317 who identifies the counter-factual steam locomotive in the painting as William Dean). See also letter from Alisdair McNichol on the delay in the northward progress from Merseyside. Letter from Peter Steer on problem facing Southern Railway with two systems and a third in prospect for SECR

John L. Flann. The London & South Western Railway and Southampton. 138-43.
Initial proposals originated in Southampton and a prospectus was issued in 1831 for a Southampton London and Branch Railway (the branch was from Basingstoke to Bristol), but this was soon dropped. Francis Giles was the engineer - he had surveyed a route for a canal. The act was passed in July 1834 and Joseph Locke was appointed engineer. The line opened in part in 1838 and was complete in 1840. A further Act in 1839 changed the company name to the London & South Western Rakilway. The extension to Waterloo was completed in 1848, but the plans were modified by the accommodation of the Richmond Railway and the abandonment of running of an extension into the City over the South Eastern Railway. The station at Southampton was designed by Sir William Tite. There was an extension along the quayside. The Imperial Hotel was purchased and renamed the South Western Hotel. Southampton West station opened in 1895 and was renamed Central in 1935 when the station was partially rebuilt — the original station became Southampton Terminus. The Southampton Docks Co. was incorporated in 1836 and was acquired by the LSWR in 1892. Illustrations: William James Chapman (portrait); Beattie 2-4-0 No. 167 Atalanta built in 1859; Nine Elms passenger station exterior (engraving); G. & J. Rennie 2-2-2 of 1838 (drawing); map of London & Southampton Railway 1837; Mazeppa class 2-2-2 Snake (built at Nine Elms in 1847: drawing); Woking Common station (engraving); Beattie 2-2-2WT No. 2 Tartar (Sharp 1852); Waterloo station (engraving); Southampton station (engraving); Southampton Central station facade of 1935 (bombed during WW2); Paddle steamer Southampton at Royal Pier; map of Sothampton Docks. See also Archive for articles on graving dock (Issue 12) and dry dock (Issue 4). and Rly Archive, 2014 (42), 49.

Mike G. Fell and R.A.S. Hennessey. Payton and his pictures:  a railwayman and his camera. 144-7.
Robert Nigel Payton was born in Solihull on 27 August 1911. An ancestor, Joseph Payton (1796-1842) had founded a brass and iron factoring business which his father had inherited. His mother had died in childbirth and he was brought up by a nanny Kate Griffiths and educated at a prep school in Colwall and at Sherborne. His nanny had instilled a love of railways within the child and at the end of his schooling he sought a clerical post on the LMS which was not granted until early in 1930. His railway career involved many postings in the Midlands, but latterly involved the control of traffic at Crewe where he lived next door to Darroch, an aristocratic railway engineer, who built an outstanding model locomotive which was donated to the Stephenson Locomotive Society. Payton enjoyed taking railway photographs and his collection was obtained for the SLS by the authors. Illustrations: Nigel Payton in group photograph of (uniformed) staff at Castle Bromwich with LMS motor lorry behind; Orion at 4 Wellington Villas, Crewe with Darroch and Jabez Foster Turner; Swiss Federal Railways Ae 4/7 2-Do-1 electric locomotive No. 10919 at Lausanne on 11 April 1929 (clearly shows Buchli drive); Johnson 0-4-4T No. 1338 with Southern stock off 13.55 ex-Templecombe on Clifton Down working; Kirtley doble-frame 2-4-0 No. 1 at King's Norton in November 1929; Class 3 4-4-0 No. 706 with Dabeg feed water heater at Stonehouse in May 1931; interior of Saltley roundhouse with Kirtley double frame 0-6-0; Johnson 1P 2-4-0; Johnson 3P 4-4-0 No. 715; 3F 0-6-0T No. 7114 and Johnson 2F 0-6-0 No. 3543; Weston Clevedon & Portishead Railway Drewry petrol railcar No. 5 at Weston-super-Mare in April 1937; streamlined Duchess No. 6223 Princess Alice at Gresty Lane Crewe on 12 noon ex-Bristol in July 1937. See also letter from Ken Veitch (p. 253) who adds further memories of Payton.

Edward Gibbins. Private owner wagons. 148-54
Mainly their inefficiency; their halt on railway modernization and their control in WW1 and demise during WW2. Prior to WW1 the GWR estimated thatit cost 50% more to build two 10-ton wagons than to build one 20-ton wagon. The GWR offered a 5% discount for the conveyance of coal in 20-ton wagons. In 1929 it cost £130 for a 12-ton wagon. In 1925 the Coal Commission was established. In 1939 many pre-1904 wagons were still in use with grease axleboxes. During WW2 585,000 private-owner wagons were requisitioned and the British Transport Commission was lumbered with paying £43 million in compensation for wagons of very limited utility. Very extensive list of sources. Illustrations: former LD&ECR 0-6-4T M1 class No. 6153 with Hargreaves & Sons wagon behind at Tuxford in August 1938 (colour). see Editorial corriegendum on page 253; Fazakerley sidings with coal for export or bunkering, with some in Henry Lodge of Goldthorpe wagons and some in BB wagons (Blundell's Pemberton Colliery see Greaves Index); Watford tank 0-6-2T No. 6922 in LMS livery with private owner wagons at Dudley Port in 1948 (colour: P.B. Whitehouse); 4F No. 4102 with coal empties on Hathern water troughs near Loughborough in May 1931;  Horwich 2-6-0 No. 2823 on up freight, mainly coal in private owner wagons at Elstree, NER T2 0-8-0 on up freight (coal in 20-ton wagons ay front) at Croft Spa in 1920;  Worcester shed in September 1942 (colour!) with NER 0-6-0, LBSCR 4-4-2T, GWR locos and chocolate & cream coaching stock (corridor coach and auto trailers) and something gleaming in wagons below (photographer could have been shot as a spy): 3F 0-6-0 No. 3266 with ICI limestone wagons at Chinley on 13 August 1939; 12-ton 4-plank wagon built Charles Roberts & Co. of Horbury in 1923 for Delaney's Horton Limeworks in Horton-in-Ribblesdale (caption incorrect re axlebox lubrication); GWR Bulldog No. 3448 Kingfisher on freight at Southam Road & Harbury in 1936 with Stewarts & Lloyds 8-plank wagon No. 2374; 7F 0-8-0 No. 49674 on mineral empties was not at Longwood as percaption, but on the L&YR CaIder Valley main line near Mytholmroyd. see also letter from Robert Barker on p. 381 on protracted use of such wagons.

Visiting Grantham Shed in 1956. 155-7
Colour photo-feature based on J.T. Bassingdale Collection contributed by L. Brownhill: transparencies taken in July 1956: A3 No. 60061 Pretty Polly with skingle chimney and White Rose headboard moving to take train forward to Leeds; V2 No. 60814 to take over express for King's Cross; K2 No. 61763 on Nottingham Victoria stopping train; B1 No. 61204 comes onto shed (white refrigerated van behind); B12/3 No. 61574; C12 No. 67362 presumably station pilot (caption stated GCR design see apologia); A3 No. 60061 Pretty Polly viewed from rear (GNR-type tender) moving to take train forward to Leeds: all in lined BR black moving other than dark green A3.  

Bill Taylor. The railway in court: snow on the platform. 158-9.
Two specific cases of injuries to passengers attributable to snow on the platform. The first was at Perry Barr on 28 March 1888 when a season ticket holder, Mr Osborne left the train and fell and claimed damages off the LNWR. Mr Justice Grantham found for the LNWR on the basis that Osborne was aware of the danger. Much later Mrs Tomlinson fell on snow at Dagenham where the platform had not been treated, but the Railway Executive won the case as in the circumstances the staff at Dagenham were not negligent. Illustrations: Standard class 5 No. 75093 at Farnborough in the deep snow of January 1963 (colour: T.B. Owen); Perry Barr station in early twentieth century; Kirtley 0-4-4T No. 1207 at Ambergate in snow on 25 December 1925 (H.C. Casserley).

The changing face of the West Coast electrics. Rodney Lissenden. 160-2.
Colour photo-feature: Rail Blue Class 85 No. 85 022 on 16.25 Willesden to Holyhead Freightliner near Tring on 29 July 1988; Class 86 No. 86 207 City of Lichfield in Inter City livery with 09.10 Edinburgh to Bournemouth in Virgin livery at Wigan North Western on 5 March 2002; Railfreight liveried Class 86 Nos. 86 613 County of Lancashire and 86 633 Wolfruna on 08.16 Crewe to Grain Freightliner on 29 December 1995; Freightliner liveried (green states caption) Class 86 No. 86 501 on Felixstowe to Trafford Park container train on 19 May 2006 near Tring; Class 87 No. 87 012 The Olympian in Network South East livery with Virgin 12.41 Euston to Wolverhampton passing South Kenton on 10 May 2005; No. 87 022 in First (GB Freight) blue livery hauling Class 325 postal electric multiple units on 15.47 Shieldmuir to Warrington train passing Leyland on 21 April 2006

The 'Business tine'. George W. Smith (photographs) and Barry C. Lane (captions).163-5.
Black & white photo-feature of Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway: 4-4-2 No. 1395 on Blackpool express at Manchester Victoria (with George W. Smith in the picture); 4-4-2 No. 1411 on express for Blackpool Central at Swinton; unidentified 0-8-0 on freight on water troughs at Luddedenfoot post WW1 (correction to caption); two 978 class 4-4-0s passing Moston with corridor train including former Midland Railway dining car en route for Yorkshire; 2-4-2T No. 1269 hauling empty carriage stock, probably from an excursion, at Middleton Junction; steam railmotor (Railcar) No. 1 with Kerr Stuart coach portion working Rishworth branch.  

Alistair F. Nisbet. The Aldeburgh branch. 166-74.
Partly based on experiences of Brian Ginger, who worked in several signal boxes in Suffolk, including Saxmundham Junction and Leiston. THe Aldeburgh branch closed from 12 September 1966, except for handling nuclear waste from just east of Leiston. The East Suffolk line escaped closure by being converted to a basic railway, which has recently been reconverted to a less restricted layout.  Illustrations: Metro-Cammell DMU leaving Saxmundham for Aldeburgh  on 13 July 1963 (colour J.S. Gilks);  map; J15 No. 65447 with five coach train on Aldeburgh Regatta day (I.C. Allen); Saxmundham station in pre-grouping period; Saxmundham station in 1967; Aldeburgh DMU passing Saxmundham Junction; horse shunting at Leiston; L1 No. 67705 with inspection saloon at Leiston (I.C. Allen); Leiston station with Sirapite (R.C. Riley); Thorpeness Halt; Thorpeness Halt on 13 July 1963 (colour J.S. Gilks); Aldeburgh station c1928; J17 No. 65513 and J15 No. 65467 at Aldeburgh (I.C. Allen); Cravens DMU in Aldeburgh station prior to leaving for Ipswich (David Lawrence);) Sirapite at Leiston (R.C. Riley). Further information in letter from Andrew Kleissner on page 253 and from C.W. Jagger on p. 317 (on DMU types illustrated)

James Johnson. The architecture of the Chester & Holyhead Railway. Part Two: Llandudno Junction to Chester. 175
Part 1 in Volume 27 page 70. Abergele & Pensarn remains as remodelled by the LNWR in the 1850s. The A55 roadworks have destroyed much of Colwyn Bay, but some of the grandeur of the original stations remains at Mostyn and at Holywell Junction, altghough the Francis Thompson buildings no longer serve as railway buildings. A fire destroyed both much of the local County Archive and the former goods station at Holywell Junction. The Rhyl Miniature Railway is mentioned and this is the subject of more extensive coverage in Archive. Illustratiuons: Colwyn Bay station looking west c1900; Rhyl station platform c1905; Rhyl during LNWR period; Prestatyn c1900; Mostyn  station and Holywell Junction station in October 1966 and Chester station interior in 1914.

The LNER 2-6-2 Tanks 178 -9.
Colour photo-feature: V1 No. 451 in LNER lined black livery at Bishop's Stortford in 1939; V3 No. 67611 departs Balloch for Glasgow Queen Street on 14 June 1959 (Derek Penney); No. 67680 (fitted with slip coupling for working Cowlairs inclline) on Eastfield motive power depot in June 1962 (T.B. Owen); No. 67653 on local freight trip working passing Stone Bridge near Durham on 29 October 1962 (David Idle); V3 No. 67670 at North Berwick with Class 101 Metro-Cammell dmu in May 1957 (E. Blakey) 

Geoffrey Skelsey. 'Goodbye to 55': a farewell tribute to London Transport's Headquarters. 180-3
55 Broadway was the headquarters of London Transport, but has been sold to be converted into high value residences. Charles Holden was the architect, and to an extent the style adopted was similar to his stations on the Northern line extension to Morden, but on a far grander scale. The building is 175 feet high and at the time of its completion some its floors could not be used due to fire regulations. It was a steel skeleton clad in Portand stone, constructed over the Circle line. High on the exterior there are the Eight Winds, sculptures carved in situ high up on the building. They included a nude figure of a boy by Jacob Epstein and this created a furore to which the Daily Telegraph and The Times contributed and Sir Reginald Blomfield claimed should be left to wallow in their own primeval slime. Inside the offices were open plan, with the exception of the grandd offices on the seventh floor occupied by Lord Ashfiled and Frank Pick. There were bronze fittings, marble drinking fountains and mail chutes. Illustrations: Electric Railway House completed in 1909; 55 Broadway viewed from north in 1930; ground floor library in 1952; Heny Moore's West Wind scupture viewed from Author's office in June 1966; view of building when new from Tothill Street; entrance hall in 1929

John Wilks. Cock o' the North and Dr. Hugo Lentz  184-7
Concentrates on the poppet valve gear and its claimed advantages over piston valves; and on the superiority of the Lentz (Lenz) system over the Caprotti system. Phillipson Design, data and formulae page 343 lists the advantages of poppet valves over piston valves: only 4-4.5 hp at 280 rpm required to drive twelve valves of a three-cylinder locomotive (Wilks assumes D49); improved steam distribution; abiity to run at early cut offs less weight 10% or less that piston valves less valve leakage In mid gear the valves can be held open leading to very free running C.S. Lake and A. Reidinger Locomotive valves and valve gears claimed that they were compact yet robust Albert Reidinger produced an infintely variable form which exploited the Knoller patents. Refers to Verina Homes paper: Poultney's contribution to discussion Julius Kirchhof of DABEG Franklin valve gear for which cites Vernon Smith One man's locomotives. May 1934 test Peterborough to Stoke Summit with 20 coach 650 ton train achieved 2100dbhp at 58 mile/h. Illustrations: 2001 showing ACFI feed water heater; close up of valve gear; Pennsylvania RR T1 Duplex; 2001 on Dundee shed; LMS Horwich 2-6-0 No. 13118 with Lentz valve gear on Hudderssfield shed in 1933. Acknowledges assistance of George Carpenter

Rolling Stock Focus. GWR clerestory-roofed stock: photographs from Whittaker Collection with captions by Mike King. 188
Colour photo-feature: Dean former camp coach No. W9980W at Llantarnam station on 9 May 1962 (vehicle painted red); Dean DW14494 showing Dean bogie in use as Mess & Sleeping Van (painted black) at Aberystwyth in 1959

Readers' Forum. 189

Carlisle Kingmoor Marshalling Yards. Editor
Author of this article in the February issue was Alan Taylor, not as stated.: apologies for getting his name wrong.

Before they were famous . L.A. Summers
Re December Issue of Backtrack. In article about engineers' drawing office work 'before they were famous' Phil Atkins refers to Hawksworth denying any involvement in a Pacific design when GWR CME but that "there is indeed some evidence for this". What evidence? The existence of the diagram which appeared in the RCTS history but is not recorded in the DO registers and the tables of calculations actually signed by Titchener which also have no hinterland?
The letter writer made a very long study of this matter and written about it several times, but there is no evidence for Hawlsworth's involvement in this work. The original of the diagram, actually drawn by Harry Flewellyn, almost certainly a much simpler layout than appeared in the RCTS book, was destroyed in the early 1960s. Whatever the detail of how that happened, it is clear that it was done at the request/orders of Hawksworth himself, even if he did not actually do the shredding. Is it likely that he would have done that, had it been something that had his official seal of approval? In fact, as writerI also recorded, Hawksworth told Keith Grand that the GWR had no need of such an engine. For his money, that's the end of the matter. For readers interested in the details they are covered in Chapter 7 of Summers Swindon Steam: A New Light on GWR Locomotive Development (Amberley) To conclude, Summers has several times over the years invited anyone who could add historically based information to our knowledge of this matter to get in touch. No-one ever has.
Elsewhere in that Issue the caption writer refers disparagingly to the semi-streamlining fitted to GWR Nos.5005 and 6014. Unlike the preceding, this is a subjective item of artistic opinion and conservatives (I emphasise the small 'c') never liked streamlining in any form, especially Stanier who, I read, 'hated it'. That, I believe, that 'practical engineers' did not like it, is the real reason why the LMS Pacifics were stripped of their shrouds after the war, nothing to do with the difficulty of keeping them clean. The Collett streamlining, if I may call it that, was certainly not terribly successful but it was a very near thing. The fact is that the 4-6-0, short and tall, does not lend itself to go-faster shrouding but if Collett had actually thought a bit more about what he was asked to do, he would have come up with something more akin to the NSWGR 3801 Pacific or the NYC 4-6-4 (and there were others), all of which had successful variations on this layout. In truth, what are probably the best-looking locomotives ever built in Britain? Probably the Gresley A4 streamliner, certainly far more attractive than his usual fare. And yes, I am a GWR enthusiast!

Philip Atkins replies:
Surely, even although still a distinguished local figure at Swindon, after more than a decade in retirement Fred Hawksworth would have been in no position in the early 1960s to have ordered Swindon Drawing Office to destroy the 1946 4-6-2 diagram, or any other drawing for that matter: and by then did it really matter? My own suspicion is that the rationale behind the purely tentative 4-6-2 proposal was not prestige but simply the very serious decline in the quality of locomotive coal during the Second World War. This, and the sheer scarcity of coal, was a major problem facing the railways in the immediate post-war period, prompting the investigation of gas turbine traction by the GWR and diesel-electric traction by the LMS, LNER and Southern almost as soon as the war had ended, and which was ultimately a major factor in the rapid move away from steam by British Railways a decade later. Pre-1939 the Great Western Railway had employed the best possible quality Welsh steam coal, with an average calorific value of 14,960BThU per pound in 1938, which by 1946 had fallen to 13,800BThU/lb (which was still nevertheless better than the then prevailing values on the LMS at 12,960 and LNER at 13,300)*. In February 1946, around when the idea of a 4-6-2 was almost certainly being debated, Swindon was investigating radically redesigning the No.8 'Castle' boiler with significantly increased superheat via three- or four-row superheaters, the latter also possibly additionally incorporating a sloping firebox throat plate and consequently shortened fire tubes, as had already been adopted pre-war for the 'Manor' 4-6-0s. The actual memorandum, a copy of which was forwarded to the CME, was written by the legendary Sam Ell and commences with "We have been asked for an arrangement of the 'Castle' boiler incorporating a superheater which will provide a superheat of 250 deg F". It would be interesting to know who instigated this investigation, the CME (quite probably) or the chief draughtsman. *These figures are given on p224 of The Railway Gazette for 7 March 1947 and resulted from a recent Parliamentary question. And see Roger Hennessey's broadside p. 317.

The development of restaurant cars. Andrew Allardyce 
In the article on Restaurant Cars by George May in the December issue the author refers to the baskets being provided by the Highland Railway as "Kingussie baskets" but was unaware of the reason. I believe that the name derives from the northbound overnight trains from London to Inverness stopping at the station in Kingussie, some 46 miles from Inverness, at which point breakfast baskets would have been taken on board allowing passengers adequate time to enjoy their breakfast before arriving in Inverness. Later in the day the baskets would be returned to Kingussie in order that they could be prepared for the next morning.

The development of restaurant cars. Michael J. Smith. 
In his article George May writes that the Metropolitan Railway's two Pullmans were introduced between the wars, whereas in fact they entered service in 1910. It is true that "they operated in the morning and evening on specified services" but it should perhaps be noted that in the era of the five-and-a half day working week there were also two down journeys from the City early on Saturday afternoons. The Pullmans did not run on Sundays. ,

The Hull & Holderness Railway. Leonard Rogers 
First, corrections: the first date given in the picture caption on p71 should be 1864 and not 1846, as the text makes clear, and the name of the station variously named as Keyningham on the map on p71 and Keyringham on p.72, purportedly quoting the prospectus, should be Keyingham, as given on p75, twice. Secondly, what the author does not mention, other than in the article's title, is the date of the company's absorption into the North Eastern Railway. This absorption was authorised by an Act of 7July 1862, according to Ken Hoole in his 1970 revision, published by Nidd Valley Narrow Gauge Railway productions, of G.G. MacTurk's 1879 work, A history of the Hull railways (Ottley Supplement 1: 1449). Finally, about the lattice bridge referred to in the picture caption at the top of p72 : this was a footbridge. As can be seen in the photograph, one of Hull's level crossings lay just at the platform ends at Botanic Gardens station. When the crossing gates were closed, as they often were, either for Hornsea or Withernsea trains or for the frequent freight traffic between Hull's western marshalling yards and the eastern docks, the footbridge was a boon to rush-hour pedestrians. There was, and still is, a well-known Hull high school, built on the site of the old Botanic Gardens, just a few hundred yards to the right of the level crossing in the photograph. When writer was a pupil there in the 1960s, the footbridge was a boon as we rushed to school, trying to avoid being late in a morning, or rushed off to try and catch an earlier bus and avoid the half-hour wait for the next one  after school. Even after the Hornsea and Withernsea DMUs finished in October 1964, the Victoria Dock branch (the 'Iow level' as it was known) remained fairly busy with freight traffic until its closure and the transfer of the remaining traffic to the ex- Hull and Barnsley 'high level' route in October 1968.

LYR North Liverpool Electrification. Geoff Green 
One minor error appears in the map. The CLC line crossed over the Liverpool-Southport line, not under as the maps show. In fact a bridge is still there, used by the coastal road that was built along the route of the CLe.

On the other side of the track. Howard Burchell 
Re picture of one of the level crossings on the Shipston-on-Stour: the railway at this crossing opened in 1826 as the horse-drawn Stratford & Moreton Tramway, with a branch from it starting some two miles further north to Shipston added in 1836. As the national steam railway system grew, so the tramway declined. Eventually the GWR decided to reconstruct the section between Moreton and Shipston to its standards and the branch line reopened in 1889 with a new curve near Longdon Road station to avoid trains having to reverse en route. A connection to the remaining horse tramway was retained for some years at Longdon Road. The branch was 8 miles 75 chains long. There were nine level crossings over public roads on the branch. The one in the photograph was the fifth one and shows, looking towards Shipston, the lane from Stretton-on-Fosse to Longdon Manor rising to meet the B4035 Shipston to Chipping Campden road while the railway falls and enters a cutting to pass under that road. In tramway days this involved a short tunnel, the bridge the GWR built in its place being subsequently known as Tunnel Bridge. The crossing in the photograph was not, as the caption states, the one at Longdon Road station; that was the next one, two miles nearer Shipston. This one was known as Stretton Road Crossing: each one of the nine crossings had a house for the crossing keeper very similar to the one shown. The passenger service on the line was withdrawn in July 1929 and so were the crossing keepers; after that time the crossings had to be opened and closed by the crew of the goods train which continued to run until May 1960. Writer can recall the goods train delivering churns of drinking water from Shipston to some of the houses. The presence of the crossings and a circuitous railway route meant that it was possible for writer, as a schoolboy on holiday in the mid-1950s, to race the train from Shipston to Moreton on his bike and win.

An appreciation of performance writing. L. A. Summers 
Those of us interested in railways owe a great debt to both Cecil J. Allen and O.S. Nock and Andrew James's tribute article is a reasonably measured commentary on their work, particularly as masters of the 'dark art' of train recording. O.S. Nock always answered his letters helpfully and gracefully — if on one occasion somewhat caustically. CJA answered a letter from Summers in Trains Illustrated when he was younger, it more than made his day! But Backtrack is an historical magazine which seeks for the truth and I therefore suggest that some tempering comments are appropriate. CJA had a tendency to arrogance that was sometimes more than just surprising. There is a comment in one of his 1930s articles in which he makes it implicitly clear that he considered his journeys by rail to be more important that those of his correspondents. In reading hundreds of his articles I cannot remember him accept a critic's arguments. And in the 1950s and '60s Allen's avowal of the diesel, or rather the way he responded to its critics, was often with very weak counter-arguments; his criticism of the H. F. Brown Paper on American dieselisation (Proc. Instn Mech Engrs 1961, 175, 257) was extraordinary. It strongly suggests that he had not read it [KPJ: the Brown paper is very long and was subject to comments by Cock, Beavor and Dusty Durrant, but not directly by CJA]. Mr. James refers to CJA's reporting of the work of the Deltics', extremely good locomotives by any standard of performance. In an early 1960s article extolling the virtues of these locomotives he writes: " ... whoever heard of an A3 Pacific doing this?" (or words to that effect). To which the response ought to have been: of course not, the maximum hp of an A3 Pacific was probably around 2,000 against the 3,300 of the 'Deltic'. BR would have been in serious trouble if the 'Deltic' could do no more than replicate the A3's performance. O.S. Nock wrote more than 120 books and one might reasonably ask how he managed that and numerous railway articles while working his way up to being CME of the signalling division of Westinghouse. Not by paying too much attention to what he was doing is the answer, for several books contain errors and omissions, in one case, of a whole class of locomotive. Some years ago a correspondent to Backtrack excoriated a long dead writer for relying on 'gentlemen' railway officers for information rather ~ researching it for himself. O.S. Nock always claimed to be in touch with railway officers, as I am sure he was. But whether in some cases it was beneficial remains to be seen. His relations with Sam Ell and Geofrey Tew (Swindon) raise several questions about what he claimed to have been told and what he clearly was not. Mr. James says that OSN was largely unbiased but he has been accused, in the past, of taking certain 'Claughton' test results at their face value when the dynamometer car on which they were recorded was known to be faulty. One has to comment that if this was the case, then he must have known that they were open to question.
Finally, Mr. James's implication that the work of the preserved No.5043 is superior to the normal performance of the double chimney four-row superheated 'Castle' cannot be supported. The work of these locomotives was very significant, to which Kenneth H. Leech among others is authoritative witness. There is a suggestion that reliability of individual 'Castles' differed markedly between members of the class to an extent not noted with other types; why this should be remains a mystery but it is a fact that No.7018, the 'special' version of this rebuild, was an outstanding performer against any standard. I am convinced that a selected core of known reliable members of this class, up rated in the same manner as No.7018, could have successfully run the Bristolian' at the proposed 100-minute timing. (And don't forget that the Warship' only bettered No.7018's 93min 50sec achievement by about 30 seconds.) No adequate reason was ever given for not going ahead with this acceleration and I think it may very well have been due to signalling and PW restraints rather than any doubt about locomotive performance.

The hand that rocked the cradle. Robert Emblin
The authors would like to thank Martin Bloxsom for his interesting speculations on the photographs accompanying our article. Unfortunately the background skyline in the heading picture does not fit Martin's guess of Marylebone's Platform 4, and whether or no the trio of LSWR carriage cleaners was at Wimbledon, though an interesting speculation, is rather arcane. The suggestion that the young female clerks at L&YR Horwich were "lower middle-class women earning money possibly for the first time in their lives" is arguable. The railway works was the major employer in the area and the brighter girls leaving the local secondary schools (as the non-grammar and technical schools were known in those days) would be the most likely source of supply for the relatively lowly (in the sociological terms appropriate to Martin's observation) but non-manual posts in the railway remit. There would most likely be some of the less academically gifted grammar school girls amongst them, but Martin's broad and simplistic generalisation cannot really be justified. However, the reference in his third paragraph is most interesting and potentially useful.

The Humber Ferries, Grimsby and associated railways. John Abrams
The caption on p. 630 of Jeffrey Wells's article in the October issue reads "The first train into Great Grimsby ... from New Holland to Great Grimsby". It cannot have been; the scene in 2013 has not changed since 1848, St. James's church and the bridge remain and beyond the bridge (to the east) Great Grimsby railway station. The train is therefore leaving Grimsby.

The rise and fall of 'Railway Spine'. Tom Wray 
At the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway meeting on 15 February 1860 the chairman, commenting on accident claims, said that "he confessed he had never seen yet a remedy proposed so successful in restoring an injured person to health as a good heavy compensation paid by a railway company". (Herapath Railway Journal, 18 February 1860). After a jury awarded a passenger, injured in a collision on the LYR when travelling from Southport to Manchester, £400 compensation, Mr. Justice Brett enquired of Doctor Noble, one of the medical witnesses, how long railway injuries lasted. Dr. Noble stated that the injured persion never recovered until after the trial. (The Engineer, 22 August 1873)

Deltic on trial. Geoff Senior
The routine with such test workings was to turn the trains at the southern end of the test route using the triangular layout at Shipley station. As a regular trainspotter at Shipley had witnessed such a movement when Stanier Pacific No.46225 Duchess of Gloucester was under test the previous summer and was present the first day of the Deltic trials in 1956 thanks to the local 'grapevine' providing prior knowledge. To turn a train from the north involved running past the station on the then platformless main line, commonly referred to as 'the bend', in the direction of Leeds, followed by reversal through the station on what was then Platform 4 towards Bradford and finally through the then Platform 1, with the locomotive once again at the front and the train now facing north. Platform 1 was on quite a severe curve which was never designed for a locomotive of the proportions of the prototype Deltic and as a ten-year-old I walked alongside it as the train negotiated Platform 1 very slowly with the locomotive fouling the platform edge for much of this leg of the turning movement. The locomotive was quite badly scarred along the length of the lower bodywork and I suspect that the English Electric engineers were not best pleased. Early next morning workmen were busy moving the platform edge copings back by 6in or so and the turning movement was completed that afternoon without repetition of the previous day's problems. I cannot recall if the damage to the locomotive was repaired by the following day; I have a feeling it was not. However, the evidence from the photographs in BT indicate that the damage was made good before the end of the testing programme.

The Transport Ticket Society. Colin Page 
The Transport Ticket Society marks its creation 50 years ago by offering 2014 membership at a discounted rate of £12.50 (UK), £22.50 (overseas), representing a cut of about 50% on its previous rates. The Society, formed in 1964 through the amalgamation of two similar societies, has a long history of researching and studying tickets and fare collection systems. Today the development of electronic forms of ticket issue for many forms of transport presents different challenges and opportunities to operators and enthusiasts alike. The Society provides members with an extensively illustrated, monthly Journal, which includes wide-ranging news of ticket matters for all modes of transport in the UK and abroad, along with historical articles relating to tickets and issuing systems from times past. Monthly distributions of road, rail and other tickets are offered to members and twice-yearly postal auctions of historic tickets are held. Meetings take place regularly in Manchester and Brighton together with other venues from time to time. For further information and an application form, visit the Society's website www.transport-ticket.org.uk or contact the Membership Secretary at 6 Breckbank, Forest Town, Mansfield NG19 OPZ (stephenskeavington—msn.com).

Book reviews 190

The Industrial Tramways of the Vale of Llangollen J.R.Thomas and DW.Southern, Locomotive Papers 238, Oakwood Press, JRS ***
There cannot be many railway bookshelves without a run of these histories from The Oakwood Press in the much revered and well used section of their library. The latest offering covers the known and defunct rail orientated workings around an area centred on Liangollen, now better known for the preserved railway where both authors had been members. Unfortunately John Thomas did not live to see the fruits of his labours into print.
Between the glossy card covers are 72 pages on art paper with eight chapters covering some 100 years of industrial activity. Whilst not abounding in locomotives there is good coverage of man's ingenuity in moving materials fair distances through difficult and remote landscapes, shipping out of the area often exceeded cost. The coming of the Ellsemere and Liangollen canal in 1805 eased transport difficulties. Another 56 years passed before rails sought space between the River Dee, canal and London to Holyhead road .Amongst the varied extracted materials are wood, limestone, slate, coal, bricks, tiles and iron ore. Gauges vary from 2ft, 2ft 7in?, 3ft and standard, slopes as steep as 1 in 2, the longest system extending some 5 linear miles. It is not hard to see why they faded as easier 190 and less demanding supplies came available elsewhere. The authors have done a good job of ferreting out information and pictures, the latter often matched to a current view. Whilst each chapter has a plan or map and overall view of the area covered would have been useful. All in all, the book makes a useful accompaniment to those who know the area or have travelled on the preserved line. Good value at £9-95 and a welcome addition to any collection.

British Rail: the Nation's railway. Tanya Jackson, The History Press, 256 pp, GBS ***
The near coincidence of the fiftieth anniversary of the Reshaping Report and of the twentieth anniversary of the start of railway privatisation has led to a welcome clutch of books exploring the broader history of the railway business and the mixed fortunes of the state-operated railway over fifty years. Terry Gourvish's three magisterial volumes are indispensible reading for a full understanding of the topic but Tanya Jackson's new history gives an accessible overview of the last century or so, and especially of the post- war years. Ms Jackson holds distinguished office in the Historical Model Railway Society and so she comes well equipped to ferret out appropriate sources and to turn a well- informed eye on the railways' most troubled years. Thankfully a common feature of most of the dozen or more books which have appeared in recent months to mark these anniversaries is a more nuanced understanding of the background, in place of the frenzied denunciation which used to prevail. Ms Jackson's is no exception, and her book is a well-paced account of British railway history, starting with the original lack of systemic planning and consequent overbuilding, in a laissez-faire environment accompanied by tardy and lackadaisical regulation (an interesting lesson for our own day, in different contexts). The greater part of her book examines BR's record, casting reasonable doubt on nostalgic recollection -or in many cases now, invention-of the 'glory days of steam'. The sadly neglected area of design and visual identity receives unexpectedly full coverage, as does manpower policy (or 'human relations' as we must now term them). There is a sensible account of the Beeching years, and the extent to which he continued existing policies including some of those set out in the wrongly sanctified Modernisation Plan of 1955. The emergence of the concept of the 'social railway' is an important topic here. There are useful chapters on safety, and the particular problems associated with London commuting, but the most valuable part of the book is perhaps its thorough exposition of the far-reaching revival of rail fortunes in the 1980s, which could have foreshadowed a different, cheaper, and less cumbersome model of rail organisation than that so recklessly adopted. Finally there is a summary of BR's genuine achievements, in the face of stop-start investment, vacillating political demands, and an almost invariably hostile press. A crisp introduction by Chris Green sets the tone for the book's themes. There are good source notes and an index, and an interesting selection of illustrations. There are sadly some irritating factual errors which should have been edited out: for example, there were no such bodies as the 'London Passenger Transport Executive', or the 'Merseyside Railway'; the louche Ernest Marples is wrongly charged with 'building the M1' (a discredited fable, since neither he nor his company did); Sir Colin Buchanan (1963) didn't advocate jet packs as 'the answer to urban congestion' (he thought them unrealistic); and it is curious to question the commitment towards intermodal integration in the Transport Act 1947 when it is explicitly set out in section 3(1). Such points apart, and an occasionally rather larky style, this is valuable contribution to recalling BR's record which those wanting a popular and good-value account will enjoy.

Freight distribution in Donegal. rear cover
County Donegal Railways Joint Committee lorry painted in what appeared at first glance appeared to be British Railways livery (i.e. crimon & cream), but lettered CDR and carrying a CIE container at the goods shed in Donegal with horse powered lorry alongside in 1953 on a wet day. Colour Rail

Number 4 (April)

LMS 'Patriot' 4-6-0 No.45547 sparkles at Willesden shed in May 1961. (S.M. Watkins: Colour-Rail.com) front cover

History in the making — and the keeping. Michael Blakemore.
Editorial centred around Bury in Lancashire

St. Blazey Class 37s on the Cornish 'Speedlink' services. David Cable. 196-7
Colour photo-feature: poignant rerminder of vulnerable railway link to Torbay and Cornwall: Class 37 working in pairs on frerights from/to Cornwall photographed at Par with Nos. 37 673 and 37 671 Tre Pol and Pen in March 1990; Nos. 37 672 Freight Transport Association and 674 descending from Dobwalls in April 1988; Nos. 37 669 and 673 roundin bend below Restormel Castle in April 1988; Nos. 37 670 and 672 on causeway at Cockwood Harbour in June 1990; and Nos. 37 673 and 670 pass Starcross (all on train for Gloucester)

Ron Strutt. Scotter of the South Western. Part One.198-203.
In 1883 Archibald Scott, General Manager joined the Board and a replacement was sought via a special committee which considered applications from G,P. Neele, Superintendent of the LNWR and F.P. Cockshott, Superintendent of the Great Northern, eventually shortlisted Charles Scotter, Frederick Harrison, Assistant Superintendent of the LNWR and Irvine Kemp, Assistant Superintendent of the Caledonian Railway. Charles Scotter was not born in Hull as stated in many obituaries, but in Norwich, the son of a cabinet maker who was sent to the debtors' prison in Norwich Castle in November 1841, and when released in March 1842 moved to Holt in North Norfolk and then to Hull where Scotter eventually joined the Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway as a receiving clerk in the Goods Department where most of the traffic was handled by ferry. In 1856 he married Annie Wilkinson. In 1860 he was promoted to Clerk-in-Charge of the Passenger Deparment at Hull.  In 1866 he was promoted to be Continental Agent at the Company's Headquarters in Manchester charged with developing traffic through Grimsby. In 1872 he became Assistant Goods Manager and within a year Goods Manager. In 1885 he became the General Manager of the LSWR. He was largely responsible for the LSWR acquiring Southampton Docks, of developing the privilege ticket system and of encouraging traffic to Bournemouth. On the other hand he failed to tackle the Waterloo problem and was slow to introduce corridor trains. He was a Lt Col in the Railway Engineer and Volunteer Staff Corps and a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. In 1906 Scotter was appointed Chairman of a Vice-Regal Commission on Irish Railways. Illustrations: Spy cartoon of Scotter in colour; Scotter in 1897 (photograph); Hull Victoria Pier c1900; Royal Dock in Grimsby; Hampton station; Southamptonm Docks c1890; and in about 1900; Empress Dock in 1900s; Esher station; Woking Junction station; plan of unplanned Waterloo in 1895; Drummond T7 4-2-2-0 posed? at Waterloo.  Part 2 page 308. See also letter from John Harvey on p. 381 who considers that Scott is treated too harshly

Brian Ringer. Didcot Power Station — the end of an era. 204-5.
The Central Electricity Generating Board began construction in 1964 and this was completed in 1968. It had a 650ft high chimney and 325ft high cooling towers and these dominated  the area. It closed in the spring of 2013 due to the failure to install carbon capture in its exhuast flues by its private owners. It had originally burned coal from South Wales and the East Midlands, but latterly used imported coal through Avonmouth and Portbury. Water was obtained from the Thames. Illustrations (by author): classes 73 No. 73 135 and 33 No. 33 030 with 28 HAA hoppers on 13.08 from Northam Dock, Southampton on 25 May 1976 (trial of imported coal by CEGB); class 47 No. 47 237 on train of HAA hoppers coming off unloading loop and No. 47 160 on train of empty fuel tanks (used as ignition fuel); class 45 No. 45 052 at other end of train in previous photograph which had hauled the coal from South Wales; No. 47 055 with train of HAA hoppers heading off Didcot West Curve, and No. 47 320 hauling empties back to Toton on 18 March 1979. See also letter from John Harvey page 381 on haulage of coal from Southampton Docks.

W.S. Becket. 100-wagon trains and their legacy. 206-8.
The Great Northern main line suffered from a serious lack of capacity and in an attempt to increase it the LNER introduced loaded 100-wagon trains between New England (Peterborough) and Ferme Park. This was when 10-ton private owner wagons prevailed for handling coal traffic.  Gresley introduced the P1 class of two 2-8-2s which used the boiler and three cylinders from the A1 Pacifics. These were unpopular with the footplate crews. Problems remained due to the lack of loops and wagon and coupling failures. Gradually the problem lessened with the introduction of higher capacity wagons. Illustrations: P1 No. 2394 alongside Langley troughs with 100-wagon train; Austerity No. 63193 at Sandy with up coal train; V2 No. 60871 on down empty wagon train at Crescent Junction; 9F No. 92041 leaving Peterborough for The Smoke on 28 May 1962; A4 No. 60008 Dwight D. Eisenhower on down empties near Sandy c1962. See also letter from David Cable on p. 381.

Alistair F. Nisbet. Feeing railway servants. 209-13
Victorian correspondence, mainly in The Times on tips and tipping, and the relationship between passengers and railway staff and management. Illustrations: contemporary cartoons, plus photographs of 9 porters at Euston loading LNWR clerestory roofed luggage van c1900;LMS porters at Sutton Park c1930; and solitary porter at Thorpe Cloud in Derbyshire in BR period.

More of the Stratford Scene. Dick Riley. 214-16
Colour photo-feature: N7 No. 69715 on 10 August 1958; No. 227 (English Electric demonstrator diesel hydraulic shunter painted in black with orange band) on 7 June 1959; ADB 968000 (former BTH No. D8243 employed as a pre-heater for coaching stock) on 14 July 1959;O1 No. 63650 on 6 March 1958; J15 No. 65454 on 7 June 1959; ADB 968013 (former Type 31 employed as a pre-heater for coaching stock) on 14 July 1959; J17 No. 65560 on 11 August 1958

Eric Bruton on the West Highland Line. 217-19
Black & white photo-feature: K4 No. 61944 The Great Marquess climbing near Inverlochy on 11.08 Class F freight on 19 June 1951; K4 No. 61945 Cameron of Lochiel in apple green livery at Banavie on 16.50 Fort William to Mallaig with snow-covered Ben Nevis behind; K2/2 Nos. 61764 Loch Arkaig and 61770 on 15.46 Glasgow Queen Street to Fort William on Horshoe Curve above Tyndrum photographed from the train on 9 June 1951; K2/2 No. 61791 Loch Laggan with brake van in Fort William yard on 11 June 1951; B1 No. 61344 with K2/2 No. 61791 Loch Laggan acting as pilot (on West Highland: train engine was always at front) on 05.30 Glasgow Queen Street to Fort William and Mallaig with sleeeping cars off Aberdonian near Inverlochy; K4 No. 61944 The Great Marquess on 13.05 ex-Mallaig crossing River Lochy on 16 June 1951.

Jeffery Grayer. Hidden in the body... [of the Southern Region 1959 Working Timetable]. 220-3
The guard on the 20.07 Exeter Central to Plymouth was required to collect the tickets and extinguish the lights at Brentor. Trains for workmen and the gyrations involved in returning empty milk tank wagons. Illustrations: M7 No. 30045 leaving Seaton Junction with push & pull unit for Saeton on 20 February 1959.

In Patriotic fervour. 224-7
Colour photo-feature: Patriot class (predominantly in original conditiion) and caption notes aim to construct The Unknown Warrior: No. 45519 Lady Godiva passing Dore & Totley heading south with express in June 1960 (P.J. Hughes); No. 45506 Royal Pioneer Corps heading north from Penrith on a freight (Ray Oakley); No. 45513 at Preston in July 1961 (K.R. Pirt); No. 45517 at Brighouse with 10.30 Liverpool Exchange to Newcastle express on 27 September 1958 (Gavin Morrison); rebuilt No. 45532 Illustrious at Leeds Holbeck mpd on 21 June 1961 (Gavin Morrison); rebuilt No. 45522 Prestatyn passing North Wembley with return excursion from schoolboy football international on 28 April 1962 (M. Smith) ; No. 45543 Home Guard at Lakeside with train of carmine & cream ex-LMS coaches;  rebuilt No. 45522 Prestatyn leving Leeds City with 12.35 to St. Pancras on 26 June 1960 (Gavin Morrison); No. 45518 Bradshaw in eruption on climb to Marsden from Huddersfield on 24 May 1959 (Gavin Morrison); No. 45503 The Royal Leicestershire Regiment at Ravenglass on RCTS Cambrian Rail Tour from Leeds on 4 September 1960 (Gavin Morrison); and No. 45503 passing Penrith with down freight on 23 September 1960 (M. Covey-Crump). See also letter from Owen Edgington on p. 381 on the poor steaming by the unrebuilt locomotives as indicated by the black smoke from Lady Godiva in the first picture and from David Rowlands on Derek Cross photograph of Lady Godiva ascending Shap with 15 coaches without a banker and his Patriot's finest hour (ascent probably took that time KPJ)

Peter Butler. Walking the 'Old Road'. 228-30
The Midland Railway route from Tapton Junction to Treeton Junction was known as the Old Road and dated back to the North Midland Railway. It was subsequently by-passed by the route through Sheffield which opened in 1870. The Author visited and photographed the signal boxes on the Old Road in August 1980. He received much historical information from Roy Bush, signalman at Hall Lane Junction which included the bitterness which existed from the Great Central men who had been displaced and about Charles Markham who had owned land in the area. Illustrations: railway line viewed from Eckington Road towards Hall Lane Junction; No. 47 165 with train of HAA hoppers passing Hall Lane Junction signal box;m exterior Barrow Hill Junction signal box; interior of Barrow Hill Sidings signal box wiith German frame; Whittington Station signal box; Treeton Junction signal box exterior; Treeton Junction signal box interior with Great Central frame; Beighton Junction signal box interior. See also letter from David Grainger on p. 445 and from Roger Brettle on p. 381 (error on map)

Andy Brown. Railway fares and charges in the eyes of the press in 1850. 231-3
Based largely on newspaper reports in the Bradford Observer, London Daily News, Leeds Mercury, Derby Mercury, London Standard, Preston Guardian, Freeman's Journal & Daily Commercial Advertiser (Dublin) and Herepath's Journal sifted for their opinions on railway fares. Statistics quoted are based on B.R. Mitchell British historical statistics. 1988. Both the Scottish and Irish railways as well as English companies were seeking relief from taxation. Illustrations: King's Cross station in 1850s (engraving?); Birmingham New Street c1860 (photograph), Rochdale station in 1849 (engraving?); Cannon Street in c1866 (traffic on Thames is very interesting: engraving?);

Jeffrey Wells. Railways to the Yorkshire Coast. 234-43
Based in part on newspaper reports (including the Hull Packet, the York Herald, Leeds Mercury and the Bradford Observer) and covers both the York to Scarborough line and its through services to Leeds and Bradford and that from Scarborough via Filey and Bridlington to Hull. The York to Scarborough Bill did not receive Royal Assent until 4 July 1844 due to opposition from the too landed classes (still prevalent in HS2 age in feudal England). Illustrations: B1 No. 61319 leaving Scarborough Central with return excursion in August 1961 (colour); Standard class 5 No. 73169 waiting departure from York for Scarborough on 2 June 1957; V2 No. 60961 at Malton with Scarborough to Glasgow train on 1 September 1956; map; Scarborough Central excursion platform in 1953; Seamer station in 1955; Cayton station during NER; Filey station in 1958; Bridlington station facade on 26 August 1967; Driffield station on 31 August 1956; Beverley station on 31 August 1956; Jubilee No. 45562 Alberta departing  Bridlington with 19.12 to Leeds on 8 August 1963 (Alan Ferguson: colour); Class 110 leaving Beverley for Hull on 29 June 1989 (J.S. Gilks: colour); Cottingham station on 31 August 1956; D49/1 No. 2722 Huntingdonshire leaving Hull Paragon on an express on 17 April 1947 (H.C. Casserley).

West from Paddington. David Idle.  244-6.
Colour photo-feature: No. 7829 Ramsbury Manor passing Ealing Broadway with up parcels train passing Central Line train on 3 September 1964; Southall shed on 13 November 1965 with 9F No. 92203, Hymek No. D7036; 8F No. 48364 and No. 6932 Burwarton Hall and DMU behind; No. 5974 Wallsworth Hall on 18.25 Didcot to Westbury freight passing Goring & Streatley on 22 August 1964; 57XX 0-6-0PT No. 9773 passing Colnbrook on closed Staines West branch with Thames Valley Railtour composed of Southern Region green stock on 25 July 1965; 61XX No. 6106 on same railtour near Acton en route from Kensington Olympia to Southall; No. 6841 Marlas Grange picking up water on Goring troughs hauling 12.25 Dr Day's Sidings, Bristol to Old Oak Common vans train on 22 August 1964; 8F No. 48463 near Iver on up freight on 22 October 1965.

Norman Lowe. In place of steam: the development of alternatives. 247-51.
Based on typescript document file generated by W.W. Wells of the Railway Executive? A W.D. Wells led the discussion on a paper by W.J.S. Sykes on the development of the electro-diesel locomotives. Neither Wells has yet come to light due to so-called professional societies restrictive practices on information. The tone adopted by both is indicative that they were senior officers within the railway industry. There is a lengthy discussion on electro-diesel locomotives for the Southern Region and whether the diesel engine should merely be capable of working in sidings or whether something more powerful could be justified. Illustrations: No. E26055 leaves east end of new Woodhead Tunnel with 16.00 Manchester to Marylebone on 18 June 1954 (Eric Bruton); gas turbine No. 18100 on up Merchant Venturer on 5 April 1952 (C.R.L. Coles); diagram (side elevation) for 2500 hp electric locomotive to work on third rail planned in 1949; 800 hp electro diesel locomotive with Meteorite diesel engine; 1250 hp electro diesel with 440 hp diesel engine; Nos 10001 and 10000 at Euston on 13.00 to Glasgow on 5 October 1948: see also letter from Derek Everson who points out that the connecting doors between the lcomotives and onto the train were connected; No. 10800 at Birmingham New Street when working the 06.35 from Yarmouth on 21 February 1955 (T.J. Edgington); diesel shunter No. 13005. See also letter from Walter Rosthchild who appends extensive description by A.N. Maskelyne of report on journey behind the two LMS diesel electric locomotives from Euston to Glasgow on 1 June 1948 originally published in Model Railway News.

A.J. Ludlam. First in, last out [Wainfleet station].  252

Readers' Forum. 253-4.

Gremlinia. Editor
The typing gremlin unfortunately wandered into the March issue and messed about with the keys. On p148 of 'Private Owner Wagons' M1 tank No. 6153 is an 0-6-4T, while on p154 7F 0-8-0 No.49674 is on the L&YR CaIder Valley main line near Mytholmroyd (and has been correctly so captioned in BT before!). On p157 of 'Visiting Grantham shed in 1956' C12 4-4-2T No. 67362 is of Great Northern Railway origin, not GCR.

The Aldeburgh branch. Andrew Kleissner
Further to article in March issue, some interesting film footage of the last train on the branch can be seen on www. eafa.org.uk/catalogue/517 Ed. Writer was pleased to read about the Aldeburgh branch and readers might be interested to know about an accident which took place on the branch on 22 May 2006, when a train carrying a discharged nuclear flask from Willesden Brent Yard to Sizewell collided with a car at a user-worked level crossing near Saxmundham. The immediate cause was that the motorist – who had never encountered a train on this little-used branch – drove directly into the path of the approaching train without looking. However, the investigation noted that overgrown vegetation had so impeded the crossing gates that they could not be closed anyway. Fortunately the train was not derailed, damage to the car was minor and no-one was injured.
The article makes a brief reference to the Maltings at Snape. This complex was reached by a separate freight-only line which left the East Suffolk line at Snape Junction near Wickham Market. The goods agent's house is still clearly visible across the road from the Maltings buildings themselves and the vehicular exit from the site is through the archway formerly used by goods wagons. In latter years the goods traffic was handled by a single working from Ipswich which also served Framlingham, by then closed to passengers. Your author notes that Aldeburgh Town Council raised concerns over the difficulties that would be posed to musicians at the Festival if the Aldeburgh branch were closed, but dismisses them by saying that the players would still have to make the journey to Snape by road. However, the Maltings were not converted into a concert hall until 1967 – in 1960 the majority of concerts took place in venues such as Aldeburgh's Jubilee Hall and Parish Church. In any case, the musicians lodged in the town – as some still do.
The Snape branch will be the subject of an article by the same author at a later date. Ed.

Going the extra mile. Hugh Gillies-Smith 
Re editorial in February Issue: mileposts, at quarter mile intervals, are required in terms of Statute, namely Section 94 of The Railways Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, in England and Wales and for Scotland, Section 87 The Railways Clauses Consolidation (Scotland) Act, 1845. There were similar statutory requirements contained within Acts authorising the construction of railways prior to 1845 but what these 1845 Acts of Parliament did was to collect common requirements together and incorporate in common format for every railway authorised by statute thereafter. It would be necessary for Network Rail to obtain powers by statutory authority to repeal or modify the Acts: a very expensive exercise not only because of the physical costs incurred in replacing mileposts, but also official records would require amendment, too. Section 95 of the Act applying to England and Wales, Section 88 for Scotland, covers their unauthorised removal with suitable fines imposed. This would also require repeal/modification, See also letter from Keith Fenwick (p. 381) who is less sanguine.

Hull & Holderness Railway. lan A. Reed,  
A couple of minor corrections: a misplaced comma and spelling mistake resulted in Sir Thomas Aston Clifford Constable of Burton Constable Hall becoming Sir Thomas Ashton Clifford, Constable of York. A bit of a demotion, I think! Also Anthony Bannister is described as Mayor of York. This railway was not a York enterprise but a Hull one and Anthony Bannister was Lord Mayor of Kingston upon Hull. The 1956 photograph of Botanic Gardens station was taken during the school holidays, hence the platform looking quieter than was often the case. In term time, at the appropriate hours, there would be a gaggle of schoolboys from the nearby Hymers College, a public school built in the grounds of the former Botanic Gardens from which the station took its later name. I was one of those schoolboys and can vouch for the bridge being used by pedestrians, particularly me and my school friends rushing to climb the steps in time to be 'smoked and steamed'. The reason for the footbridge being at the other side of the crossing was that more pedestrians used it than foot passengers changing platforms. Botanic Gardens station was situated at the junction of some of Hull's busier roads and the level crossing was often in action, opened by a gatekeeper on the sound of a signal bell from the signal box. That's his cabin on the left of the photograph opposite the signal box. When the footpath gates were closed, pedestrians could continue via the depicted footbridge. Incidentally, in the recess of the station building behind the 'Hornsea' sign was one of those tiled maps of the railways of the area. I wonder where that went. See also letter from Roger Brettle on p. 381..

Ditton Junction 1912. Peter Tatlow
Re view of men standing in front of, or on, a steam breakdown crane. Writer doubted if they were all from the Edge Hill breakdown gang. The crane was clearly a Ransomes & Rapier 36-ton, of which there were only three in existence in UK at that time. Two were on the GWR and the third had been supplied to the LNWR in 1911. There is little doubt, therefore, that the crane in the picture is the LNWR's from Crewe. Whilst a hand crane from Edge Hill and its gang may have been on hand to free fireman Lunn, some of the men shown, particularly those trained to operate the steam crane, were as likely to have been from Crewe breakdown gang.

Ditton Junction 1912. David Cable
Photograph shows the crossovers concerned: the picture was taken in 1988.

The Business Line. Barry C. Lane
The first column on p164 of the March issue about the 0-8-0 'Coal Engines' states (in the 16th line down) "Successive builds with ever larger boilers entered service in 1921 but the LMSR ... " This should read "... with ever large boilers entered service through to 1921..

LYR North Liverpool Electrification. lan Travers
The comments on my summary of the 15 July 1903 derailment at Waterloo station of L&YR Radial 2-4-2T No. 670 have to be sustained as interpreted. However, if read in terms of 'radial axle' as written, rather than 'axle' (ie trailing wheel 'assembly' with radial 'guides' allowing lateral play, rather than the axle of) I contend that to be a valid statement and as often published. The official explanation of the BofT inspector and L&YR was that a spring buckle, part of the rear right side driving wheel suspension, had broken throwing weights on the wheels out of balance. The errant spring was found on the track before the point of derailment and served as evidence. (BoT report on Railway Archive WEB site;and p118. Eric Mason, L&Y in the Twentieth Century) Mason also states that in Liverpool it was felt that a holding pin on the rear radial carriage had broken loose (also found on the track) that would have caused the derailment at the transition from curve to platform track with the radial axle unable to adjust. Both could also explain the derailment on the inside of the curve by a train at speed, the failure(s) leading to collapse of the rear driving wheel suspension (trailing radial axle) and effectively overbalancing the engine to the right. The schedule was 50mph-plus average and speed was undoubtedly a factor. A 35mph limit was applied on the relatively modest 23 chains radius curve at Waterloo. One stimulus to follow up the accident came from reading an account in the L& YRS Platform journal issue 52 discussing the similar incident on the Charlestown curve, west of Hebden Bridge, on 21st June 1912. In that case another long bunker, but heavier, 2-4-2T No.276 (from the first superheated batch) also turned over. No mechanical failure was found and the BoT inspector ruled from extensive evidence that the cause was weight of the engine spreading the track? Speed restrictions and changes to diagrammed services were subsequently applied to the bigger radial tanks. A further incident at Chatburn in LMS times on 27th February 1928 seems to have exactly replicated the official Waterloo cause - same offside trailing driving axle/ wheel suspension collapse after failure. Superheated No.10835 (previously LYR No.371) again derailed at speed and revealed fatigue cracks in fourteen spring plates, five of which had broken, on the axle suspension. The inspector accepted that as the cause but also concluded that track condition was unsuited to a heavy tank engine running at more than 50mph (p119 Mason).

Payton and his pictures. Ken Veitch 
The article on Nigel Payton (March issue) described his character and career very well. His entire railway service was a labour of love and he was always a great family man. I got to know Nigel when we both lived in Nantwich after he retired and was held in awe, over many cups of tea, after my piano lessons from Mary, by his encyclopaedic knowledge and astonishingly clear recall of railway experiences. A favourite posting, he told me, was at Evesham, where he loved to spend sunny days overseeing the loading of fruit. He was in Crewe South yards when No. 6201 Princess Elizabeth rocketed past on its record-breaking run from London to Glasgow. Nigel deplored the fact that this train was routed, to the sound of smashing cups and plates, across several sets of points into a side platform at Crewe.
Nigel was, indeed, 'a railwayman to his fingertips'. I can hardly recall him using a car, but well into his eighties he was often to be seen biking serenely home from the shops along the main Chester road. He was a very gracious man, exuding the thoughtfulness and courtesy not so often seen nowadays, and he created an easy rapport with people, including 'non railway types', and not least with small children. At Sherborne School Nigel was a contemporary of Alan Turing, the famous wartime code-breaker. I am delighted Nigel left so much material for posterity and that his daughter Ruth has allowed it to be published. I am very glad to have known this remarkable and self-effacing man.

Stationary Locomotive Testing Plants. Doug Landau
Dennis Carling and associates at the Rugby Test Plant did not share John Knowles's mistrust of the Amsler dynamometer (letter, December). For the modified regulator tests with No.92015 in 1954, the performance reference was limited to wheel rim horsepower (WRHP) Willans lines at 35mph. The modified regulator had minimal effect of steam chest pressure, so the effect on performance was negligible. The post-modification WRHPs recorded were consistent with the unmodified Willans line. These tests results were published in The Locomotive - November 1958.
B1 No. 61353 was tested at Rugby in early November 1950 and January-March 19S1. There is a note in Test Bulletin No.2 to the effect that it was not possible to indicate for IHP and a supplement would be issued giving this and related data at a later date. As far as I'm aware such a supplement has yet to surface. A couple of charts found at the NRM dated April 1951 may have been part of it. The first shows WRHP and WRTE curves for a steam rate of 18,000Ib/hr. 'Estimated' IHP and ITE curves are included. The machinery friction (MF) implied by these curves is a little over 6001b. The second drawing shows WRHP verses speed curves for constant steam rates and cut-off curves for 15 to 45% at 5% intervals. A comprehensive examination of the Rugby test data shows this confidence in the WRHP data to be well founded.
The recorded WRHP data is routinely self consistent; it is at least as good as the recorded IHP data. Perhaps the best examples I can give from the available data are for the 9Fs since no fewer than seven 9F test series were conducted at Rugby between 1954 and 1959 involving Nos.92013, 92015, 92050 (twice), 92166 and 92250 (in both double chimney and Giesl ejector guise) and Crosti No.92023. There was not always overlap in regard to the speeds tested and in some instances variations in the test conditions precluded direct comparison of the data in its raw form (No.92166 mechanical stoker tests and the No.92250 Giesl ejector tests). The WRHP Willans line at 30mph, combining 32 tests for Nos.92050 series 1 and 2 and 92250 (double chimney) at roughly two-year intervals, shows exemplary repeatability. At 50mph there was some slight scatter, which can be traced to small shifts in recorded IHP. This sensitivity demonstrates a clear 'Master/Slave' relationship, with the WRHP following the recorded IHP values like a faithful dog on a lead, a slight slack in the lead notionally representing the potential scope for experimental error that may occur when determining the relatively small difference between two large numbers. Some of the scatter observed is attributable to variations in steam chest pressure and superheat relative to steam rate.
Crosti 9F No.92023 showed a marked increase in machinery friction at all speeds compared to the standard version. This was confirmed by the lower drawbar horsepowers recorded on the comparative road tests with No.92050. The locomotive resistance curves for both types included in Report L116 show the Crosti resistance to be 475lb higher at 30mph than the a standard 9F. The 30mph WRHP Willans lines for No.92023 and for No.92050 series 1 & 2 and No.92250 show a WRHP a difference of 440lb; an insignificant discrepancy between road and plant tests of 3hp. On the basis of such results, and the Rugby WRHP record generally, the Amsler dynamometer appears to have delivered all that was expected of it. The increased resistance of the Crosti was attributed to the compromised frame bracing necessary to accommodate the pre-heater.
John Knowles appears to have focussed attention on the actual machinery friction data (IHP – WRHP) rather than the WRHP data. Given that MF is a relatively small difference between two large numbers, and assuming + or – 0 to 2% random experimental error, some wildly scattered outcomes will occasionally result and unless the sample was larger than was often the case at Rugby, misleading positive or negative bias may occur. In these circumstances, the nonsensical constants mentioned are quite meaningless. The formulae suggested by the Excel curve fitting programme are potentially highly inaccurate when extrapolated beyond the plotted range.
Hiving off the vertical load on the coupled axles in the way described, and treating the associated frictional losses as if the coupled wheels were behaving as for an unpowered vehicle, falsifies the outcome and compromises any attempt to analyse machinery friction on the basis of the remainder. This is because the resultant load on the coupled axles is less than the mathematical sum of the vertical load and piston thrust. For this reason any theoretical analysis of machinery friction must treat the pistons, motion, valve gear and coupled wheels as a power transmission system. E.S. Cox's 1944 I. Loc. E paper on 'Locomotive Axleboxes' provides some interesting data on maximum journal loads for two-cylinder locomotives. The peak journal loadings are shown to be about 80% of the mathematical sum of piston thrust and vertical load. These peaks are relatively short lived given the complex cross couples of two cylinders set at 90 degrees. Outside cylinders experience lower comparative work factors than inside.

Book Review – January. Charles Long
Like 'GBS' (and for similar reasons), I was profoundly disappointed by David Cloughs study Dr. Beechings Remedy ('Book Reviews', January 2014). But your reviewer is quite wrong in claiming that Mr. Clough excoriated the railway unions unjustly for preventing the extension of the 'Midland Pullman' midday runs beyond Leicester to/from Nottingham. Originally scheduled to begin on 2nd January 1961, these trips were cancelled altogether after their National Union of Railwaymen representatives had instructed the on-board catering staff to walk off the train at St. Pancras after its morning arrival from Manchester.
Following some rather indeterminate negotiations through the spring and summer, the Nottingham service was eventually inaugurated in October. For a couple of weeks however, the catering staff retired en masse to the train's kitchens and pantries at Leicester, not to re-emerge until arrival back there on the return journey to London. During this period I was one of a relay of Pullman office staff who travelled daily to Nottingham simply to pick up the return reservation chart and seat any passengers joining both there and at Loughborough (rarely totalling more than a dozen or so). Fortunately, this was a curiously well-mannered 'strike' and my presence on the train seemed to be accepted with good grace. Nevertheless, a planned London-based working to Manchester and Liverpool using the 'spare' six-car Pullman set, which had been anticipated to start that summer, was destined to be abandoned altogether. While the British Transport Commission had purchased a controlling interest in Pullman in 1954, the company's management at this time remained wholly separate from that of British Transport Hotels & Catering's restaurant car services. The NUR objected to what it continued to see as a 'private enterprise' organisation operating on the state-owned railway and being granted the catering concession on some of BR's highest- profile – and potentially most profitable and highest tipping – business train services. Finally, as Any Fule Kno, King Richard Ill's remains were discovered under a car park – not a school playground!

Private Owner Wagons. Andrew Wilson 
Photograph of John Delaney Ltd. wagon wrongly captioned: It had oil axleboxes of the standard RCH pattern which were fitted to new PO wagons from about 1923. This type of axle box was developed specially for PO wagons, to retain the oil when wagons were tipped, which has been a problem with earlier oil axleboxes which the railway companies were using. Of course, there were lots of older PO wagons with grease axleboxes which did not disappear until the mass scrapping of pre-grouping vintage railway wagons in the 1950s.

Waiting for the Wires. Alisdair McNicol 
In response to Mr. R.A.S. Hennessy's invitation to cite any prize-winning delays in electrification, we on Merseyside, as hosts to the pioneering L&YR Southport line conversion, Mersey Railway ditto, first Electric Overhead Railway, etc., could probably (at least) qualify for the greatest quantity of 100th enamel ground away, in waiting for Phase 2 of the 'Electric Scots', that saw shiny new Class 87s flashing through Warrington and Wigan, on their way to Glasgow/Edinburgh from the mid-1970s. Mr. Hennessy's observation that politics and finance have frequently dimmed the visions of operators and engineers can have no clearer example than this. (Admittedly, this is to ignore the 'Checkpoint Charlie' recreations at Kirkby and Ormskirk, in which any slight want of meeting the defined criteria is more than balanced by great inconvenience to the travelling public.) When the wires were up all the way to Scotland (strong winds excepted) the,what we would now call 'Factory Trains' were optimistically 'mothballed' in Miry Lane Goods Yard, Wigan, in anticipation of Phase 2 (ie connections north from Liverpool and Manchester) proceeding, with commendable speed, shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, Dennis Healey, and many subsequent Chancellors of the Exchequer, of both political stripes, thought otherwise. After some years gently rotting away, the factory trains went and Miry Lane Goods Yard was transformed into yet another modern housing estate. Subsequently, our direct trains to Scotland also quietly disappeared (Bristol, Oxford, Southampton, Reading, etc. being another story altogether). Now, at long last, the drought is being assuaged and this December (we are assured) will see, noisy, smelly, vibro massage-inducing diesels at last rested from their labours over the steeply graded Huyton-Wigan branch and (albeit well used) electric multiple units penetrating the former L&YR headquarters at Manchester Victoria, from a westerly direction. How ironic that the denizens of Prescot, one time home of BICC, whose products are illustrated in both photographs accompanying Mr. Hennessy's article, and St. Helens, host to Pilkington's, whose pioneering elegantly curved glass windscreens are also displayed to good effect, should have to wait until the second decade of the 21st century to see their local railway line gain some benefit from their labours! Oh, and just to add to the irony, isn't the Liverpool & Manchester Railway sometimes billed as the World's First 'Inter City' Railway?
PS Memo to H.M. Treasury. There are actually two railways linking the great cities of Liverpool and Manchester! The remaining one, built by the enterprising Cheshire Lines Committee via the ever expanding town of Warrington, even links into a nice urban underground railway line in Liverpool, with lots of spare paths. Regrettably, it didn't make the cut, as part of the Manchester-Sheffield- Wath scheme over half a century ago, nor has it subsequently despite the ambitions of the local Passenger Transport Executives. Can we now continue long-installed overhead wires east from Hunts Cross along that one as well, please? ,

Book review[s]. 254

Rails along the Derwent: the story of the Derwent Valley Light Railway. Jonathan D. Stockwell and lan Drummond. Holne Publishing, 160pp, DHS *****
Owing its existence to the Light Railway Act of 1896.;opened 19 July 1913, it outlasted any of Britain's independent commercial standard gauge railways albeit in a truncated form. It was also unusual in that it was the only Light Railway originally promoted by the public sector being a joint project between Riccall and Escrick Rural District Councils in the area who applied for the Light Railway Order, but it soon became clear that the councils would not be able to raise the level of capital required which led to a consultative committee of local landowners being formed which ultimately lead to the DVLR Co. being formed with support from the North Eastern Railway and the Councils underwriting the interest payments on the ordinary shares. From the start the DVLR was fortunate in having entrepreneurial management, innovative in supporting services to farmers such as allowing lineside storage of potatoes for collection and leaving wagons on the main line at convenient locations for loading, offering free delivery on loads of oil feed cake, and installing Post Office telephones at all stations so that orders could be arranged directly. The railway operation finally ceased on 22 September 1981.Locomotives were hired initially from NER until the grouping when the DVLR experimented with its own in the form of a rail-mounted lorry, then a pair of rail buses followed by the Sentinel shunter, all of which were unsuccessful or did not meet the railway's needs. Hiring from the LNER was resumed and then from BR until diesel shunters were bought. The route is descibed in detail with excellent plans of stations and yards. All personalties involved from the board of directors to all staff are recorded by name and form quite a personal account. This is a well produced book which should appeal to all interested in light railways.

Sweet Thames, flow softly. David Idle. rear cover
8F hauling 16.00 Banbury to Basingstoke freight across Gatehampton bridge between Goring and Basildon on 22 August 1964.

Number 5 (May)

BR Class 50 No. 50 048 Dauntless approaches Bristol Temple Meads with an up parcels train on 4 May 1990. Michael Mensing. front cover
Two more of class, Nos.50 019/20, were in the sidings outside Bath Road depot

1914 — before and after. Michael Blakemore. 259
Comment on WW1 commemoration and on former universal parcels service: for latter see long letter from Alan de Burton on parcels accounting at Paddington during early 1960s.

Parcels on the move. Michael Mensing. 260-1
Colour photo-feature: No. 47 709 in red livery of Rail Express Systems with train of vans in same livery passing Tilehurst with down train on 9 August 1994; No. 45 141 in blue livery with Royal Mail train in red livery at Ashley Hill with northbound train from Bristol on 15 June 1988; two parcels diesel multiple units converted with roller shutter doors from diesel hydraulic units built for St. Pancras to Bedford service in dark blue and red livery at Flax Bourton with Taunton to Bristol service on 31 October 1988; DMU conversion in red livery crossing River Usk near Newport on 31 July 1990, and No. 47 479 Track 29 in red livery with short parcels train for Holyhead passing Bangor on 20 July 1992. 

David Joy. Rails in Nidderdale. 262-9
Branch line to Pateley Bridge opened by the North Eastern Railway on 1 May 1862 with most of the passenger services running to Harrogate. Intermediate stations at Dacre, Darley, Birstwith, Hampsthwaite and Ripley Valley. Passenger services withdrawn on 30 March 1951, but freight lingered until 30 October 1964. Freight consisted mainly of stone from Scot Gate Ash Quarry and fresh milk and other agricultural products. Bradford Corporation's requirements for water to supply the wool industry led to reservoir building in the upper dale and this led to the short lived 3ft gauge (although originally authorised as 2ft 6in gauge) Nidd Valley Light Railway which ran from Pateley Bridge  to Lofthouse and beyond to Angram. This was built by Holme & King, contractors of Liverpool. There was an official opening on 13 July 1904 by the Lord Mayor of Bradford when a special train was hauled by Bagnall 0-4-0STs Xit and Angram. Later in 1904 following pressure from the NER Bradford Corporation decided to convert the line to standard gauge and acquired an interesting collection of mainly secondhand locomotives and rolling stock. Illustrations: Pateley Bridge c1920; ex-Metropolitan Railway 4-4-0T Holdsworth painted in Bradford Corporation livery at NER roundhouse at York; Hudswell Clark outside cylinder 0-6-0T Milner at Lofthouse; steam ex-GWR railmotor (railcar) Hill aqquired in 1921; two locomotives hauling (Milner and Blythe. an 0-6-0ST and two banking a freight up 1 in 40 gradient; tunnel on extension; two locomotives (one at front and one at rear) with Maryport & Carlisle coaches in between; NVLR terminus at Pateley Bridge in July 1935 after closure (W.A. Camwell); G5 No. 67384 at Pateley Bridge on 8 July 1950 (T.J. Edgington); Pateley Bridge with K1 No. 62038 on residual freight on 30 )ctober 1964 (David Hey). See also letters on page 445 from Leonard Rogers on source of motive power during final years of branch and from Robin Leleux on the Lord Mayor of Bradford J. Arthur Godwin 

Alan Bennett. A green and pleasant land: brochure work for the centenary of the GWR in 1935. 270-2.
The cover images (reproduced in colour) were from the Ralph Mott Studio (for further information Google that and it seems that consisted of Reginald Montague Lander, Rickman Ralph and Geoffrey Mott: Studilo produced some stunning posters for GWR) and the text was written by Maxwell Fraser. Brochures covered Southern Ireland, Wales, Herefordshire & Wye Valley, Cornwall, Somerset & Dorset and Cheddar Wells & Glastonbury.

R.A.S. Hennessey. Kinlochleven: a pioneer hydro-electric line and its setting. 273-6.
British Aluminium Company founded in 1894 had plants at Foyers and Kinlochleven. Aluminium is produced from bauxite by electrolysis which demands large quantities of electricity normally produced by a hydro-electric plant. The overall engineering was in the hands of Charles & Patrick Meik.  The construction of the associated dams, pipelines, penstocks and powerhouses demanded large labour forces: Patrick MacGill wrote about his experiences in Children of the Dead End: the autobiography of a navvy: these included working at Kinlochleven before becoming a platelayer on the Caledonian Railway. The architect of the powerhouse was Alexander Alban Scott who also designed Coatbridge station (Caledonian Railway). Silston Cory-Wright was employed on the site assisting with the installation of the Swiss Escher Wyss water turbines. Cory-Wright was eventually to become influentila in the design of hydro-electric plant and the electrification of railways in New Zealand. Obviously the railway associated with the plant was only a modest component: a short 3ft gauge electric railway which used three Bo locomotives: two supplied by Dick Kerr and one by Metrovick. during WW1 the plant was expanded and a further 2ft gauge railway employed Kerr Stuart 0-4-2ST steam locomotives. Illuustrations: the three electric locomotives with their crews, including one lady; Metrovick locomotive swith wagons on quayside; building the railway with Dick Kerr locomotive at work beneath telpher cableway c1902, pipelines being constructed down to penstock, Kinlochleven in 1933

Away to Bradford City. Gavin Morrison. 277-9
Colour photo-feature: Jubilee class No. 45565 Victoria setting off from Bradford Exchange with an excursion for Blackpool on 27 August 1966; Class 5 No. 45428 on final steam working of through coaches from Bradford Exchange to King's Cross on 1 October 1967; Ivatt class 4 2-6-0 No. 43137 entering Bradford from Laisterdyke with through coaches off express from King's Cross on 8 July 1966; Britannia class No. 70035 on 19.40 freight from Vlley Road for Carlisle on 14 July 1966; Fowler Class 4 2-6-4T  No. 42317 propelling empty parcels vans out of Exchange past Mill Lane Junction signal box on 21 August 1964; B1 No. 61306 at Forster Square on 15.18 fitted freight for Heysham on 23 September 1967; and No. 43027 on its side in street below Adolphus Street goods depot on 10 November 1964 (had run away on descent and was cut up in road. See correction No. 43072 was locomotive involved.

Jeffrey Wells. Improving rail services in 1925. 280-7.
Based mainly on references in The Railway Gazette. Includes the effect of the weather: the winter of 1924/5 had led to floods which had disrupted services between Cardiff and Swansea and landslides at Gilligaer and Pontsticill in South Wales. The Southern Railway was suffering from newspaper criticism which its chairman Everard Baring was countering with its electrification programme. J.H. Follows, Chief Superintendent of the LMS was facing similar press criticism and noting how it was difficult to melt together such a large organization. The reopening of the Wembley Exhibition may have been the spur for the locomotive exchange between the LNER Gresley Pacific and GWR Castle between 27 April and 2 May where the author relies upon Nock's observations made in British locomotives of the 20th century The year marked the Stockton & Darlington Railway centenary and a meeting of the International Railway Congress. Staff statistics are listed: over 250,000 were employed by the LMS and there were few female staff. A new Bradford to St. Pancras service receives much attention: its fast timing was achieved by using that part of the new Midland route through Yorkshire which was only partially completed and by ignoring Derby and Nottingham. The rfolling stock provided was covered in detail as was new stock for the Liverpool Street to Harwich boat trains which featured Buckeye couplings, heated water and rubber flooring (at that time the rubber industry was desperate to find new outlets) in the toilets. Southern Railway extension of high voltage Brighton system to Coulsdon North. GWR daylight services to the Channel Islands. 13 July extension of Harrogate Pullman to Edinburgh; same date saw GWR/Southern Railway start through Wolverhampton to Hastings service. The LNER/Metropolitan Joint Railway to Watford offricially opened on 31 October with service to Baker Street and to Marylebone: the latter ended in 1926. Illustrations: D15 No. E472 with train of LSWR non-corridor stock on express at Raynes Park; No. 4079 Pendennis Castle departing King's Cross on 13.30 Leeds express in April/May; T9 No. E285 departing Esher in January 1925; Locomotion at Stockton & Darlington Centenary pageant in July; Wembley LMS with platform crowded with male passengers off a corridor express (football special?); 4P Compound No. 1036 on up express near Loughborough; St Pancras station inside train shed; S69 (B12) No. 8558 with train of Gresley corridor stock posed? at foot of Brentwood Bank; GWR TSS St Julien; B3 No, 6167 on down Harrogate Pullman passing Finsbury Park; K class 2-6-0 No. 2345 at Kensington Addison Road with Sunny South Express. See also letter from David Higton on page 445..

East Coast Pacifics. Ken Wightman. 288-90
Colour photo-feature using photographs from David Clark Collection courtesy Rodney Lissenden: A4 No. 60022 Mallard entering Durham station with up express on 20 September 1958; A1 No. 60130 Kestrel on up Yorkshire Pullman near Potters Bar on 29 June 1957; A1/1 No. 60113 Great Northern on down express near Wood Green in August 1957; A2/2 No. 60505 Thane of Fife on stopping train near Potters Bar in 1958; A4 No. 60006 Sir Ralph Wedgwood on down Scotch Goods north of Potters Bar on 29 June 1957 see also letter from Jeremy Clarke on p. 445; A3 No. 60069 Sceptre leaving Hadley Wood tunnel; A1 No. 60157Great Eastern Railway passing Durham on up Flying Scotsman on 20 September 1958.

A.J. Mullay. Before the Ultimatum: railway readiness in Britain in 1914. 291-6
The Railway Executive Committee was supposed to liaise between the armed services and the railway companies, but the composition of the committee was curious in that it included the Great Northern Railway which owned no shipping yet excluded the Great Eastern, Brighton and North British which had considerable stratgeic value and shipping. The British Government under the premiership of Asquith was remarkably dilatory in its  decision to declare war, but the railways were rapid in their response to conveying the British Expeditionary Force mainly to Southampton.

All 'Saints'. 297-9
Black & white photo-feature: GWR 29XX class: No. 2911 Saint Agatha passes Bentley Heath with 14.50 Birmingham to Padington express c1912; No. 2988 Rob Roy at Old Oak Common in August 1931; No. 2978 Charles J. Hambro on Swindon shed in 1939; No. 2907 Lady Disdain iin Paddington station; No. 2980 Coeur de Lion at Shrewsbury station; No. 2290 Waverley in Shrewsbury station; No. 174 Lord Barrymore at Bath; No. 2925 St. Martin rebuilt as a Hall, but not yet renumbered at Old Oak Common before 1928.

Men at work. Paul Aitken. 300-1
Colour photo-feature: in the days of the orange safety vest: permanent way gang at work at Corrour on West Highland on 13 June 1995 with snow still on mountains behind; connecting No. 31 250 to hopper wagon in March yard on 10 June 1992; closing level crossing gate at Poppleton on 22 July 1997; lookouts att west end of Newcastle Central station on 22 May 1996; shunter with his pole in St. Blazey yard with No. 08 801 propelling wagons on 2 July 1986

Miles Macnair. Lead on. Part One. The whys and some of the wherefores of locomotive valve gears. 302-7.
Unlike stationary engines where the valve gear solely has to control the admission and release of steam from the cylinders the gear on locomotives and ships has to be able to reverse the direction of travel. It is doubtful if any text can successfuly describe systems of cranks and levers and eccentrics. The ideal is a model which can be operated by the bystander; some online systems are moderately successful (and Macnair cites what he considers to be the best). The diagrams included herein came from How the steam locomotive really works (Semmens) (although this is not stated). Better diagrams exist in the British Transport Commission's Handbook for railway steam locomotive engienmen. This part deals with Stephenson link motion which was mainly suitable for inside-cylinder designs, but was also used by the Great Western Railway on outside cylinder designs where activation was through levers. It also considers Joy's and Walschaerts' systems. Part 2 begins on page  390. See also long letter from Lyn D. Brooks on Joy and Walschaerts valve gears as applied by Great Eastern Railway. See letter from David Rollins on p. 764 on number of pins in Gresley form of valve gear.

Ron Strutt. Scotter of the South Western. Part Two. 308-13
Part 1 page 198. Competition with the Great Western Railway led to the construction of uneconomic blocking lines, such as the Meon Valley line and eventually there were discussions between Scotter and Viscount Churchill which considered amalgamation between the two companies, but were restricted to limiting competition and sharing fascilities. Thus the LSWR ceased to compete for the Ocean Liner traffic from Plymouth and did not extend doubling on its route to Barnstaple. Subsequently signalboxes were combined at Yeovil Town, Launceston and Lydford. Includes a lengthy biographical footnote on Viscount Churchill.Illustrations: Scotter in 1885; Woking station with T1 class No. 70 c1900; Padstow station in 1921 (caption notes North Cornwall Railway's ambition to extend to Truro and Falmouth; map of GWR and LSWR lines in West; L12 class No. 417 departing Waterloo in c1905 (shows rebuilding progress thereat); Waterloo platforms 1 to 4 with chaos beyond in 1910; Joseph Firbank special on the Baisngstoke & Alton Light Railway in July 1900 (Scotter may be visible); LSWR share price and dividends 1880 to 1910; Viscount Churchill; Launceston station; Lydford station; Waterloo station: cab road with exit to York Way.

Paul Joyce. Two of a kind [Cockfosters and Uxbridge: London Transport termini]. 314-16
Architects were Charles Holden; but assisted by Leonard Holcombe Bucknell at Uxbridge where the station is enhanced by stained glass windows. Colour illustrations of both stations by author. [KPJ remembers first encounter of Cockfosters station reached by bus from Mutton Lane due to unavailability of LNER services during sometime in 1940/1: he was amazed at the modernity of the station]. See also letter from Alan de Burton on page 445.

Readers' Forum. 317

Waiting for the wires. Nicholas Daunt 
Steam locomotive shown in Robin Barnes's fascinating glimpse of what might have been if the Severn Tunnel electrification scheme had materialised is without doubt William Dean. It is easily recognised by the non-standard cylinder cover clearly shown in the painting. But this engine was not No. 98 but No.100, Churchward's prototype two-cylinder 4-6-0 and the progenitor of all Swindon 2-cylinder 4-6-0s. This engine was built in February 1902 and, was later renumbered 2900, being, in effect, the first of the 'Saints. No .8 was the second two-cylinder 4-6-0, emerging from Swindon in March the following year It was named Persimmon in 1906, Vanguard in March 1907 and finally Ernest Cunard in December of that year. It was renumbered as No. .2998.

Waiting for the wires. Peter Steer
Comment on statement that the SECR was guilty of "dogmatic obstinacy" with its insistence that the Alfred Raworth-designed 3,000V system should be used on its railway. All three railways that were soon to become the Southern Railway were being dogmatic at the time as they were not prepared to accept that anything other than their own system of railway electrification. The LBSCR promoted its 6.6kV ac system while the LSWR promoted its 600V dc system. The reason that the SECR system was never adopted is generally credited to the fact that a third electrification system on the new Southern Railway was untenable. And this sweeping statement is true. However, research recently carried out by letter writer shows that the SECR had good reason to insist that the 3,000V system should be used. The SECR may not have won the argument with a knockout blow but it did win on points. The new Ministry of Transport had set up in 1919 a committee to give advice on railway electrification. This committee consisted of the cream of the contemporary electrical engineering fraternity: the likes of Charles Merz, Sir Alexander Kennedy and distinguished railwaymen with electrification experience such as Sir John Aspinall. The committee's recommendation was that the national standard should be 1,500V dc using either overhead wires or conductor rails. The committee proposed that "multiples or submultiples" of 1,500V could be used at the Ministry's discretion. The LSWR and LBSCR electrified lines could be extended because significant sections of the railways had been already electrified. The SECR opined that its system complied with the committee recommendations (as a multiple of 1,500V) and a sub-committee agreed with it subject only to the railway proving that there was an economic advantage. A consultant was employed who verified that there was an economic case for using the 3,000V dc electrification.
Meanwhile the three railways were at loggerheads as to which system to use and eventually the Ministry of Transport intervened and set up a committee to adjudicate. This committee (rather controversially as the LSWR representative wrote a minority report condemning the 3,000V scheme) approved the SECR proposal for use on the SECR lines. Armed with the Ministry technical blessing the Trades Facilities Committee was able to grantee the finance that the SECR required.
Sir Herbert Walker, the first General Manager of the Southern Railway, believed, not unreasonably, that there was no point in amalgamation if the railways did not standardise. So, after much convoluted negotiations (and another report from a consultant more in touch with the LSWR case) it was finally agreed, despite the technical and financial advantages of the 3,000V system, that the SECR suburban lines be electrified at 600V dc. (This was after a short period when 750V dc - a national standard 'sub multiple' was envisaged but this decision was promptly changed to 600V after the SR formation.)
There was no delay in implementing the SECR electrification as Mr. Hennessey suggests. On receiving the money guarantee the work was put in hand, but the system of electrification was quickly changed. Completion of this early stage in the development of the 'Southern Electric' was completed c1925 exactly as originally envisaged by the SECR.
Incidentally, the SECR system can not be directly compared to the London Underground system where two rails are energised, as the Raworth proposal was a 'three wire' arrangement with the running rails providing the return path. One of the alleged advantages of the three wire system was that if the loads on the two conductor rails were perfectly balanced there would be no 'earth return' through the running rails to interfere with communication circuits or scientific instrumentation as had been the case with the LSWR system.

In place of steam. Walter Rothschild 
Where does one find a copy of Model Railway News Vol. 125, No.297, September 1949? Why, in an antiquarian shop in Novaragasse, Vienna, of course. And here (p166) is what). N. Maskelyne A.l.Loco.E. had to say on the new LMS diesel locomotives:
"On July 10th., Britain's first main-line twin diesel-electric locomotives, Nos.10000 and 10001 went into regular service between Euston and Glasgow. They hauled the 9.5 p.m. from Euston and returned next morning at the head of the 10.0 a.m. 'Royal Scot' from Glasgow.
"It was on June 1st. that I was privileged to be with a specially-invited party to witness the first Euston-Glasgow non-stop run by these two interesting machines. The experience was novel in several ways, of course, but the most striking feature of the whole run was the speed at which the two famous climbs - Shap and Beattock - were negotiated. In each case, it was 50 m.p.h.! Yes, and steadily maintained each time.
"The trip was not intended to be a demonstration of speed; the schedule allowed 8 hr. 25 min. and the drivers had received instructions to keep to it. In spite of a few very severe checks, two of which very nearly stopped us, we did succeed in achieving a non-stop run, and came to rest in Glasgow St. Enoch station, two minutes before time. The train was made up of the 14-coach 'Royal Scot' formation plus, at the front, two dining cars to accommodate the special party, the weight being 506 tons tare, or 520 tins gross.
"It was quite clear that had the locomotives been extended at all, at least one hour could have been cut from the time allowed. At only one point were we allowed to enjoy a little exhilarating speed, and that was through Blisworth. We had had a check through Roade, and in recovering from it, the locomotives accelerated with characteristic rapidity until, just before Blisworth station, a maxmum of 76 m.p.h. was attained and sustained for about a mile. Elsewhere, between checks, speed was either just under, or just over 60 m.p.h. From this point of view, the running was apt to be rather monotonous. But I would not have missed it for worlds!
"The members of our special party were permitted, four at a time, to pass through to the front cab of the locomotives. Here, the first thing which impressed itself on my mind was the wonderful view of the road ahead. Nothing whatever to obstruct the view! "Then, the comparative quiet of that cab, after what I know of locomotive footplates (!), was very noticeable. To reach the front cab, I had to pass through two engine rooms, one on each locomotive, and in them the noise was terrific. But the cabs seemd to be well insulated from it, though they are inclined to be rather warm.
"Another unusual feature, compared with steam locomotives, was the smoothness of the riding. This was not surprising, in view of the fact that, not only are the diesels mounted on two six-wheeled, well-sprung bogies each, but there is no violently reciprocating machinery to set up pronounced vibrations in the vehicle itself. I could stand with my arms folded, in the middle of the cab floor, absolutely at ease.
"Finally, there was the absence of smoke and swirling coal-dust, so different from what is found on a steam locomotive footplate. But I know which I prefer! I missed that sense of individuality which pervades the steam locomotive, no matter what sort of work she may be doing. I experienced none of that excietment cased by coaxing, urging and nursing the engine to give of her best. There was no suggestion of that irresistible satisfaction that is felt when the engine responds so magnificently to the skilled labours of the crew!
"The diesels, somehow, seemed soulless creatures; yet I enjoyed every minute I was with them on that never-to-be-forgotten day. It was one of the great landmarks in my long railway experience." Fascinating that they went into St. Enoch and not Glasgow Central! Yet they took the Caledonian route over Beattock. I have checked and this date fell on a Wednesday [KPJ:The Times report of 2 June 1949 states mininma of just over 30 mile/h on Shap and Beattock. The Times also notes Riddles' up-beat comments made on the train's arrival in Glasgow; Rogers Transition from steam notes that a brochure was produced for the test run and that a gangway adapter enabled the reporters to access the locomotives from the train].

Before they were famous. R.A.S. Hennessey 
I read the exchanges in BT, March 2014, with customary interest. I cannot claim any expertise in the matter of GWR Pacifies, real or supposed, but would like to draw attention to some important historiographical issues raised by this correspondence. First, Philip Atkins does us the crucial service of putting the pros and cons into context. Any historical scholarship worthy of the name will always contextualise the subject in question. If the GWR was not contemplating a 4-6-2 locomotive c1946, it most certainly should have been. Any managers, administrators or senior engineers worth their salt draw up contingency plans in case. Which is not to say that they necessarily did, of course.
Secondly, I was surprised to read in BT, of all places, a correspondent asserting: "That's the end of the matter". If only! History is a continuing discourse: its conclusions for ever being altered and adjusted as standpoints change, new source material emerges, revisionists get to work. Railway history, like any other, is not an exercise in dogmatics. The strongest safe conclusions are always 'for the time being'. Finally, a matter common to scientists and historians: absence of evidence is not evidence of absence: to which Summers responded on p. 445.

Aldeburgh branch and LNER 2-6-2Ts. C.W. Jagger 
In the illustrations in the March issue the Metro-Cammell diesel units are referred to as being of Class 101 when the jumper connection sockets show that they were the original Metro-Cammell units (not lightweights) introduced in 1955. These were of yellow diamond coupling code and were withdrawn along with the contemporary and compatible Derby lightweights as non-standard before the introduction of the TOPS numbering. The photograph on p179 shows well the under buffer beam skirt not perpetuated on Class 101. [KPJ: presumably comments on LNER 2-6-2Ts became detached near Easingwold]

Green all the way. Boyd Airton 
Writer not familiar with the BBC's LP by Brett Stevens. I first heard the songs in the 1970s on a Big Ben LP album BB 00 04 'Requiem for Steam' performed by Dave Goulder himself. The songs on this recording were the same as the ones described in the article by Bill Taylor. A further album by Dave Goulder was issued in 1988 by Fellside Recordings FE06S 'The Man who put the Engine in the Chip Shop', including more songs about the various aspects of railway life. On further point of information on why he left the railway was given on the record sleeve. This states: "Dave Goulder left school at fifteen and worked as a station porter at Kirkby-ln-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire. He later transferred to the locomotive department to become a fireman, serving first as an engine cleaner and general labourer. Four years of firing and he was back in the sheds again when an eyesight defect removed him from the footplate. A further spell as a stand-in steam raiser and tube cleaner offered a bleak future on the railway as far as he was concerned, and consequently in 1961 he left the service." For anyone who has not and would like to hear the songs, both LPs have been combined on a compact disc by Fellside Recordings FECD221 'The Golden Days of Steam' and this CD is still available from a well-known large internet company. I can recommend it, my favourite song being 'Big Bertha' and I was fortunate to hear Dave singing it in a live concert in Scotland.

Book reviews. 318

Southern Rails on Southampton Docks. lan Drummond, 160pp, Holne Publishing (Leeds) . **** JC
In his foreword to this volume the author writes that it was his intention to include a chapter on the docks railways in his book Southern Rails around Southampton, published in 2011. Researching in that area convinced him there was no possibility of dealing in a few pages with what became a vast network. The very comprehensive coverage here proves his conviction justified. This volume follows the same format as the earlier one with plenty of photographs, including notated aerial views, and excellent and clear coloured scale maps showing how the docks and the railways developed over the years. It is not only the docks area one generally thinks of either, on the spit where the Rivers Test and Itchen meet. The extensive New Docks on reclaimed land along the north bank of the Test also receive full attention. The several private wharves on the two rivers and their tramways are not forgotten either, nor are those owned by the Harbour Board, which included the Royal Pier, to the west of the confluence. Although the book's first few pages are devoted to a brief history of the docks, from the establishment of the Harbour Commissioners in 1803 right up to the present day, it is inevitable much also reappears in the descriptions of the railways that ultimately served them. It may be exaggeration to say the railway developments bordered on the haphazard as the docks expanded, but the chapter on the construction of the New Docks from the mid-1910s shows how planning the railways there formed an integral part of the process. One tends to forget that it was not only the prestigious Boat Trains which found their way over Canute Road but that a very considerable volume of freight entered and left the country via the port. Though nowadays largely formed of container traffic through the New or Western Docks, comprehensive coverage is given to the very extensive and in some cases quite surprising types of goods once manhandled. By comparison the passenger services are somewhat limited but no less fully described. As with the earlier volume this one is a 'must have' for anyone with an interest in the Southern Railway in general and the development of Southampton into one of the foremost ports in the country in particular.

Underground to everywhere: London's Underground Railway in the life of the capital. Stephen Halliday. 163pp. History Press. GBS ***
Those of us who love London's Underground have been immensely gratified by its rehabilitation in recent years and by sustained improvement in its public standing. The extensive merrymaking in 2013, marking the 150th anniversary of the Metropolitan Railway, set the seal on this transformation and many books and articles have accompanied the celebratory events. A new paperback edition of Stephen Halliday's account of the Underground is therefore all the more welcome and provides a lively canter through its convoluted history. This is not a book for the more prescriptive students of technology — for instance, the motors of the 'Standard' tube stock were not "located behind the driver's cab" (p. 105) and the locomotives on the Brill branch in its latter years are not best described as the work of Daniel Gooch (p138). But those with more catholic tastes will take great pleasure in what might be termed a 'cultural' history of the Underground, rich in anecdote and adept at some valuable myth-busting, accompanied by a pleasing wealth of literary reference. Best of all, Halliday brings to life some of the astonishing characters who enriched the origins and development of the system. Even their names evoke a cosmopolitan world of international business utterly removed from the workaday realities of city transport: James Staats Forbes, Whitaker Wright, Barney Barnato, Charles Tyson Yerkes, Edgar Speyer, Albert Knattriess (the last far better known to us as Lord Ashfield). What a contrast with more humdrum recent times, although Halliday's succinct 'warts and all' account of the rebarbative genius Frank Pick, in particular, is a minor masterpiece.
A regrettable feature of what is claimed to be a 'new edition' of the original is the lack of systematic updating, apart from a very short postscript. This renders the accounts of the East London line (p36), and of the Heathrow extensions of the Piccadilly line (p83), in particular, somewhat misleading. The history effectively ends with the incipient Public Private Partnership and even the statistical annexe has been revised only to 2000 when it would have been a task of minutes properly to complete it. The original foreword, by Maxwell Hutchinson, is also now perhaps unduly pessimistic. In addition to generous black and white pictures in the text there is an attractive eight-page colour section featuring posters and other ephemera, some of them unfamiliar. There are ample notes, an index and a good bibliography. Those who own the original edition need not buy its successor but others as intrigued with the underground story as your reviewer is should certainly do so.

A North Lancashire Railway Album from the cameras of lan and Alan Pearsall. Leslie R. Gilpin. Cumbrian Railways Association, 111pp. MB ***
The work of these two brothers is less well known than some but there is some good photographic work here spanning the years 1945-68. The West Coast Main line naturally features strongly but there are some refreshingly unfamiliar locations; the Morecambe and Heysham line is covered along with its electrics, the route through the Dales to Settle Junction, the Morecambe branch from Hest Bank including the rarely seen Euston Road terminus, and the docks and ships at Heysham harbour where some Irish 2-6-4Ts are shown being loaded in dismantled form. Better than many photo albums recently seen, with good reprographic standards.

The industrial tramways of the Vale of Llangollen. J. R. Thomas and D.W. Southern. Oakwood Press. (Locomotive Papers 138)  JRS****
There cannot be many railway bookshelves without a run of these histories from The Oakwood Press in the much revered and well used section of their library. The latest offering covers the known and defunct rail- orientated workings around an area centred on LIangollen, now better known for the preserved railway where both authors had been members. Unfortunately John Thomas did not live to see the fruits of his labours into print. Between the glossy card covers are 71 pages on art paper with eight chapters covering some 100 years of industrial activity. Whilst not abounding in locomotives there is good coverage of man's ingenuity in moving materials fair distances through difficult and remote landscapes, shipping out of the area often exceeded cost. The coming of the Ellsemere and LIangollen Canal in 1805 eased transport difficulties. Another 56 years passed before rails sought space between the River Dee, canal and London to Holyhead road. Amongst the varied extracted materials are wood, limestone, slate, coal. bricks, tiles and iron ore. Gauges vary from 1ft, 1ft in, 3ft and standard, slopes as steep as 1 in 2, the longest system extending some five linear miles. It is not hard to see why they faded as easier and less demanding supplies came available elsewhere. The authors have done a good job of ferreting out information and pictures, the latter often matched to a current view. Whilst each chapter has a plan or map an overall view of the area covered would have been useful. All in all, the book makes a useful accompaniment to those who know the area or have travelled on the preserved line. Good value at £9.95 and a welcome addition to any collection.

The Petersfield to Midhurst branch line. Peter A. Harding. Author. 32pp.JC ***
Harding is well known for writing and publishing a range of books covering branch lines and minor rail byways of Southern England. Detailing not only the history of the line, which includes paragraphs from contemporary newspaper coverage, and the background to the political wrangling with the LBSCR, motive power and rolling stock features as do station layouts. Those are not dated though the text fully describes the development of each one. The book is copiously illustrated and though most of the photographs date from the last quarter- century of the line's existence the scope is as wide as the limitations of the line permit. Also of interest is the 'ragged' gradient profile showing a railway following the lie of the land as far as possible. The rundown and closure and a brief resume of the parts of the route as it is now conclude the narrative. The three volumes published by the local Middleton Press regarding the branch lines of Midhurst form the bulk of the Bibliography, which might imply only limited new research. Nevertheless, this is useful little book, especially with regard to the photographic content.

Rails to Ashbourne. Howard Sprenger. Kestrel Railway Books. 168 pp. DWM *****
This stylishly-produced volume is that increasing rare item in railway publishing these days — a good, straightforward 'line history'. Indeed, it is more than that for, in supermarket terms, it is a 'two-for' as the railway history of the attractive Derbyshire market town of Ashbourne involved two distinct phases and two major companies. Initially from the south came the North Staffordshire which reached Ashbourne via a branch from its Churnet Valley line at Rocester in May 18S2. There things rested until the end of the century when the London & North Western came south from Buxton, initially along the metals of the fabled Cromford & High Peak, to reach Ashbourne and create a new 'through route' and close one of the final remaining gaps in the railway map of England. The author has, in turn, effectively split his narrative into two parts. The first covers the history of the line, the second describes the route, at first through the lush valley of the Dove from Uttoxeter to Buxton and then on, over the windswept White Peak, to Buxton. The book is lavishly — and appropriately — illustrated throughout and the text is embellished with a good many contemporary comments as well as local maps and plans, timetables and handbills. The author outlines the day-to-day working of what was always a 'quiet' piece of railway although at differing times through carriages to Euston and jet engines as snow-shifters enlivened proceedings. The book has a good selection of colour pictures showing a mixture of the historical and contemporary and giving a good idea of what remains of the line, a fascinating appendix details the various locomotives used at the quarries and industrial sites which dominated the railway on its way into Buxton. The Ashbourne end of the line can be explored today as it has a new lease of life as the Tissington Trail for walkers and cyclists, whilst at the Buxton end train loads of Derbyshire limestone are daily removed over metals which could never have envisaged such volumes of traffic. As with the North Western's original intentions, this splendid book 'fills a gap', it is a welcome and fascinating addition to railway writing.

Signal boxes on the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Lines: North and West of Manchester. Part One. Chris Littleworth. L&YR Society. 114pp. MB *****
This volume covers the Western District lines from Salford to Wigan and Euxton Junction, with details of all the signal boxes on them, accompanied by track diagrams and a lavish display of photographs of exteriors and interiors. This is a classic example of what the specialist railway societies do so well: detailed subject studies well presented by knowledgeable experts. As it says in the Introduction, " .. .it seems prudent to get the information intio the public sphere now, while memories of mechanical signalling in the area featured still survive". Full marks for that. Part 2 reviewed on p. 702..

Railway disasters. Simon Fowler. Pen & Sword.111pp. AG ***
Divided into two parts — the first an extended essay introducing the topic of railway disasters, with the other two thirds a collection of pictures drawn from a small number of picture libraries. The pictures are divided into four sections covering 60 years, then 24, 33 and 20 years, ending in 1968. One result of this is that the pictures do not really tell a smooth story, despite some of them being very interesting, and more knowledgeable readers may wonder why some accidents are included and not others. The last ten pages concentrate on Harrow & Wealdstone, which is the only accident described in any detail. There are some inconsistencies — the 1870s are described as the "worst decade for safety" but the Edwardian era as the "golden age of the railway accident", although arguably it was photography and the picture postcard industry that made it so. The assertion that the Manchester Guardian "ran at least one story in every issue about a railway disaster" throughout the decade of the 1870s could have been easily checked and discounted. Greater precision in the text would have been helpful — to say that Board of Trade inspectors investigated "all but the most trivial accidents" is not how it was defined in law. The pictures are mainly well chosen, a good proportion are less familiar, and they are reproduced large enough to see the detail. They cover a good geographical range and types of accident. This book is interesting to browse and perhaps a starting point for deeper investigation of some of the accidents depicted.

Going on a Cambrian holiday. J.S. Gilks. rear cover
Class 4 4-6-0 No. 75023 passing Penmaenpool with 10.10 Paddington to Pwllheli on 27 July 1963.

Issue 6 (June 2014) Number 278

GWR '64XX' 0-6-0PT No.6412 takes its leave of Brimscombe with the Gloucester-Chalford auto train on 17 October 1964. Roy Patterson. front cover

The Dawlish Sea Wall in the news — again. Jeffrey Wells. 323  
Guest Editorial on the severance of train services to the non-strategic city of Plymouth and to Cornwall when the seawall was destroyed by heavy seas in January 2014. Wells does not mention the lack of strategic foresight by Beeching and others in the failure to retain an alternative route, but does mention some of the earlier breaches, some quite soon after Brunel's line opened..

Stone traffic via Westbury. Tom Heavyside. 324
Colour photo-feature of General Motors Class 59 on Foster Yeoman limestone trains from Merehead quarry: No. 59 002 heads away from Westbury towards London on 7 September 1987; No. 59 003 passes Upton Scudamore on way towards Salisbury on 10 September 1987 and No. 59 001 enters Westbury with empty hoppers (cement works chimney in background: see Archive, 2014 (81) p. 45

Chris Fox. The demise of the Western in the West Midlands. 325-30
From November 1959 the London Midland Region services from Woverhampton and Birmingham to Euston were substantially reduced to assist in the programme of electrification and services on the Western Region line to Paddington were augmented to compensate. From 1 January 1963 all former Great Western lines in the West Midlands were transferred to the London Midland Region and once electric services to Euston started were reduced in status or closed. Thus Snow Hill station was reduced in status and Dudley lost all its train services,. A campaign saved the North Warwickshire line commuter services, but Bewdley and Stourport lost theirs. Illustrations: No. D1007 Western Talisman (maroon livery) on up Cambrian Coast Express at Acock's Green & South Yardley on 26 September 1963 (colour: Michael Mensing); No. D1020 Western Hero at Wolverhampton Low Level in June !963 (Norman J. Fox); New Diesel Express Service with refreshment facilities: Birmingham-Cardiff-Swansea which commenced 17 June 1957 (colour: brochure); 2-6-2T No. 4555 arriving Rowley Regis & Blackheath with SLS railtrour on 13 June 1964 (Norman J. Fox); No. 7019 Fowey Castle at Oxley on 19 May 1964 (Norman J. Fox); Diesel train services from 18 June 1962 (colour: brochure); Birmingham Pullman 14.30 Snow hill to Paddington on 28 March 1961 (this and remainder Norman J. Fox); 8F No. 48351 at Wolverhampton Low Level on 28 May 1966; Improved train services London Paddington to Birkenhead (Western locomotive on brochure cover); Class 4 4-6-0 No. 76037 at Wolverhampton Low Level on 28 May 1966; 0-6-0PT Nos. 9610 and 9630 on Farewell to Western Panniers railtour on 11 September 1966 at Old Hill. See also letters on p. 509 from John Macnab and Eric Stuart on Inter-City diesel multiple units and from Chris Magner on pannier tanks 

Michael J. Smith. Anyone for Eastcheap? 331-5.
Changes in name of stations constructed by the Metropolitan District Railway, now known as the District Line of the London Underground, some of which were on other railways over which the District had running powers or were jointly owned. These were Eastcheap opened on 6 October 1884 on the joint section of the Circle line with the Metropolitan Railway which became The Monument on 12 November 1884 and eventually Monument. Similarly The Temple opened 30 May 1879 lost its "The"; Gloucester Road opened on 12 April 1869 as Brompton (Gloucester Road) with variations in signage including Gloucester Road Brompton, but became Gloucester Road when the Piccadilly tube opened in 1907.
Illustrations: Temple with handsome cabs; Charing Cross in 1903 with handsome cab and SECR station prior to collapse of its roof in 1906: Boston Manor for Brentford & Hanwell c1930; Park Royal & Twyford Abbey c1903; single car approaching Park Royal & Twyford Abbey c1903; Northfields & Little Ealing in 1920s; Acton Town station in 1930;  Allperton station; Chiswick Park being rebuilt during 1930s; Walham Green station long before it became Fulham Broadway. See correction on p. 509

Michael H.C. Baker. Dublin to Belfast. 336-41.
This is a somewhat Irish tale: it encompasses roughly half-a-century of train services between Belfast and Dublin; the Author's encounter with Maeve whom he married and provided him with a return ticket, and Irish locomotive preservation. There is a backwards glance to the glories of the Great Northern Railway with its blue 4-4-0s plus an account of how railway service have developed both in respect of termini, rolling stock and motive power, plus the broadly hostile regard which Northern Irish politicians have for railway transport, matched by the Irish Republicans even more actively. Illustrations: preserved GNR Compound No. 85 Merlin at Dundalk in summer of 2002 (colour); Webb 0-6-0ST on 10.15 from Dundalk Junction to Greenore crossing Square Crossing on Dundalk, Newry & Greenore Railway on 15 May 1950; Amiens Street station in June 1961; GNR U class 4-4-0 No. 203 Armagh at Dundalk on 6 August 1957; Northern Irish Railways English Electric No. 102 Falcon with BR-built Mark II coaches approaching Dublin Connolly in 1970 (colour); General Motors 111 class Co-Co No. 113 Belfast and County Down leaving Connolly for Belfast in April 1994 (colour); General Motors River class No. 228 on northbound Enterprise near Border (colour). See also letter from David Cable on p. 509,

Waterloo. 342-4
Black & white photo-feature: Schools class No. 927 Clifton with Portsmouth train in mid-1930s; N15 King Arthur class No. E777 Sir Lamiel;  Lord Nelson class No. 856 Lord St. Vincent on Bournemouth train; No, 34049 Anti-Aircraft Command; rebuilt Scot No. 46154 The Hussar on Atlantic Coast Express on 7 June 1948 during Locomotive Exchanges; H15 4-6-2T No. 30520 hauling emprty stock in mid-1950s; rebuilt Battle of Britain class No. 34077 603 Squadron on 17.33 to Bournemouth on 20 May 1966 (T.J. Edgington).

''There was a 'Sojer', a Scottish 'Sojer'..." 345.
Coloor photo feature based on transparencies purchased by Roger Carvell of preserved No. 49 Gordon Highlander on Saturday 13 June 1959 at Glasgow Buchanan Street; at Lockerbie, and at Dumfries. SLS excursion out via Beattock and back via Paisley (71 mile/h aat Milliken Park)

Paul Joyce. A doctor's tribute to a railwayman. 346-8.
Death of James Arthur Thomas, a young fireman from South Wales, in an accident at Reading shed during night of 16 November 1952. He was supported whilst attempts were made to free him from being crushed beween two locomotives by another fireman Victor Cripps whose efforts were commended by Dr Hardy one of the two medical doctors present at the accident. Illustration of No. 6100 (one of the two locomotives and Vic Cripps during the accident). See also letter from former footplateman, R. Crump on page 509..

From Letterkenny to the Wild West Clare. Roy Cole and David Mosley. 349-51
Black & white photo-feature: 4-6-4T Erne shunting at Letterkenny and on shed in 1960. An American hopd to preserve the locomotive, but it was cut up in 1967. County Donegal railcar No. 20 leaving Letterkenny for Strabane, Similar Walker diesel railcar No. 3388 on West Clare Railway at Kilkee on 24 June 1958, and on turntable at same location; diesel locomotive No. 502 at Miltown Malbay on passenger train on 24 June 1958; and No. F501 at Ennis with passenger train. See also letter from Philip Griffiths on p. 509 on end of Loch Swilly bus services.

A panoply of pannier tanks. 352-5
Colour photo-feature: 54XX No. 5414 (lined green livery) on Yeovil Pen Mill to Yeovil Town auto train in June 1963 (Derek Penney) caption corrected by Robert Postance on page 574 who suggests Junction as destination; 64XX No. 6408 at Chppenham with B set? in May 1959 (Derek Penney); 74XX No. 7436 at Chard with a Taunton train on 6 July 1961 (R.C. Riley); 94XX No. 8481 ex-Swindon Works in May 1963 (Derek Penney); No. 7426 on freight passing Birmingham Moor Street on 2 December 1961 (Michael Mensing); 94XX No. 8451 on empty stock at Subway Junction on 19 October 1963 (R.C. Riley); 57XXNo. 3732 departing Wellington wiyj 17.08 for Shrewsbury on 4 July 1959 (Michael Mensing); No. 6434 at Darby End Halt with 19.00 Old Hill to Dudley auto train on 14 May 1964 (Michael Mensing); 16XX No. 1638 shunting mineral wagos at Oswestry in August 1963 (Derek Penney); No. 6430 at Seaton Junction with auto train for Seaton on 13 July 1963 (R.C. Riley).    

Robert Emblin. London and Nearly Everywhere. 356-9.
Sadly this is marred by a serious error in the opening paragraph: the LNER was the second largest of the Big Four and a failure to grasp the Company's Scottish geography: it served both Argyllshire and Inverness-shire via the West Highland with all-the-round daily through coaches from King's Cross. Bute was served by LNER steamers from Craigendoran Pier and there were probably seasonal sailings to Ayrshire: see also letter from Kevin Jones p. 509. The caption to the Cunard White Star poster leaps to the false conclusion that the liner depicted was the Queen Mary whereas it was almost certainly the Berengrania and the A1 depicted was in the livery applied for the British Empire Exhibition: thus a date in the mid-1920s is more likely.  See also letters from John C. Hughes, Richard McGilvray and Andrew Kleissner on p. 509. The Cromer poster by Bruce Angrave is also reproduced in Cole and Durack's Railway posters, 1923-1947 where the model is flaunting her body less albeit wearing less! Illustrations (all posters in colour): Isle of Skye by Freda Violet Lingstrom; Belgium via Harwich by Frank Newbould; the Birthplace of Robert Burns by Norman Wilkinson (not one of his best and artist normally associated with LMS: Wilkinson really deserves an article to himself); Ullswater by Kenneth Steel; Saltburn by the Sea by Henry George Gawthorn (not Gawthorne); Cromer by Bruce Angrave (some consideration is given to the overtly sexual character of the poster).

L.A. Summers. Engineers doodled on their drawing boards, with notes on sources by Ivor Lewis. 360-7.
This is based on material which exists, mainly in the Swindon Drawing Office rolls held in the National Railway Museum, possibly the most exciting of which is a Dean design for a 4-4-0 with a water tube boiler which anticipates the Gresley/Yarrow design by thirty years. The drawing produced in 1896 was at the height of interest in the development of maritime boilers; and may be indicative of Churchward's long term interest in boiler development. Some of the other doodles lack clarity between what may have existed at Swindon and what has been generated in the 21st century on computers. The possible reboilering of the 30XX ROD locomotives is interesting, especially as a record of the class in service is available in the current issue of the Great Western Railway Journal as is the possible conversion of the 2-8-0Ts to tender locomotives. There is reference to the Author's own Swindon scene (still not seen by KPJ in bookless Norfolk), but not to the Atkins' recent resaponse to the notion of a Hawksworth Pacific. The lack of a citation to the Armstrong Whitworth diesel electric tractors is serious as several articles in Backtrack have mentioned that the highly successful use of them in the Argentine led the GWR to consider them for their services to the City and thus anticipate Crossrail. See also questioning letter frpm Peter Tatlow on p. 509. Summers returned to this theme (letter page 637) with reference to ARLE locomotives schemed during WW1

Look North West. 368-71
Colour photo-feature: No. 46256 Sir William A. Stanier F.R.S. (red livery) departing Oxenholme with Carlisle to Preston ordinary train in 1964 (Gavin Wilson); Class 37 No. 37 013 with coal train leaving Hobhole Cutting and looking towards Greenfield (Brian Magilton); Jubilee class No. 45591 Udaipur at Acton Grange with a Blackpool to London express in August 1963 (Brian Magilton); Class 5 No. 44894 on 14.35 Kendal to Carnforth freight on 1 August 1968 (David Idle); Class 57 Thunderbird hauling Pendolino near Downham, nortyh east of Clitheroe in February 2006 (J.S. Gilks); Class 123 multiple unit entering Manchester Piccadilly in May 1980 (Brian Magilton); ex-LNWR electric multiple unit converted for ac operation at Morecambe Promenade on 7 August 1964 (David Idle); Britannia No. 70020 Mercury at Crewe on 8 November 1964 (David Idle); ;:

Alistair E. Nisbet. Embezzlement by railwaymen. Part one. 372-6.
Leopold Redpath was examined in Volume 26 page 146 and is covered more fully in the unindexed Oxford Companion on page 119;  Bramwell Bronte's unsatisfactory mangement of Luddenfoot station allowed another member of staff, John Walton, to embezzle funds from the railway. Jonathan Oxley, a guard on the Sheffield & Rotherham Railway was accused ofv re-selling used tickets, but the case agaainst him was dismissed. Sylvester Blancho Harvey, the agent (station master) at Bannockburn on the Scottish Central Railway was brought before the Sheriff Substitute in 1852 for fraud. H.P. Coles, station master at Ipswich on the Wastern Union Railway defrauded the company in 1852/3 due to its lax financial control. Thomas Goalen, head of the LNWR Audit Deparment was sentenced to transportation in 1854, but escaped this fate and following prison in Dartmoor was able to join his family in Wantage in 1860. William Caitcheon, an accomplice was sentenced to four years penal servitude.  The Eastern Counties Railway was defrauded by Robert Jones at Chesterford who was sentenced to transportation in 1849 and by Richard Lines at Shelford in 1857. Others detected were Robert Bissett, station master at Newtown (St. Boswells) on the NBR; George Drever at Balloch; William Henry Maunder at Paignton on the South Devon Railway in 1875; William Knox, Traffic Manager on the Peebles Railway in 1858; Algernon Sydney Lumby on the ECR in 1860 (and after a long pursuit was found not guilty); Samuel Corben at Doncaster in 1881; and Oswald Williams on the GWR at Chester in 1920. Illustrations (all accidental to main story): Twyford station with 4-4-2T on up passenger train c1912; Paddington southern entrance c1912; Great Chesterford station c1850; elegant entrance to St Boswells station on 5 September 1959; Balloch station with Class 3 2-6-2T No. 40188 on 12.26 to Rutherglen via Glasgow Central Low Level on 25 August 1952 (T.J. Edginton); Nethercleugh station; and Rosewell & Hawthornden on 28 April 1952 (H.C. Casserley).

Signalling spotlight: South Eastern & Chatham Railway signals on the Redhill to Tonbridge Line. Richard Foster and Roy Hobbs. 377.
Colour photo-feature: distant signal at Crowhurst Siding in 1961 and up home signal at Williams' Siding shortly before closure in 1963.

David P. Williams. D49/3 No.329 Inverness-shire. 378-9.
Six of the Gresley 4-4-0 class were fitted with oscillating cam driven poppet valves and two with rotary cam operated poppet valves. The oscillating cam version proved unsatisfactory and the locomotives were eventually rebuilt with the Gresley derived version of Walschaerts gear. Includes a computer-gerated coloured photograph of No. 329 at Glasgow Eastfield in 1928.

A.J. Ludlam. Two singular engines of the Great Northern Railway. 380
No. 3470A was an 0-4-2ST (an 0-6-0ST with rear coupled wheels uncoupled). The locomotive had a tenuous connection with Manning Wardle locomotives inherited from the West Yorkshire Railway, but these had been totally replaced at Doncaster by what had become Stirling standard designs. No. 3470A worked at Hall Hills Sleeper Depot near Boston and was converted to the Holden system of oil firing. The other locomotive described and illustrated had no number but was an 0-4-0 used in the Civil Engineer's Yard at Peterborough: this had a vertical boiler and vertical cylinders with the crankshaft linked to the driving axle. The boiler came from a steam driven traverser in Doncaster Works. Figures 24 and 26 in the RCTS Locomotives of the LNER. Part 10A show both locomotives in views not included in the article. Illustrations: No. 3470A at Boston with Jack Bourton and Bill Harvey (Ron Heugh Collection);  No. 3470A at Boston on 29 September 1926 (Ken Nunn) and  the 0-4-0 at Peterborough on 30 September 1926 (Ken Nunn).

Readers' forum. 381

In Place of Steam. Derek Everson 
Photo of Nos. 10000/10001 on p249 caught his eye in that the connecting doors between the locomotives seem connected, and No. 10000's doors are also connected to the leading coach. All the years in the 1950s when they worked into Euston on the 'Royal Scot' writer had never noticed the doors connected to the coach.

Patriotic fervour. Owen Edgington
The unrebuilt locomotives were poor steamers as indicated by the black smoke from Lady Godiva in the first picture and as experienced on the footplate firing them.

Didcot Power Station. John Harvey
Haulage of coal from Southampton Docks by Class 33 and Class 73, but replaced at Didcot by Class 47 as shoe gear on electro diesel liable to come into contact with wagon discharge aapparatus and locomotives not fitted for slow speed operation.

Going the extra mile. Keith Fenwick
Section 95 of the quoted Act only permits the railway company to demand tolls if the mile posts were in place. Given the number of mileposts which had gone missing, writer wondered some years ago if the railway still had the power to charge for travel. However, he discovered that the clause in the Consolidation Acts had been repealed by a Statute Law Revision Act in the late 1950s. he had lost the exact reference, discovered in a large law volume in a second-hand bookshop. So the mileposts are endangered after all. Saga is pursued still further by Hugh Gillies-Smith on p. 509.

100-wagon coal trains. David Cable.
In the article about the coal trains between New England and Ferme Park, the author mentions that the P1s could sometimes arrive with the tender with the tender pretty well emptied. The picture of the P1 on what appears to be one of these coal trains at Langley, judging from the lighting, seems to have been taken after lunchtime. So what is particularly of note is the amount of coal still in the tender.

Scotter of the South Western. John Harvey
Considers that Archibald Scott was treated unfairly by Strutt and shifts the blame of the LSWR failings onto W.G. Beatiie and his poorly performing locomotives, but improvements were already in hand with the appointment of William Adams to replace him. Letter also considers the relationship between the Southampton Docks Company and the Great Western and London & South Western Railways

Walking the 'Old Road'. Roger Brettle
There is an error in the map illustrating the article: Woodhouse station is shown as being on the line branching north westwards from Treeton Junction but that is the former Sheffield District Railway line to Brightside Junction. Woodhouse station was on the old MSLR/GCR/LNER Sheffield-Worksop line. To the east of the station an MSLR branch dropped down to join the 'Old Line' at Beighton Junction. Incidentally this branch was used recently to provide a diversionary route between Sheffield and Tapton Junction when one of the lines on the direct route from Sheffield to Chesterfield had to be closed at Unstone to deal with a landslip caused by this winter's torrential rain.

Private owner wagons. Robert Barker.
The Railway Clearing House 1923 standard wagon for private owners, as identified in the April 'Readers' Forum', lasted longer than 1958, as suggested in the March article. The 13-ton coal-carrying version was a common sight arriving loaded in London during the early to mid-sixties. Many ended up stencilled 'COND One journey only. Loco coal', the last examples I saw being at York MPD when it closed to steam in 1967. One carried the (randomly assigned) number P161563 and the faded lettering 'BOLSOVER'. In some areas at least, railwaymen called them 'owners' wagons' rather than 'POWs'.

Carlisle Kingmoor Marshalling Yards. David Cook.
With reference to the photograph on p81 of No.40 064 entering Kingmoor Yard on a Freightliner train: this depicts what Kingmoor Yard was NOT intended to do — receive Freightliner trains? The train shown is surely a diverted ECML container train, sent via Carlisle account of the Penmanshiel Tunnel closure in that summer, as shown by its diesel power rather than electric haulage. It is probably the King's Cross-Portobello container service. The railway trade unions forced BR to send all diverted ECML freights into Kingmoor although there was no need for most of them to go into the yard — and certainly NOT Freightliners! — making an already expensive diversionary operation even costlier. I spent 24hr at Haltwhistle and Haydon Bridge that summer to see the diverted trains and the Tyne Valley line was certainly busier than usual!

The Hull & Holderness Railway. Roger Brettle
No, Antony Bannister was not Lord Mayor of Kingston-upon-Hull at the time of the promotion of the Hull & Holderness Railway (p. 72) as lan Reed states (p. 253). That title was only conferred on the first citizen in 1914. Alderman Bannister was the Mayor twice in the 1850s. On the other hand York did have a Lord Mayor at this time, an office held more than once by George Hudson, the 'Railway King'

Book reviews. 382

The lost years of the Liskeard and Caradon Railway. Alec Kendall (with lain Rowe and Dave Ambler). Caradon Hill Area Heritage Project. 148pp. AB***
Promoted as "a must-read for railway and mining enthusiasts, local historians and anyone with a love of the Cornish landscape," Alec Kendall's study, as developed through the Caradon Hill Area Heritage Project, is characterised by its research, identified as " ... uniquely [focusing] on the Liskeard and Caradon Railway under the ownership of the GWR from 1909 to 1947". Presented as "the new story," this work looks to challenge the received perspective of previous historians, as seen in two extracts from p10: "1917 was not the point at which the Caradon Railway, with all its infrastructure and its equipment disappeared from view ... It is almost as if the 'Caradon Railway' of the GWR had slowly faded from sight; been overtaken by the First World War and killed off entirely." Thematically, the phrase "Railway of the GWR," is central here, as in each consecutive chapter the integral identification with the GWR is evident in implicit or explicit form. Page 10, however, also includes something of a caveat regarding this project overall: "The Process of casting new light on the lost years ... is characterised by a lack of hard fact and contemporary photographs; the risk of misinterpretation of what evidence does survive; and a pressing need to look again at the role, investments and intentions of the GWR in relation to the Caradon Railway."
In structure and format this work is presented in 22 chapters/sections, beginning with an overall survey of the Caradon district, registering its pre-history, and thereafter its historical, geographical economic and cultural Significance, "to give the story of the Caradon line a true context;" Reference here to a "true context" is surely somewhat problematic given the express focus of 1909-1947 and the GWR. Further chapters address a variety of subjects ranging from a taxonomy of level crossings along the line, to a number of summary portraits of prominent GWR officials, significantly James Inglis, General Manager 1903-1911, the Company Chairman, Viscount Churchill, 1908-1934, and, locally, Silvanus Jenkin, second civil engineer to the Liskeard and Caradon line, and therein accountable for much of the remaining infrastructure still visible today. (p.51) The survey includes many latter-day photographs {mainly colour} of the former line, not least detailed images of specific GWR work dating from 1909 (pp61-72). It is in this feature, combined with relevant statistical detail that, for this review, we locate the definitive focus of this study: the confirmation of the corporate nature of the GWR and the inherent presence of the liskeard and Caradon therein. If we accept the given context, 1909-1947, Inglis, Churchill and latterly Felix Pole {pp123/4} emerge as fundamental forces here. Given the evident {implied?} identifications between the circumstances of the wider GWR network, eg the national railway strike 1919 (p35), the General Strike of 1926 {pp123/4) and the depression in the South Wales ports over the inter-war era {p130}, all included here, and the immediate circumstances of the liskeard and Caradon line, an element! degree of relative impact, context and perspective might well have been better pursued here. In a further consideration, Chapter Twelve, '1918: Reckoning Liskeard's real railway losses', looks to the role of those from the locality, former Liskeard and Caradon/ Looe employees, who are remembered on the GWR's collective company memorial at Paddington {pp113-116}. Here, in this most poignant context, The GWR Roll of Honour, the corporate construction has vital resonance.
This is a project of a devotee and as such is a committed, detailed celebration of the local railway, landscape and community in a context of continuity and change, within which 'heritage' is definitive. As to format! structural dimensions, a 'Contents' section is clearly required, which working together with the 'References' would allow for useful thematic cross-referencing, which is frequently necessary, and ultimately be rewarding.

Plundering London Underground: New Labour, private capital & public service 1997-2010. Janine Booth. Merlin Press, 240pp. GBS ***
Few people, apart from political junkies, now follow in detail the atrocious story of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) which engulfed the finances and operation of the London Underground after the 1997 General Election. Between 1998 and 2010 millions upon millions of pounds were largely wasted in a vain endeavour to combine the social responsibilities of public sector operation with the virtues of private sector procurement and project delivery. The efforts, masterminded by a team under the then Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, were an attempt both to fulfil the Labour Party's manifesto commitment to retain the Underground in public hands and to address a civil service conviction, strongest in the Treasury, that the public sector could never be trusted reliably to deliver major public works projects. In distinction the Conservative Party, fresh from the achievements of its railway privatisation programme, had gone into the 1997 General Election vowing to privatise the Underground as well, with the enticing rider that "uneconomic stations and services may face closure as part of the sale", an odd (and, as it turned out, highly unsuccessful) way to woo London's voters.
There have been previous accounts of this unprecedented debacle, most notably by Christian Wolmar, but Janine Booth's book is the first in mainstream publishing where a strongly socialist take on the situation has been so fully set out. Ms. Booth is herself an Underground worker and is active in the trade union movement as well as in many of the confrontations she eloquently describes. Her fury derives from informed observation of the consequences of the 1998 decision: a vital public service and its hard-working staff were turned into the plaything of hare-brained economic theorists, duplicitous politicians, and often unaccountable financiers. In six chapters, supported by time-lines, a useful list of key individuals and comprehensive source notes, Ms. Booth gives a clear and well-paced account of the circumstances which led up to PPP and its dire consequences. She traces its origin to the systemic underfunding of the Underground, a stain on the reputations of previous governments. The heart of the book is an attempt to explain the underlying contractual tangle, so convoluted that its documentation filled scores of filing cabinets: it is doubtful if anyone ever fully understood it.
The principle behind the programme was that the superior skills of private-sector genius would deliver upgrades and improvements reliably, promptly and more cheaply. None of these objectives was in fact fulfilled and the accounts here, both of the vast and utterly bewildering structure of measurement and supposed risk-transfer and of the comprehensive failures along the way, make sobering reading. Perhaps Ms. Booth takes a rather Panglossian view of the Underground in its wholly public-sector era and in your reviewer's experience the earliest examples of outsourcing (the Croydon 'pie factory' and the Works and Buildings organisation) were less than universally admired. But what followed was, if anything, worse.
There are those who will dismiss such a left-wing view of the PPP story and will argue (as defenders of rail privatisation still do) that had it been allowed to work its way through without callow interference, all would have been well. However, it is also essential to understand the rage which underlies it. Opinion polls early in 2014 showed that the general public lay far to the left of the major political parties in this respect, supporting the return of all rail transport to the public sector. Realistic or not in practice, this is a view which should not be airily ignored and Janine Booth's book is an important document in explaining the public mood.
Her conclusion is that "London Underground does best when it is publicly-owned, unified, under the control of a (preferably, elected) London body, adequately funded, and allowed to operate as a public service rather than a commercial business." That is at least an arguable proposition, so try the book and see how convincing you find it.

Scenes from the past: 43. Forward to Nottingham Victoria. The 'Derbyshire Lines' of the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway. Part Two B. Ken Grainger. Book Law Publications, 104pp. CPA ****
The writer was fascinated to read this excellently produced book, as Nottingham Victoria was his local station and he grew up close to New Basford and Bullwell Common, which now bear little trace of Britain's last main line, the Great Central London Extension, following its closure almost 50 years ago in 1966.
Nottingham Victoria was literally a cavern of a place, hewn out of the local sandstone, and which, unusually for a station of its size and potential importance, came and went in the course of a human lifespan (1900-1966). It was built jointly with the Great Northern Railway and so the variety of motive power, adequately illustrated here, was diverse even before 1923, when the Atlantics alone of both the GC and GN were a daily sight. On the eve of the Second World War, Gresley A1 Pacifics had begun to make an appearance and after nationalisation former LMS locomotive types, even Derby 2P 4-4-0s, inevitably made their mark, long before the GC line was assimilated into the London Midland Region in 1958. This marked the real beginning of the end, five years before the so-called 'Beeching Report', which sounded the final death knell. From before the war and even until as late as 1964, GWR 4-6-0s, latterly 'Halls', somewhat surprisingly sometimes worked through to Victoria from Leicester.
In 1963 a small stud of otherwise redundant Rebuilt 'Royal Scots' was newly allocated to the remote depot of Annesley. Appropriately these included No.46112 Sherwood Forester, which is illustrated full page on p22, on shed after sustaining front end damage. The writer also recalls seeing this engine in this same forlorn condition, subsequently and as if awaiting scrapping, at Wrigley's Wagon Works at Bullwell, yet apparently it actually met its end at Cashmore's at Great Bridge in the West Midlands.
The selection of illustrations is indeed wide ranging and from a variety of sources, including John P. Wilson and the inimitable Gordon Hepburn. Amid many pre-1923 shots particularly well represented are invariably grimy BR 9F 2-10-0s with their lime-streaked boilers, engaged on the legendary Annesley-Woodford 'runners', which marked almost the final phase of operations on this much lamented route.

The Quintinshill Conspiracy: the shocking true story behind Britain's worst rail disaster. Jack Richards and Adrian Searle. Pen & Sword. 224pp. AG ***
This is a very interesting and thoroughly researched addition to the number of books about the Quintinshill disaster. It both reflects on and extends the work that has gone before using both local and national sources. Given the journalistic experience of one of its authors, it provides an entertaining account but - for this reader at least - it is a little too polemical: by the end the central thesis of cover-up and possible 'pay-off' by the Caledonian Railway and even the Government has become something of a sledgehammer rather than a stiletto.
The argument is that the Caledonian and the Government, which was enduring some criticism of its management of the war, influenced proceedings so that individual railwaymen carried the blame - and it is implied the men received some reward for this later. Is the argument of cover-up, including of possible illness, credible? Well, yes, at least as far as the role of the railway company is concerned, but what is less convincing is whether this was anything exceptional. Wider reading about railway accidents of the period certainly indicates that over-working and lax management contributed to many accidents, which almost routinely railway companies tried to make the responsibility of their staff - as the law of the time made clear that it was. If you made the mistake, you got the blame. Possibly the Caledonian had learned from accidents such as Manor House in 1892, where leaving the blame on the unfortunate signalman led to much criticism of senior managers, and the scale of Quintinshill made avoiding the blame even more desirable.
Finally, one might ask: did it make any difference? At least one of the signalmen would have gone to prison in any case whilst it is unlikely any manager ever would have. There have been many subsequent occasions when lowly staff have carried the can where at least some of the contents were corporate failure. Nonetheless, an interesting read.

Greetings from Alloa. Roy Hobbs. rear cover
B1 No. 61116 passing the locomotive depot with freight on 17 April 1965

Issue 7 (July 2014) Number 279

SECR C Class 0-6-0 No.31268 takes the sun while on station pilot duty at Dover Priory. front cover
Carriages in shade on a high summer day in 1960 appear to be very dark green.

Over the Swing Bridge at Selby. 388-9
Colour photo-feature (Selby was on the East Coast Main Line until the Deviation opened in 1983: all locomotives and rolling stock wore a sensible corporate livery): HST No. 254 017 on Newcastle to King's Cross coming off bridge and stopping in platform on 14 May 1979 (Steve Burnett); Class 31 No. 31 317 hauling yellow-liveried breakdown crane and train over bridge on 22 October 1981 (Keith Dungate); Class 40 No. 40 073 hauling freight with load of steel through centre roads in station southbound on 22 October 1981 (Keith Dungate); Class 123 DMU calling at Selby with a Hull to Manchester service on 14 May 1978 (Steve Burnett); Class 40 No. 40 186 hauling collision-damaged Class 124 DMU towards Doncaster (Keith Dungate).  

Miles Macnair. Lead on the whys and some of the wherefores of locomotive valve gears. Part two. Variations on a theme and the poppet revolution. 390-4.
Part 1 see page 302. This is a highly detailed review which has thrown up several names missing form steamindex and inevitably is throwing up sources not cited by him: most seriously W.E. Dalby's Valves and valve gear mechanisms which is available as an e-book. Bouch's improved valve gear used by Stockton & Darlington Railway (novelty restricted to marine expansion links and case hardened bearing surfaces). Scissors gear was invented by Armand Stevart and applied on river steamer engines and on Belgian State Railways Type 20 outside-cylinder 0-8-0T banking locomotives in 1871 (source Phil Dambly Vapeur en Belgique. Blanchard 1989); Churchward used it on his four-cylinder 4-4-2  North Star, but Deeley claimed it infringed his patent (GB 16372/1905) used on his 990 Class 4-4-0s. In the USA Otis W. Young used a form of the gear on Union Pacific 4-8-2 and 2-10-2 designs. The Baker valve gear has complex origins and appears to originate in gears for agricultural locomotives, but an Abner D. Baker was granted US Patent 1008405 on 14 November 1911 for a variable-cut-off valve gear for engines. The Pilloid Co. marketed the gear and patented an improved version. Only used outside the USA on the South Australian Railway on its 620 class 4-6-2 design. William Sherman Brown invented a valve gear used by the Southern Railroad and on the locomotives built during WW1 for the US Railroad Commission. Outside the USA it was used on the K class 2-8-0 for the New South Wales Government Railway. Rupert John Isaacson's valve gear was applied to a Midland 2P class 4-4-0 and to Manning Wardle 2-6-0T Blackpool supplied to the Garstang & Knott End Railway in 1908.Some of the other gears mentioned include Gozenbach, Meyer, Guinotte of 1872; Bonneford (applied to a 2-4-2 No. 2609 exhibited at the 1893 Chicago Exhibition), Durant Lencaucher (corliss type valves fitted to a Sharp Stewart 2-4-2 in 1882) and James Thompson Marshall fitted to a Maunsell 2-6-0 (and illustrated). See also letter (page 637) from David Page on widespread use of Baker valve gear on Canadian locomotives; and letter from Paul Mahoney on its use in New Zealand on p. 701. Part 3 see page 627..

Ian Travers. A Modernisation Plan diesel multiple unit scheme: the Liverpool Lime Street - St. Helens - Wigan route. 395-402.
Introduction traces the factors which influenced the design of the DMUs which served the initial Lime Street to Wigan services: these included the vehicles  introduced by the GWR between 1933 and 1941 using AEC Q-type bus engines; the Great Northern Railway (Ireland) Enterprise units introduced in 1950 and the Belfast & County Down units: both of the latter have been described in Backtrack recently. The former LNWR route received diesel multiple units from 5 January 1959. Describes both the rather chaotically timed steam trains which served a wide range of destinations, but with no real pattern, and the diesel services which replaced them with a gradual move towards both greater economy and better services. Illustrations: No. 41286 on push & pull unit at St Helens Shaw Street with a service for Warrinton Bank Quay on 29 December 1958 (Jim Peden); No. 42671 on 15.20 Liverpool Lime Street to St Helens and Preston at Prescot on 4 April 1957 (BICC plant behind) (W. Taylor); map; Liverpool Lime Street in about 1961 with six DMUs in platforms; St Helens Shaw Street on 29 December 1958 (Jim Peder); DMU at St Helens Shaw Street in December 1960; DMU passing Roby on 14.40 Lime Street to St. Helens in August 1961; DMU climbing 1 in 86 gradient from Shaw Street to Thatto Heath; lightweight DMU at Prescot; Fairburn 2-6-4T No. 42155 at Huyton with half-day excursion to Southport on grim looking Easter Monday of 1961. See also long letter from Nick Daunt on DMUs used from 1973 and services provided and 21st century rejuvenation and electrification.

Ready to go. J.T. Bassingdale. 403
Colour photo-feature: Unrebuilt Merchant Navy No. 35025 Brocklebank Line with M7 No. 30132 on one side and 4-COR for Portsmouth on other at Waterloo in May 1956; Castle class No. 5092 Tresco Abbey at Worcester Shrub Hill about to depart for Hereford in 1954.

Horwich descendants. Barry C. Lane (captions). 404-7
Black & white photo-feature: Barton Wright 0-6-0 as LMS No. 12015 at Stoke on 28 June 1930; rebuilt Barton Wright 0-6-0 as 0-6-0ST No. 11368 with BR totem on tanks (Horwich Works service stock) on 23 September 1951 (T,J, Edgington); Aspinall 0-6-0 No. 12218 on Lea Road troughs with excursion formed of six-wheel stock returning from Blackpool; superheated 0-6-0n with Belpaire firebox No. 52428 at Three Cocks Junction with 16.10 Hereford to Brecon passenger train on 18 September 1949 (T.J. Edgington); 0-4-0ST Pug No. 51206 under Liverpool Overhead Railway on transfer freight in 1954; 0-4-0ST Pug No. 51204 in Irwell Street goods yard, Salford in September 1960 (Alan Tyson); 2-4-2T No. 50644 at Manchester London Road with GWR coach in MSJA platform in February 1954; 2-4-2T with Belpaire boiler No. 50887 ex-works Horwich on 23 September 1951 (T.J. Edgington); Hughes 4-6-0 No. 10458 climbs towards Shap in late 1920s; Hughes Baltic 4-6-4T No. 11117 being moved by a 2-4-2T at Bolton shed in June 1936. 

Alistair F. Nisbet. The Fraserburgh-St. Combs branch — and the 'Bulgar Trainies'. 408-15.
Light railway opened on 1 July 1903. The railway was unfenced and the locomotives were fitted with cowcatchers and halts were not provided with platforms. Two steam railcars were obtained to work the line: these had Cochran boilers from Annan (not Arran Grauniad) and Barclay engines, The saloons were built at Inverurie, but the vehicles were not popular. The LNER moved F4 2-4-2Ts from the Great Eastern to the line and these brought a slightly South American look to the motive power. BR replaced these with Ivatt 2-6-0s (only No. 46460 appears in photographs). DMUs were used latterly before closure on 3 May 1965. The trains had been well used but Fraserburgh is like Hawick and Louth and... far from a railway station. Illustrations: Class 2 No. 46460 with cowcatcher in Fraserburgh station on March 1959 (colour: J.M. Chamney); No. 46460 at Cairnbulg and passenger train on 21 May 1957 (J.S. Gilks); Cairnbulg station soon after it was opened; map; St. Combs with No. 46460; F4 2-4-2T leaving Fraserburgh for St. Combs in early BR period (note huge number of insulated fish vans and containers in yard) (Sandy Murdoch); Kirkton Bridge Halt on 10 July 1957 (H.C. Casserley); Cairnbulg on 12 August 1952; No. 46460 at St. Combs on 21 May 1957 (J.S. Gilks); F4 2-4-2T No. 67164 at Fraserburgh on 17 June 1949 (H.C. Casserley); DMU at Philorth; St. Combs on 17 June 1949 (H.C. Casserley). Correction to text see Alan J. Syng page 574 and to captions from Alasdair Lauder (page 574) and Rory Wilson (p. 574) on vehicle at rear of train shown on page 415

Passing seasons on the Somerset & Dorset. Roy Patterson Collection.  416-17.
Colour photo-feature: Class 4 4-6-0 No. 75073 at Radstock with set of very dark green coaches on 26 June 1965; Class 4 2-6-4T No. No. 80096 at Evercreec Junction on 12.05 Termplecombe to Bath train on 28 December 1965; Ivatt Class 2 3-6-2T No. 41206 at Evercreech Junction with 13.15 for Highbridge train consisting of one coach and one van on 28 December 1965; Class 5 4-6-0 No. 73164 at Broadstone with Bath to Bournemouth passenger train on 12 October 1963; and Ivatt Class 2 3-6-2T No. 41243 at Bath Green Park with three coach set in Southern green livery on 13 May 1961.  

The South Eastern & Chatham Railway C class. 418-19.
Colour photo-feature (powerful 0-6-0 credited to Harry Wainwright): No. 31682 on freight at Gravesend West on 21 November 1959; No. 31256 at Horsmonden staion on Hawkhurst branch with a passenger train on 13 May 1961 (Roy Hobbs); No. 31682 at Farningham Road with two brake vans on 21 November 1959; No. 31584 at Stewarts Lane shed on 13 June 1959 (R.C. Riley); No. 31481 at Shepherdswell on long freight in May 1959 (T.B. Owen) 

Jeffrey Wells. Adlestrop immortalised. 420-1.
The poem (in many anthologies, but not yet included in steamindex), the poet and the trigger for writing the poem. Phillip Edward Thomas was born in Lambeth on 3 March 1878 and died on 9 April 1917 when serving in the Artists Rifles. There is a portrait of the poet who left a widow, Helen, two daughters and a son. The journey was made on 23 June 1914: from Paddington to Dymock to meet other poets. The stop at Adlestrop was unscheduled. The station has long been closed and a memorial to the poet and poem is provided in a bus shelter in the village. See also letter from Paul Dryden on page 574 who corrects spelling: incidentally poem is correctly reproduced in Train songs which Backtrack has not reviewed.

Geoffrey Williams. Don't look back in anger [Charles John Bowen Cooke]. 422-7.
Excellent portrait based on painting reproduced as colour illustration. Brief biography which notes his career was as a running man, most of it at Rugby where he became involved in local government affairs, and in technical writing notably his book British locomotives: their history, construction; and modern development.  Notes how Bowen Cooke became involved in several locomotive exchanges; that the King George V class were excellent locomtives and that the Prince of Wales class locomotives were competent locomotives (there appears to be a reluctance for commentators to note that the lauded Class 5 was perceived as an "improved Prince of Wales"). The Claughton design suffered from the conservatism of the Civil Engineer: E.C. Trench, and Bowen Cooke died before the faults in the design could be cured: mainly fitting a larger boiler: the author fails to emphasise their lack of hammer blow. Finally his enhancement of Webb's standard mineral locomotive: the 0-8-0 with a larger superheated Belpaire boiler is recognised. Illustrations: Claughton heads north through Kenton with heavy northbound express; Prince of Wales No. 1089 Sydney Smith heads south at Kenton; George the Fifth No. 1294 F.S.P. Wolferstan at Kenton heads north probably before WW1; 0-8-2T; G1 0-8-0 No. 1192 at Hatch End; 4-6-2T No. 982 at Manchester London Road; Prince of Wales No. 25694 on local service near Tring see also letter from B.C. Lane on page 574 on leading coach (ex-L&YR first class vehicle of 1908) and G2 No. 9418 working hard near Shugborough in August 1950. See also letter from A.J. Gosden p. 574  .

Bill Taylor. Tea and toast at Nottingham Victoria. 428-9.
The joint GCR/GNR station was formally opened on 24 May 1900. It had a lavish provision of refreshment rooms for both first and second class passengers and included a separate facility for ladies travellling alone. Illustrations: pascard view of Platform 4 shortly after the station opened; J39 No. 64762 standing with a freight in Platform 4 on 31 May 1951; interior of dining room situated on main up platform. A table lists major supplers of provsions.

Malcolm Timperley. Show me the way to go home: Great War Western Front ambulance trains: image and reality. 430-4.
The LNWR co-operated with the War OIffice prior to the outbreak of WW1. Southampton was selected to be the main reception port due to its proximity to the large hospitals at Netley for the army and Haslar for the navy. The Great Central Railway acted quickly to make its contribution from Dukinfield Works and a train from there reached Southampton on 24 August. The trains were converted from corridor passenger coaches and vans and had to accommodate a large complement of doctors, nurses and support staff. The trains were exhibited at major stations to raise funds for troops charities. Dogs with collecting boxes strapped to them contributed considerable amounts. There was a failure to relate to the extent of sexually transmitted disease and its prevention, and although padded cells were provided on the trains there was a failure to appreciate the amount of psychiatric illness. The programme was originally restricted to Britain, but trains had to be adapted to condtions on the Continent and working in close proximity to the Front. Trains had to be provided for American Troops. An Ambulance Train Committee was formed.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18910/18910-h/18910-h.htm#IV provides anonymous diary entries from a nursing sister working near the Front Line on an ambulance train. The article by is based on a lecture given at the National Railway Musuem by a consulatent psychiatrist on 23 November 2013

Within York shed. David Idle. 435.
Colour photo-feature: 6 July 1963: J27 No. 65894, BR class 3 2-6-2T No. 82029; B1 No. 61288 and Ivatt Class 4 2-6-0 No. 43021; B16/3 No. 61448 and B16/2 No. 61455.

Great Western settings. Dick Riley. 436-7
Colour photo-feature: Paddington station approaches (Westbourne Bridge) with King class on up express an Castle class No. 5090 Neath Abbey heading west in August 1955 (most rolling stock is in carmine & cream livery); auto train (still in GWR chocolate & cream livery) being pushed towards Plymouth off Royal Albert Bridge in July 1955; Patchway junction with Castle No. 7001 Sir James Milne on the South Wales Pullman passing No. 5028 Llantilo Castle in September 1955; No. 5098 Clifford Castle reaching Hemerdon Summit on 5 July 1955; 57XX No. 9673 approaching St. Dennis Junction with a Par to Newquay passenger train formed of four non-corridor coaches in July 1955; and No. 4088 Dartmouth Castle crossing Royal Albert Bridge into Cornwall in July 1955. 

Postcards from Scotland. 438-9.
Colour photo-feature (origins not stated, but where "obvious" stated by KPJ not Editor): bronze green North British Railway Atlantic with train of Midland Railway stock on four track section (F. Moore?); green Great North of Scotland Railway V class 4-4-0 No. 113 (Locomotive Publishing Co.?); dark blue Caledonian Railway 4-6-0 No. 50 Sir James Thompson (F. Moore); ex-Caledonian Railway Wemyss Bay 4-6-2T as LMS (black livery) No. 15351 (Secretan); Smellie 153 class 4-4-0 No. 86 piloting Manson 4-6-0 with Midland Railway style carriage climbing into hills (Hamilton Ellis??); Highland Railway 4-6-0 No. 145 Murthly Castle with "The Highland Railway" on tender in assorted colours (F. Moore?). See also Moore page. 

Michael B. Binks. The railway industry and public health. Part One. 440-4.
Human waste (sewage solid matter) was conveyed in open wagons from Blackburn Meadows in Sheffield to Thrybergh tip until British Railways period. Legislation relevant to public health matters received consideration in the 1845 Railway Clauses Consolidation Act and the 1889 Regulation of Railways Act. Later specific problems included the removal of asbestos both from rolling stock and from many structures: the archives house at Waterloo were endangered by the proximity of flaking asbestos insulation surrounding heating pipes. Smoke pollution from locomotives and from other sources was another later problem; initially from the combustion of coal, but later from petroleum products. Sewage from stationary vehicles in stations led to unpleasant working conditions for permanent way staff. Picture on page 441 has incorrect caption see Editorial note

Readers' Forum. 445-6

Away to Bradford City. Editor
The LMS Ivatt Class 4 which fell to earth in Bradford (May issue, p279) was No.43072 (not No.43027).

East Coast Pacifics. Jeremy Clarke
The 'Scotch Goods' (photograph on p289): 'No.266 Down' was for many years a King's Cross Top Link 'lodging turn' as far as Newcastle with arrival around 23.00. The crew had a break at Dringhouses while the train was examined and the coal pulled forward by men from York shed. Over time the train was scheduled to leave King's Cross between 14.30 and 15.15 and it is probable, when the photograph was taken, to have been working to a 15.05 departure time. The train, usually of between 50 and 60 fully fitted wagons, was timed at an average speed of about 50mph.The former King's Cross shedmaster, Peter Townend, has written that it was not unusual to lose five or six vehicles before Doncaster due to hot boxes. It is possible that as the train went out ahead of the 16.00 down Talisman, there was a degree of competition among crews to see how far they could get before being side-tracked to let it pass them. The record apparently was Retford, 138 miles. Incidentally, it may be Driver Cull at the window of No.60006.

Rails in Nidderdale. Leonard Rogers
After the closure of Starbeck shed, did the locomotive for the branch freight train really come from Neville Hill shed? I ask this because York would have been some four or five miles closer and the locomotive credited with having worked the last branch freight, No.65894, was certainly a York engine, as was No. 62046, shown working the 'pick-up' in March 1964 in Colour-Rail slide BRE1545. The working timetable for 1962/63 for the Starbeck area does not show the Pateley Bridge branch freight but I think it would have been classed as a local area 'trip' working and these did not appear in the WTT. However, what is shown is a working by a York locomotive to Starbeck each afternoon, with an evening return working, which would have given time for a working up Nidderdale and back in between. Moreover, there is no such working from Neville Hill to Starbeck and back shown.

Rails in Nidderdale. Robin Leleux
Alderman J. Godwin (usually known as J. Arthur Godwin), who opened the Nidd Valley Light Railway in September 1907, was Bradford's first Lord Mayor and this must have been one of his earlier ceremonial duties in that role. He is commemorated through the name of a Class 333 electric multiple unit, as these units work the Airedale and Wharfedale lines, unit 333007 Alderman Arthur Godwin First Lord Mayor of Bradford 1907 is working into Bradford daily, the name prominently displayed above a window.

Lead on. Lyn D. Brooks
Dealing with the Joy radial gear, it is perhaps worth mentioning that David Joy was in fact working under F. W. Webb [KPJ "under" is probably incorrect "with" might be more appropriate — having rechecked Carpenter's biography in ODNB] at Crewe when he patented his radial motion — no doubt the LNWR was thus able to use it without paying royalties. A colleague of Joy's at the time was Thomas Worsdell, who in 1882 was appointed as Locomotive Superintendent of the Great Eastern Railway. Although Worsdell remained with the GER for only three years before moving to the North Eastern, he was responsible for three new GER locomotive designs which employed the Joy motion: the G14 2-4-0s of 1882, the M15 2-4-2Ts of 1884 and the G16 Class 4-4-0s also of 1884, which were the first locomotives to use the two-cylinder compound system that he jointly patented with von Borries. The 2-4-2Ts quickly gained a reputation for being heavy on coal and water which resulted in their being known as 'Gobblers' — an epithet that persisted for all subsequent GER 2-4-2Ts.
Worsdell was replaced by lames Holden, who suspected that the Joy gear was the cause of the problem. At the time, Stratford Works was turning out the last of the 30 tank engines, plus a batch of Worsdell's Y14 Class 0-6-0 goods engines, which had conventional Stephenson's link motion. Holden had one of each completed with the other's cylinders and motion for comparison, with the result that the Joy gear 0-6-0 used more coal and water than its classmates, whilst the tank engine's appetites were more normal. The result seems to have been a foregone conclusion as far as Holden was concerned, for he had meanwhile ordered a further ten 2-4-2Ts with Stephenson gear and the Worsdell engines were similarly converted in the mid-1890s.
Writer performed a computer simulation of the valve events of the 2-4-2Ts and the 0-6-0s, and it seemed that there was very little to choose between them at any setting from mid to full gear. However, a clue was in Worsdell's stated aim when developing his two-cylinder compound system. His intention was to force the drivers to work their engines 'expansively', rather than driving 'on the regulator', as a compound would not work satisfactorily otherwise. The M15 2-4-2Ts had a longer valve travel and wider ports than the Y14 0-6-0s: it is writer's contention that it was this feature, coupled with the drivers' bad habits, which caused the problem and not the motion itself. Although the valve events were very similar, at any position a larger area of the ports was open to steam in the Joy gear engine. This would tend to result in using more steam — especially at speed — and a stronger exhaust, and consequently using more coal and water.
It seems to have taken a long time for the doctrine of driving expansively to have 'sunk in'. Writer knew an old GER driver who had begun his career as a cleaner at Stratford before WW1. He learned this lesson almost from the first time that he took up the shovel. When he became a passed cleaner, his first proper firing turn was on suburban passenger trains. At the end of the day he was so exhausted from shovelling so much coal that he seriously doubted if he had chosen the right career. The following day he was given the same turn of duty, but with a different driver who used full regulator and controlled the demand for speed and power with the reverser. He said that this was "like a rest cure" compared with the previous day's experience and he became a firm devotee of this method of driving from that day forth.
Regarding the Walschaerts valve gear, the GER used it two years earlier than the LSWR railcars quoted by Macnair, on the C53 Class 0-6-0 tram engines (LNER Class J70) in 1903. These were a more-powerful version of the inside cylindered 0-4-0 tram engines introduced by Worsdell in 1883. Being slightly longer they were naturally heavier, hence the need for six wheels instead of four. Nevertheless, the wheelbase was only two inches longer, which meant that the cylinders and valve gear had to be placed outside, hence the choice of Walschaerts motion which drove slide valves placed above the cylinders. Somewhat incongruously, these machines were therefore among the earliest examples of what was to become the standard layout for British main line steam locomotives! Because the engines had to be driven from either end, the operating spindle for the screw reverse ran from end to end along one side of the boiler, whilst the only place available for the reversing shaft was behind the smokebox, with long lifting arms. Furthermore, it was desired that the duplicated cut-off indicators should move towards the direction of travel and the layout of the reversing gear dictated that the radius rod had to move towards the top of the expansion link for forward gear — the reverse of the usual arrangement. Thus, although the radius rod was attached to the combination lever beneath the valve spindle — as is usual for outside-admission slide valves — the return crank was 90° in the rear of the crank pin, as on an inside-admission piston valve locomotive.
The only other use of Walschaerts gear on the GER was in A.J. Hill's compact 0-4-0 shunters of 1913 and his L77 Class 0-6-2 tank engines (LNER Class N7) introduced the same year. The latter were almost unique in British practice for tank engines in having inside cylinders and Walschaerts motion, but it proved to be an excellent choice, for with only two instead of four eccentrics cluttering up the driving axle, this left plenty of room for wide journals and crank webs.

Improving rail services in 1925.  David Higdon
1925 did indeed seem a watershed year when hopes were high about the emerging corporate styles of the grouped companies, yet the 1926 coal strike and the Depression years lay in the future.
So I was surprised that his section on the Southern Railway's tour of inspection to acquaint company officials of the final stages of the LBSCR "grand scheme of electrification which had been interrupted by the Great War" was not technically specific about the fact that they were inspecting the last section of 6,700V ac LBSCR overhead wiring.  Verificatiion via http://www.emus.co.uk/zone/southern/southern.htm) that the senior management including Sir Herbert Walker and engineer Szlumper, both from the LSWR, must have been riding that train determining that all the system of overhead gantries and ac infrastructure should be replaced by third rail as soon as possible. It was the last section of the old Brighton to be converted in 1929  — just four years later!
By contrast, Jeffrey Wells, when dealing with the new line to Watford, did refer both to the Metropolitan's third rail electrification and the subsequent disappointing outcome to the investment for the LNER.

Two of a kind, Alan de Burton
Writer has used Uxbridge Underground station over many years. In the lower picture on p. 316, the caption states that the ticket office is on the right. While this is now true, it was previously on the immediate left as indicated by the now blank illuminated signs. The two lines of longitudinal trunking hung from the ceiling aren't original, and don't appear in the pictures of Cockfosters. Finally, all the structural concrete isn't maintenance free. Extensive repairs lasting several years took place about ten years ago.

Before they were famous. L.A. Summers
Hennessey's, comments on writer's states that "the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence". Writer wonders how that assertion might stand if it were to be taken as a theme by counsel prosecuting a murder case? The historian can only make judgements on available evidence and in the particular matter of Hawksworth's initiating and/or involvement in the design of a Pacific locomotive at Swindon in the 1940s, the evidence of his own letters to correspondents writing independently and his statement to the Assistant General manager of the GWR must prove that no such project had his authority. To question that assertion is to suggest that FWH was lying. What possible motive would he have had for doing that? I have carried out very considerable original research on this matter over many years but I am fully prepared to yield to anyone who can provide historically acceptable evidence that I am wrong. On the larger matter of locomotive requirements on the GWR I will not, at this point, comment.

Walking the 'Old Road'. David Grainger
The 'Old Road' is not only a diversionary route  — I regularly use the 06.27 Derby-Sheffield train from Chesterfield at 06.46 simply because it is scheduled to use this route even though either of the following two trains would get me there in time for my onward connection.

Editorial - May.  Alan de Burton
Regarding the Editorial on the former universal railway service, I worked at 'Paddington Parcels' as a temporary clerk during the summers and Christmases of 1960-1962 and covered a wide range of roles. The office methods bore no relationship to those of today. I hope there may be someone with a wider picture of parcels administration to write a more comprehensive article than the snippets below.
Parcels administration at Paddington had almost no mechanical aids. There were no adding machines. As far as I am aware, the lady who typed letters for the Chief Clerk and the Parcels Agent had the only typewriter. All other written communication was literally hand written. Most urgent communication was by telegram. We sent completed forms for this to a central Paddington station telegraph office. Since the Western Region wasn't connected to other Regions, telegrams to them had to use the Post Office service. Carbon copies of memos and correspondence used the backs of unused excursion leaflets. Using the phone to other stations was manual, difficult and discouraged. There was nothing to compare with the Germany-wide system that I believe the Deutsche Reichsbahn installed in the 1930s. In the Correspondence Office we sat on high stools and the desks forming the built-in furniture had hinged lids as in school. I assume this dated from when the building in Bishop's Bridge Road was built in the 1930s; it now houses National Car Parks.
In Parcels Accounts, one of the more abstruse activities was accounting for newspapers and magazines. The 'raw material' comprised Consignment Notes provided by the consignors. The only relevant information on these notes was the destination station and the size of the consignment in quires and copies. There were 26 copies in a quire and many consignments would comprise x quires and thirteen copies. This doesn't quite accord with the wikipedia definition of a quire, so I stand open to correction. The newspapers gave us each day the weight of a quire in Ib and oz. The first stage in calculations was to use this to assess the weight of each consignment using handwritten ready reckoners. We could then calculate the charge for each item by checking the weight against a large card which gave charges in bands of distances. With practice we knew the distances of most prime destinations by heart, but there must have been a further distance guide. The final check for accuracy was familiar for me just out of school. We clerks swapped papers and marked each other's with red pencil!
As a final comment, by modern standards, the service may have been 'universal: but it was very erratic. There was no tracking for ordinary parcels between being booked in by the railway when each was assigned a 'Ledger Label' commonly issued by a bus ticket machine and stuck on the consignment with a glue brush, and at the other end when parcels were 'sheeted up' for delivery or 'To be Called For.' Consequently there was no means of advising customers of progress. 'Stop Orders' were frequently issued at times of heavy traffic; at Paddington this arose when the stack of undelivered parcels on what is now Platform 12 literally reached the roof. See also letter from John Macnab on page 574 who adds fish glue.

Book reviews. 446

Scenes from the Past: 43 South from Chesterfield Central. The 'Derbyshire Lines' of the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway. Part Two. Ken Grainger. Book Law Publications, 112pp. DWM **
As a native of Derbyshire with family roots at Pilsley (GC) your reviewer came to this book with high hopes - but by the turning of the last page was somewhat disappointed. There can be no denying that the author has produced an enthusiastic and serviceable pictorial study of the MSL/GC/LNER/BR lines between Staveley and Annesley Tunnel via both the main line and the Chesterfield loop and his delight in his subject is evident throughout. Your reviewer, however, found difficulty with three aspects of the presentation.
A general, clear, modern map showing stations, junctions and possibly signal boxes would have been really useful. An MSL 'coalfield' map and excellent railway and Ordnance Survey plans are to be found within the text but the latter two, certainly, are really wasted by a lack of context. Your reviewer found himself confused as to the location of many of the photographs.
The photographs themselves are a mixed bag. Some are remarkable, Valour passing Staveley for example, but a diet of 2-8-0s on coal trains and multiple pictures of slightly different trains in the same location does quickly pall and the reproduction of (too) many of the images is less than clear. The captions for all the photographs are detailed and enthusiastic but your reviewer is not a fan of the mangling of tenses which goes on in many of them. A strict sub-editor might have been of benefit here.
These observations aside, there can be little doubt that enthusiasts of the Great Central and all its works will be pleased to add this volume to their collection.

Working the London Underground from 1863 to 2013. Ben Pedroche. History Press; 144pp. PR ***
This book is unusual in combining the story of how the London Underground was built and how it is operated and maintained with an idea of what it is like to work for an organisation that is "somewhat taken for granted by millions of commuters and tourists every day".
It is 150 years since the first section of the Metropolitan Railway opened in January 1863. The author gives an insight into the parts played by both Charles Pearson, who had the vision that an inner-city railway could have social as well as pure transport benefits, and John Fowler, the Yorkshire engineer who turned the vision into reality. The role of the navvies and the many problems experienced in digging 'cut and cover' tunnels through a congested metropolis are covered in some detail
By the 1880s, it was clear that 'cut and cover' was no longer the answer if more railways were to be built through central London. The solution was provided by lames Henry Greathead; his tunnelling shield enabling a new generation of deep-level 'tube' lines to come into being, starting with the City & South London Railway in 1890. (A pity, therefore, that the photograph of his memorial statue outside Bank Underground station only shows part of the plinth and not the man himself.)
Although the author mentions that the C&SLR was the first underground railway to be electrified, the significance of the emergence of a reliable form of electric traction at the same time as a practical method of deep-level tunnelling is, perhaps, underplayed. The spread of the subsequent tube network is covered right up to the advent of the Jubilee line Extension and Crossrail.
The second part of the book deals with "making the London Underground work" and looks at some of the many and varied jobs on the system. Here, the author seems to have adopted a different style — or has made assumptions about his readers' level of knowledge - as many of his comments appear over-simplistic. There are also some curious omissions: for example, none of the references to the 'Dead Man's Handle' explains that this device is a feature of the main power controller. The role of women on the Underground — particularly in wartime — is also explored, together with the effect of disasters such as the Moorgate crash, the King's Cross fire and the terrorist bombings of July 2005. Fortunately, the author is able to end on a positive note by describing the part the Underground played in making the 2012 London Olympics a success.
This is not really a book for the Underground enthusiast. There is little about the development of rolling stock, for example. Nor is it one for the dedicated historian, having only the briefest mention of Frank Pick and no explanation of his role in transforming the Underground's image. Although the book falls between these two stools, it is still an interesting and informative introduction to how the London Underground has grown into the system it is today.

Steam around Harrogate & the Dales. Mike Hitches. Amberley Publishing, 160pp. DJ **
Trying to fit a book into a series can have serious pitfalls. This picture album will disappoint both steam enthusiasts and those who expect coverage of the Dales close to Harrogate.
Devotees of steam power will not be delighted that less than a third of the photographs include a locomotive. Other readers might be tempted by a book that in the words of its publisher "explores the railway history of another area of Yorkshire in the glory days of steam". They would surely expect full coverage of the Nidd Valley branch, running through the Yorkshire dale closest to Harrogate, but there is just one photograph. They would also understandably look for photographs of the Otley & IIkley Joint, which for many years carried Bradford to Harrogate services, but such a search would be in vain.
Instead there is better coverage of the more distant Wensleydale and Richmond branches — and surprisingly the Wear Valley line in County Durham. The East Coast Main line is included on the grounds that it served these branches. Perhaps even more difficult to justify is the argument that today's Settle to Carlisle steam excursions recall the days when services through Harrogate were steam worked - and hence almost half the total photographs were taken between Leeds and Carlisle.
If these geographical issues are put to one side, the book is useful for its many illustrations from the Lens of Sutton collection, which is noted for station scenes. There is a competent seven-page historical introduction and shorter one-page summaries of the Leeds & Thirsk Railway and Harrogate itself. The printing is on matt paper.

Hitting the Buffers - Samuel Morton Peto 1809-1899, Railway Builder Extraordinaire. Douglas C. Sparkes. Baptist Historical Society, 200pp, RH ****
After a century or so of relative silence, we now have three biographies of Samuel Morton Peto, an outstanding railway contractor of the heroic era. This particular one is doubly remarkable; its scholarly attention to a wide range of sources, and its coming from a religious standpoint: Peto was a devout, but notably broad-minded, Baptist. As an MP, one of his many roles and achievements, he spoke up boldly for the partly disenfranchised 'Dissenters', but remained tolerantly ecumenical; his grave is to be found in a CofE churchyard in Kent.
Coming from a fairly prosperous farming and milling background, Peto soon built a sound reputation as a high-quality contractor, and a great fortune: he was a millionaire at a time when that implied staggering wealth. His first contracts, before the railway age, were for such prestigious projects as constructing Nelson's Column and further down Whitehall, the new Palace of Westminster.
As a railway contractor the pace and breadth of his achievements seem breathtaking. Amongst his works we find the Wharncliffe Viaduct (GWR, Hanwell), the original Paddington station, Hereford-Gloucester, Fenchurch Street-Tilbury, Peterborough-Lincoln, 'Castleman's Corkscrew' through the New Forest, Yarmouth-Norwich ... not to mention the Royal Victoria Dock and the Albert Memorial. As if the UK were not enough, we find Peto at work in Norway, Denmark and Russia. Over the Atlantic he was at work on what was to become the Grand Trunk Railway, including its lengthy Robert Stephenson-designed Victoria bridge over the St. Lawrence seaway.
Locomotivists will probably know of the 'Canada Works, Birkenhead' that furnished the GTR with ironwork and locomotives: this too resulted from the enterprise of Peto and his partners. The unresting Peto played a major part in developing Lowestoft as a port and its railway system — giving it, thereby, the claim for running the 'furthest East' of the UK's railway system (in Lowestoft docks).
As an employer and landlord Peto was enlightened for his times, to the point of setting up a perfunctory welfare system for his navvies. His vigour and commitment supported his Baptist church and it missions (in passing, in this work 'LMS' refers to the London Missionary Society). But all this networking, movement, energy 'hit the buffers' in 1866, leaving Peto seriously over-extended and bankrupt. The author suggests, reasonably, that Peto would have been wiser if he had known where to stop and not to get involved in the highly complex speculation that was starting to accumulate around railway financing in general, the London, Chatham & Dover in particular.
Peto fell, together with an associated, once sober Quaker bank (Overend & Gurney) that played Faustian finance in a poorly regulated banking and accounting system. Modern readers may pick up the echoes — 2008 and all that. "The one thing we learn from History is our inability to learn from History" (Hegel). Apart from a minor incursion into the Cornwall Minerals Railway, 1866 marks the end of Peto's career; the meteor fell to Earth.
The author has delved widely into many sources. Perhaps because of its religious source, the text pulls no punches about the moral issues raised by Peto's career and is all the spicier for it. Although it makes rather heavy weather of the 1866 crisis (as do and did most commentators) this is a lucid and readable work, well indexed. The illustrations are lacklustre, but no matter — the life and works of this Victorian giant, possibly with clay feet, are arrestingly eloquent in themselves.

Signalling a Stirling service. Gavin Morrison. rear cover
Class 170/4 DMU in maroon and cream livery passing Stirling Middle box with southbound service. Semaphore signals and ghastly pseud lighting. On 18 September 2006.

Issue 8 (August 2014) Number 280

K3 2-6-0 No.61973 speeds a fitted freight away from Askham Tunnel on the East Coast Main Line south of Retford in July 1960. P.J. Hughes. front cover

Around Ayrshire. 452-5.
Colour photo-feature: BR Class 4 2-6-4T No. 80112 in one of bay platforms with parcels vans at Ayr station in May 1964; Class 2P 4-4-0 No. 40665 leaving Kilmarnock for Troon with two coach train in June 1961 (Ray Oakley): for Ardrossan via Crosshouse see letter from Ted Cochrane on page 637; BR Class 4 2-6-0 No. 76096 at Heads of Ayr with train for Ayr in August 1966; Class 5 No. 44903 arriving at Ayr from north with corridor train on 24 August 1964 with Inter-City DMU in bay platform (Roy Patterson); Horwich 2-6-0 No. 42739 at Killoch Colliery, Ochiltree with Scottish Rambler No. 4 railtour formed of goods brake vans on 16 April 1965 (David Idle); BR Class 5 No. 73009 stopping at Barrhill with train for Stranraer in February 1963 (Derek Cross); Class 5 No. 44995 crossing Ballochmyle Viaduct on 16 April 1965 (T.B. Owen); NBR J36 0-6-0 No. 65273 on Ardrossan shed with shear legs behind and water tank; 2P 4-4-0 No. 40602 in a bay platform at Kilmarnock; Class 5 No. 45236 passes through Kilmarnock with southbound fitted freight (David Idle).  

Roger A. Kell. 1961 and '62 North Eastern Region Railrover Tickets. 456-9.
Youthful journeys to experience steam traction on the East Coast main line travelling from Newcastle and subject to parental curfews. In 1961 a Sunday steam-hauled train journey over Stainmore to Appleby was enjoyed. In both summers journeys over the Calder Valley main line and to the coastal resorts of East Yorkshire were sought, but the opportunity to travel over many lines subsequently closed was lost as they had been converted to DMU operation. Illustrations: A1 No. 60155 Borderer on down express at Newcastle Central (colour: T.E.K. Chambers);  remainder by author: B1 No. 61018 Gnu taking two through carriages off The Scarborough Flyer to attach to remaining coaches for Whitby at York (colour); Fairburn 2-6-4T No. 42299 either at Penrith or Carnforth with portion of The Lakes Express; Class 3 2-6-2T No. 82026 at Malton with 16.08 to Whitby; No. 60061 Pretty Polly at York with arrival from King's Cross; G2A 0-8-0 at Manchester Victoria with a ballast train; V2 No. 60828 waiting in York station to take Scarborough Flyer to its destination; B16/3 No. 61468 on train of oil tanks at Normanton.  

R.A.S. Hennessey. Lost chords and earthworks: the unevolved railways. Part one. 460-5.
Railways which had been sanctioned and upon which civil engineering works had been started, but which were either abandoned or never opened for traffic. Begins with the Cromarty & Dingwall Light Railway which very nearly came to completion, but which was dealt a deadly blow in the shape of WW1. Brigadier-General Sir W.C. Ross fought very hard upon the line's behalf, but without success. The Caledonian Railway expended considerable capital on railways which almost reached opening, but were not due to the emergence of other transport modes, notably urban tram routes and motor vehicles. These were the Paisley, Barrhead & District Railway and the New Leith Lines. Neither opened for passenger traffic and only conveyed limited freight. The Ocean Terminal in Leith was the target destination for new Edinburgh tramway system. The Manchester & Milford Railway wasted an extraordinary amount of effort on a worthless section of line near Llangurig. The transect of the Wrexham, Mold & Connah's Quay Railway with the LNWR line from Chester to Mold seemed to be a fruitful source of spurs which never opened due the changes in railway politics. In South Wales the Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen was a consequence of the Swansea District line and would have been based on a junction at Felin Fran. In this case the partially completed works included a tunnel at Pontardawe. The Bishops Castle Railway and the Potteries, Shrewsbury & North Wales Railway, probably better known as the Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Railway set off across the countryside often without getting anywhere. The North Eastern Railway completed an electric railway to Collywell Bay alias Seaton Sluice from Monkseaton, but WW1 intervened. The Cleveland Extension Mineral Railway failed to open as the Glaisdale Ironworks closed and there was a slump in iron ore prices. The Mistley, Thorpe & Walton Railway in Essex and the Ouse Valley Railway in Sussex failed to open as they duplicated other lines, but the Oxted line was left abandoned for a long time although now forms a vital commuter line into Surrey. Part 2 see page 600.
Illustrations: CR 0-6-0 No. 57266 at Glenfield station on 1 September 1951 with SLS Paisley District Tour; Leith Walk with Caledonian Railway Newhaven to Seafield Junction bridge in September 1978 (KPJ thought roadworks in middle of road were for new Edinburgh incomplete tram route!);

'Jubilee' time. 466-9.
Black & white photo-feature: No. 5674 Duncan in LMS crimson lake livery climbing to Shap summit with express freight in about 1937; No. 45611 Hong Kong near Ais Gill with Wild Boar Fell behind with express in early BR period (Eric Treacy); No. 45648 Wemyss (BR number but LMS on tender and LMS lined black livery) departing St Pancras with 16.30 to Kettering on 25 August 1948 (T.J. Edgington); No. 45705 Seahorse and No. 45567 South Australia on Newcastle to Liverpool train formed of Gresley stock; No. 45623 Palestine on 21.55 Willeden to Carlisle express parcels on Dillicar troughs on 28 May 1952 (remainder by T.J. Edgington); 45604 Ceylon in lime green experimental livery at Glasgow St. Enoch on 7 October 1948; No. 45662 Kempenfelt arriving Sheffield Midland with 09.00 Kingswear to Bradford formed of Great Western coaches on 6 June 1953; No. 45690 Leander (BR lined black livery) on Bradford to Poole train in August 1951; No. 45703 Thunderer (BR green) at Hatch End on 12.30 ex-Birimingham New Street on 5 October 1953.   

Alistair F. Nisbet. Embezzlement by railwaymen. Part two. 470-3.
Cases of Daniel Asquith, Treasurer of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway who defrauded the company of £1000 in 1884 and ran away to Guernsey where he attempted to commit suicide. James Paterson Milne was the station master at Castle Douglas in 1859 but failed to maintain proper financial records and ended up in prison. William Hudson defrauded the Leeds, Bradford & Halifax Junction Railway of cash from ticket sales: he was caught on 21 February 1851. William Naylor, a clerk on the LNWR was sentenced to 12 months in prison with hard labour at Lancaster Assizes for embezzling money from hay sales. A system of re-using tickets collected from passengers and returning them to the issuing station was devised by clerks on the Scottish North Eastern Railway and Dundee & Arbroath Railway. William Matthew and Joseph Brown were tried at Forfar Sheriff Court on 4 April 1860. Others involved included James Whitton, Alexander Robbie, James Anderson, Charles Smith, Angus Fraser and James Laird

Jeffery Graves. British Railways Southern Region Magazine. 474-9.
Successor to the Southern Railway Magazine which in turn succeeded the South Western Gazette which had been instigated in 1881 vas a staff newspaper by three young clerks which included the go-ahead Sam Fay. One year of the Southern Region Magazine (1949) is examined in detail and it serves to illustrate the many gaps in the coverage of steamindex. Illustrations (mostly, unless stated otherwise, indirectly related to the Magazine): naming ceremony of No. 35021 New Zealand Line at Waterloo on 28 November 1948; F1 4-4-0 No. 1078 on Ashford shed on 6 July 1946 (candidate for preservation); picture puzzle of station names (from Southern Region Magazine); Battle of Britain class No. 34090 Sir Eustace Missenden in glorious malachite green for naming ceremony on 15 February 1949 (colour); No. 21C156 Croydon at head of inaugural post-war Night Ferry at Victoria on 15 December 1947; cartoon from Magazine of cattle complaining that they were being treated like passengers; Merchant Navy No. 35024 East Asiatic Company leaving Waterloo on 21 June 1949 in blue livery with Pullman car conveying Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh on a Weymouth train (colour: S.C. Townroe); tavern cars (exterior and interior); TSS Maid of Orleans berthed at Boulogne on 23 June 1949 (aerial view); LMS Class 2 2-6-2T No. 41294 at Slinfold (J.S. Gilks) and double-deck EMU at Dartford on 16 August 1971 (T.J. Edgington)

All that Jazz [Gresley K3 class]. 480-1
Colour photo-feature: No. 61817 (not as caption) at Bletchley with passenger train from Cambridge on 29 April 1960 (Malcolm Thompson); No. 61846 at Retford arriving from Sheffield on local passenger train c1958 (P.J. Hughes); No. 61864 at south end of Perterborough North station with train for east? in September 1960 (J.P. Mullett); No. 61927 at fully lined BR black livery at York en route to Newcastle in September 1959 (P.J. Hughes); No. 61943 at Daybrook with Derby to Nottingham train in March 1960 (all Colour-Rail). See also letter from Leonard Rogers on p. 637. 

Alan Bennett. The Chacewater—Newquay Branch. 482-90.
Opened in two stages: Chacewater to Perranporth on 6 July 1903 and thence to Tolcarne Junction on 2 January 1905. Rail motors (steam railcars) were used for many of the early services and halts were provided at Mount Hawke, Goonbell, Mithian, Goonhavern, Mitchell & Newlyn and Trewery & Trerice; and later at Perranporth Beach Halt (opened in July 1931). Stations were provided at St. Agnes, Perranporth and Shepherds. St. Agnes was originally a single platform, but was rebuilt with an island platform, like Perranporth, in 1937. During the 1930s through Saturdays Only trains were operated to and from Paddington and these were reinstated in the 1940s. The line closed in February 1963. See also letter from Tony Finney on p. 764 who noted that he travelled in an auto trailer on the line in July 1953 and has never seen a picture of one. KPJ travelled on the line first in September 1949 when the trains were normally formed of two auto trailers, one of which carried a notice for travel to the halts and where the guard operated, but push & pull operation was not employed in spite of early pictures showing steam rail motors in use. The 45XX class was the normal motive power until late in the line's existence.

Mixing with the Earl of Ducie. David Idle. 491
Colour photographs taken on 16 May 1964 during a railtour from Paddington to Hereford via Oxford and Worcester and back via the Severn Tunnel hauled by Castle class No. 5054 Earl of Ducie; organized by the Oxford University Railway Society. Photographs taken at Oxford and Hereford.

Glen Kilday. A day out on the Backworth Colliery Railway. 492-5
A mixture of a day spent on the footplate of NCB No. 48, Hunslet WN 2864/1943 originally built for the War Departrment, and of the history of the railways in that part of the Northumberland Coal Field near the mouth of the Tyne and not far inland from the North Sea. Illustrations: map; coaling No. 48 at Backworth; No. 24 (Hudswell Clarke WN 1489/1922: outside cylinder 0-6-0ST); No. 4 Austerity type Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn 0-6-0ST WN 7166/1944 with mechanical stoker and special blastpipe; J27 on ex-Blyth & Tyne Railwway at Middle Engine; J27 No. 65821 at junction for line to Howden staithes with No. 48; No. 48 near Percy Main raising steam for climb to West Allotment. Further information about origin of colliery in letter from David Higdon on on p. 637.

Geoffrey Skelsey. 'Give my regards to Broad Street!': the ruin and renaissance of the North London Lines and the birth of Overground. Part one. 496-504
The East & West India Docks & Birmingham Junction Railway gave a hint of what the origins of the North London Railway: a link between the London & Birmingham Railway and London Docks. This was to grow into a tight suburban network serving East and North London with a busy City terminus at Broad Street which briefly saw main line expresses serving Birmingham, but these did not survive WW1. Competition from trams and buses forced electrification of the routes to Richmond and Watford, but the services to the east declined and did not survive WW2. By this time the North London Railway had been integrated into the London & North Western Railway. Bomb damage was severe during WW2 and a gradual decline set in which led to the closure of Broad Street and divertion of the Richmond Service to Stratford and North Woolwich. Although the LNWR electric rolling stock was noted for its comfort and excellence of design these later servcies were characterised by the spartan nature of the coaches.
Illustrations: North London and Euston dc lines (map/plan); Broad Street exterior in 1890; Broad Street interior c1890?; Broad Street throat in 1949; Liverpool Street in August 1977 with Broad Street frontage still intact (Author: colour); Broad Street frontage in August 1977 (Author: colour); Broad Street on 20 June 1985 just prior to demolitiion (Chris Hammond: colour); Venetian style staircase  (Author: colour); Dalston Junction station in 1962; E class tramcar No. 733; Caledonian Road & Barnsbury in 1958; LMS EMU in LMS livery at Carpender's Park in 1948 (Ray Oakley: colour); Oerlikon saloon EMU in BR green livery at Hatch End in 1959 (Ray Oakley: colour; note red buffer beam);  Class 501 passing red District Line R stock at Richmond (colour); LMS London Suburban Electric Lines banner for publicity material; Gospel Oak station in August 1997 (colour); Broad Street concourse in 1962; electric lines route diagram c1951; view from Willesden Junction High Level with Bakerloo line stock and Class 313 in Network SouthEast livery..

Diesels on the Cumbrian Line.  Ken Nuttall. 505
Colour photo-feature: Class 25 No. 25 039 on engineers' train with crane at Meathop (between Arnside and Grange-over-Sands) on 19 October 1980; Class 47 No. 47 385 passing Corkickle signal box with coal train on 17 April 1981; Class 40 No. 40 117 at Sellafield with trainof tank wagons and nuclear flasks on 14 July 1981.

Bill Taylor. The railway in Court: fire hazard. 506-7
Vaughan who owned woodlands alongside the Taff Vale Railway in 1860 brought an action against the railway for damage caused by locomotive sparks. The original case was won, but the decision was reversed on appeal by the railway, but in 1905 the Railway Fires Act removed the needv for the claimants to claim negligence on the part of the railway and railways then had to keep a zone clear of vegetation. A further case of Langlands versus the British Transport Commission concerning crops lost near Swanley in Kent in 1956 is also considered. Illustrations: former Taff Vale Railway auto trailers (push & pull) Nos. 2506 and 6422 at cardiff Queen Street on 1 July 1948; 0-6-0PT No. 1661 with spark arrester chimney at Kidderminster (J. Davenport); H class 0-4-4T No. 1264 on stopping train at Swanley c1926 and Swanley station forecourt c1900. See also letter from Robin Leleux (pp. 637-8) on childhood memories and recent experience. 

Signposts to the past. Tony Robinson. 508
Colour photo-feature of extant road signs in Cheshire giving directions to long defunct railway stations: sign in Barrow village directing to Barrow station between Chester Northgate and Mouldsworth closed in 1953; sign to Beeston station (actually Beeston Castle & Tarporley closed in 1966; sign on B5395 giving directions to Malpas station closed in 1957; Cheshire County Council milepost at side of A550 giving distance to Ledsham station closed in 1959.

Readers' forum. 509

The Railway Industry and Public Health
The photograph at the bottom of p441 (July issue) is clearly incorrect. as it depicts the Eastern Side Enquiry Office at Victoria. The correct photograph for the caption given will appear in Part Two of the article

Anyone for Eastcheap? Michael J. Smith.
There are a couple of unfortunate errors in the photograph captions in my article in the June issue. Referral to my typescript confirms that they are my own mistakes for which I apologise. In the caption to the lower picture on p331 the last sentence should read: "Charing Cross station itself. with street level buildings long since replacing those seen here .." In the caption to the lower picture on p331 the last sentence should read: "One imagines that the sailor-suited lad on the up platform

The demise of the Western in the Midlands . John Macnab
The illustrative poster (p316. June issue) of a DMU on the services denoted is of the 1956-built Swindon Inter-City units of which the initial allocation was split between the Western Region (for such workings) and the Scottish Region (for Edinburgh-Glasgow services). All of this build eventually came north. The accompanying sentence stating that in June. 1957. most Birmingham-South Wales were worked by Swindon-built cross-country sets (later Class 110) is therefore erroneous. These particular cross-country DMUs did not appear until the following year, 1958, to work the WR services commented on.

The demise of the Western in the Midlands. Eric Stuart 
Re the introduction of the Birmingham-Cardiff- Swansea express service? As the publicity on p316 of the June issue shows. the trains that started up the service were Inter-City Class 116 DMUs. not Cross-Country (Class 110). The units were delivered at the same time as. and were identical to. the Edinburgh-Glasgow sets. except that they were numbered WXXXXX instead of ScXXXXX. As soon as sufficient Class 110s were available. the 116s were sent off to Scotland to join those already there and never returned. A feature of these WR workings was that. fairly frequently, an ordinary corridor coach was attached to the rear of these trains to cope with a surfeit of passengers.

The demise of the Western in the Midlands. Chris Magner
In October 1966 Tyseley had three panniers. Nos.4646. 4696 and 9774. Whilst the Tyseley panniers were amongst the last to work for BR. No.4646 went to Wrexham Croes Newydd in the autumn of1966 and worked for a month up to mid-November 1966. Croes Newyd's last pannier was No.9641 which finished work on 16th November when it came on shed having worked the Minera goods turn. So Croes Newydd had the honour of the last panniers. the last ex-GWR locomotives to work for BR and the last Welsh steam MPD. It is a myth that Tyseley had the last working GWR locomotives. No.4646 was never officially allocated to Croes Newydd (it replaced Nos.9610/9630 off the SLS Railtour). Nos.9610 and 9630 were Croes Newydd's best panniers.

London and Nearly Everywhere. John C. Hughes 
Cannot find a ship whose bridge exactly matches that of the ship on p359 of the June issue. but the funnels surely belong to the RMS Berengaria. This was Cunard's flagship from 1920 till the arrival of the Queen Mary and so very much contemporary with the heyday of the original A1 Pacific.

London and Nearly Everywhere. Richard McGilvray 
Re LNER poster of Cunard White Star ship: suggests the ship was the RMS Berengaria, which came into Cunard's possession after the First World War. She was their premier liner until the Queen Mary in 1936. Three funnels. no bridge end houses .. The livery of No.4471 would suggest the middle 1920s as would the leading coach. which looks to be of GNR origin. However. the reference to Cunard White Star Line puts the date after the 1934 merger of Cunard and White Star.

London and Nearly Everywhere. Andrew Kleissner
Robert Emblin has naturally jumped to the conclusion that the three-funnelled liner in the Cunard White Star poster is the Queen Mary. This is understandable as she was launched in 1934, not long after the merged shipping company was formed. However. the arrangement of her bridge simply does not look 'right' as the Queen Mary's was much more streamlined in shape. A careful examination of photographs suggests that the liner is. in fact. the Aquitania,. summarily shorn of her aft funnel and various sundry ventilators! 
The poster does throw up two other questions. One results from the fact that the Queen Mary made her maiden voyage in May 1936. This was several months after the advent of the A4 Pacifies which. as Mr. Emblin suggests. one would have expected to see in a poster of this date. The other arises because LNER locomotives only carried numbers on their tenders from 1924-28; in fact Flying Scotsman looks very much as it did when displayed at the 1924 British Empire Exhibition. Might one therefore conjecture that this poster was originally published (or prepared) in the mid-1920s. with a revised - yet anachronistic - edition being produced in around 1935? We will probably never know!

London and Nearly Everywhere . Kevin Jones
It is incorrect to claim that Argyllshire and Inverness-shire were outwith LNER year-round network services. Both were on the West Highland Line with through coaches from King's Cross. Bute was an island county served by LNER steamers from Craigendoran Pier. It is probable that seasonal steamer sailings operated to Largs in Ayrshire.

A doctor's tribute to a railwayman. R. Crump 
I was a fireman at Reading in 1951 although not working at the time as I was off duty and remember the tragic accident. also Vic Cripps who was in the top passenger link and a passed fireman. There was almost a third casualty: the night shift foreman almost fainted at the sight of A.J. Davis. who was a store man and first-aider. lying on the shed floor. Captions to two of the pictures are correct but I would like to add some detail. In the large picture on pp346/7 a line of pannier tanks is in the Long Siding. The roads next to the water column are captioned as the avoiding lines (which they are); the one on the left was always known as the inside road and the one on the right-hand side as the back road. This last road towards the end of a shift would be used to park locomotives coming from the station and waiting for servicing. The coaches also shown were stabled in the carriage sidings on the Berks & Hants embankment. The photograph on p348 of No.7317 waiting at the shed signal with the driver telephoning for permission to leave is not correct; there were two telephones here at the eastern exit. also at the western exit. At either end one was for the time office. the other for West Junction Signal Box or at the eastern end for West Main Signal Box. It was always the fireman who made the phone calls. not the driver. The first was to the time office which booked the engine ready to depart on time; the second call would be to the signal box to inform the signalman the engine was for whatever duty it was scheduled for.

Engineers doodling on their drawing boards. Peter Tatlow
In the article by L. A. Summers on engineers' doodles in considering wide firebox schemes. is there any evidence that the 2-8-0 preceded the 4-6-2 concept? Is it not just as likely that. like the BR Standard 4-6-2 7P' Britannia' and 2-10-0 9F Classes. the freight version was developed from the Pacific. which could more readily accommodate the firebox over the smaller diameter trailing wheels? As we know. the solution for the 9Fs was eventually worked out to good effect.

From Letterkenny to the Wild West Clare. Philip Griffiths
Re comment that Swilly buses still serve Donegal. Sadly on Good Friday 2014 the Lough Swilly finally lost its battle with insolvency and the bus routes from Londonderry and Letterkenny were all withdrawn, bringing an end to Ireland's longest-serving railway/bus company.

Going the extra mile. Hugh Gillies-Smith 
Re letter on p381, the Act of Parliament which he lost reference to and to which he is referring is The Statute Law Revision Act. 1959. which was repealed by The Statute Law (Repeals) Act. 1974. The fines imposed in terms of Section 95 (Section 88. the Scottish Act) were reclassified by virtue of The Criminal Justice Act. 1981. Leaving aside the tolls/removal aspect. the requirement is in respect of the mile posts themselves. in accordance with Sections 94 (Section 87. the Scottish Act) that. to quote: "The company shall cause the length of the railway to be measured. and milestones. posts. or other conspicuous objects to be set up and maintained along the whole line thereof. at the distance of one quarter of a mile from each other. with numbers or marks inscribed thereon denoting such distances."

Dublin to Belfast. David Cable
Re Michael Baker's article on Dublin to Belfast line writer took photographs of Enterprise services during the 1990s when was working in Drogheda as a consulting engineer. One point needs amplification. The interlaced tracks on the Boyne viaduct at Drogheda were replaced in 1995 by a singled track over the main spans, with points positioned on the adjacent viaducts. This was done as part of the EU-assisted Cross Border inprovernents, which including resignalling the line with electric signals and saying goodbye to the old semaphores.

'Patriotic' Fervour. David Rowlands
Re photograph p. 224: so poor old No.45519 Lady Godiva continues to receive the 'poor steamer' label. But let us not forget that. like her legendary namesake, she did have her moment of glory - on Shap, on Good Friday in 1951. Photographer Derek Cross described it as a "superb effort" and said "in all the many hours I have spent on Shap I have never heard or seen anything else like it. The still. sultry air vibrated and on the locomotive firing must have been continuous." The was when Lady Godiva hauled the fourteen-coach train No. W17. the combined 9.15am Crewe-Glasgow and Perth. up Shap, without the assistance of a banker (which had derailed). from a standing start at Tebay. He took a photograph to prove it. showing a tremendous column of smoke from the chimney. and this can be seen in Railway World. October 1971. and also in Locomotives Illustrated No, 27. along with his account of "one 'Patriot's' finest hour".

The BackTrack design and reproduction ethos. BarneyTrevivian  
Scanning criteria for images (black & white photographs and colour transparencies) required to ensure high quality reproduction

Book reviews. 510

Swindon steam — a  new light on GWR loco development. L.A. Summers. Amberley Publishing. 224 pp. CPA ****
The author is a regular contributor to Backtrack, in which some of the chapters of this book have already appeared as individual articles. Unusually for one who is an unabashed devotee of Great Western Railway locomotives, he nevertheless stands back and takes a dispassionate and critical look at Swindon locomotive policy under George Churchward, Charles Collett and Frederick Hawksworth. The book is imaginatively partly illustrated with computer generated 'photographs' of locomotive projects which did not materialise, which include the proposed compound 'Castle' 4-6-0 of 1926 and the much debated Hawksworth Pacific of1946.
Early on a seemingly inordinate amount of space is devoted to the mysterious Dean 4-2-4T No.9, built in the early 1880s, which only appears to have run a matter of yards before derailing into a turntable pit at Swindon Works, and which was later converted into a 2-2-2 tender locomotive. However, particularly interesting is the discussion of links, both real and possibly imagined, between certain GWR locomotive classes and engines elsewhere in Britain, Ireland, Egypt, Australia and the USA. The author sees a considerable resemblance between lames Holden's TI4 express 2-4-0 on the Great Eastern Railway and two classes of 2-4-0 on the GWR. Holden was an old GWR man, but he was also the nephew of Edward Fletcher, and the reviewer for his part has also detected a certain affinity between the TI4 and Fletcher's flamboyant '901' 2-4-0s on the North Eastern Railway, of which NO.910 is preserved.
The Churchward marque made its debut in 1903, closely modelled on contemporary American locomotive design practice, and thereafter remained in regular production, little changed, until 1950, long before which US locomotives themselves had developed out of all recognition. The author validly questions why, on its numerous and enduring otherwise enlightened 4-6-0s in particular, both with two and four cylinders, Swindon stuck with inaccessible internal Stephenson and Walschaerts valve gear respectively throughout, instead of later adopting external Walschaerts gear for all, and likewise slavishly holding to low degree superheat, once established (on The Great Bear in 1908) until as late as 1943. Much of the blame could undoubtedly be laid at the door of Churchward's successor after 1922, Charles Collett, but even Frederick Hawksworth remarkably persisted with inside Stephenson valve gear on the new 'County' 4-6-0 introduced as late as 1945.
There is extended debate concerning the putative Hawksworth 4-6-2, a favourite topic of the author. He later makes the suggestion that by the 1950s a better proposition would have been to build a narrow firebox four cylinder 4-8-0, with high superheat, double chimney and external Walschaerts valve gear, extrapolated from the 'King' 4-6-0. Never achieved, designing a large-wheeled 4-8-0 within the confines of the British loading gauge always posed major problems accommodating the firebox and this would have been provided with a mechanical stoker (shades of the outstanding Chapelon '240Ps' in France), which he retrospectively advocates should also have been routinely fitted to the 'Castles' and 'Kings'. This suggestion disregards the discouraging, previous albeit very limited, experience with mechanical stokers in Britain, briefly on one Southern 'Merchant Navy' 4-6-2 during 1949-50 and on three new BR 9F 2-10-0s a decade later, on which these proved to be distinctly wasteful at a time when coal was becoming increasingly expensive and in short supply. After the golden pre-1939 years when the GWR had Best Welsh steam coal on tap, post-war this was particularly a problem on the Western Region which, although not mentioned here, largely for this reason, together with running shed staff recruitment difficulties, in 1955 had made the unilateral decision to eliminate steam working altogether by 1968 — ironically, as it turned out, a surprisingly early deadline then undreamed of by British Railways as a whole! Oil burning was considered (a particular 'Castle' was even scheduled) and one pannier tank was experimentally converted in 1958, but the reviewer was surprised to read that other 0-6-0PTs were also actually altered (in 1960 it was proposed to convert 30 '94XXs').
The justification for the BR Standards is discussed in another chapter and it is difficult to disagree with much of this. The author is highly dismissive of Robert Riddles and bemoans the fact that Sir William Stanier was not appointed instead to the top post responsible for motive power on the newly formed British Railways. However, in January 1948 Stanier was 71 years of age, one year older than Collett had been at his long overdue retirement as CME from the GWR in 1941 and therefore, despite his eminence, was hardly a plausible candidate. The author expresses his astonishment at E. S. Cox having allegedly recorded that five 'Clan' 4-6-2s were at one time scheduled for the Western Region, on which the 'Britannias' had earlier not been well received. The reviewer has not been able to locate this statement.
Finally, the author moves on to Swindon's typically idiosyncratic post-steam traction policy. He implies that Hawksworth decided to experiment with gas turbine locomotives only following a visit to Switzerland in mid-1947, when he inspected the world's first example there. In actual fact, the Chairman of the GWR had publicly announced its potential interest in gas turbines more than a year earlier in March 1946 (at which time the LMSR was also seriously investigating this option) very soon after which firm orders went to Brown Boveri in Switzerland and Metrovick in Manchester for experimental units rated at 2,SOOhp and 3,000hp respectively. later, around 1955, to replace steam the WR was allegedly attracted to the superior power to weight ratio of diesel-hydraulic locomotives when compared with diesel-electric, but the reviewer once heard it suggested, but does not ever recall seeing this in print, that a more prosaic reason was Swindon's extremely limited experience (compared with many of its contemporaries) of electric traction/ transmission and therefore lack of existing associated in-house maintenance facilities.
This is an interesting, thought-provoking book to add to the existing copious and far less critical literature devoted to Swindon Works and its products.
See also letter from author on page 637

The Bristol-Radstock-Frome line. Colin G. Maggs. Oakwood. 240pp. MHCB ****
"highly detailed comprehensive book"

Britain's railway disasters: fatal accidents from the 1830s to the present day. Michael Foley. Pen & Sword. 238pp. AG **
Reviewer indicates many errors  plus serious faults in the structure of the book.

Yeovil in the sun. Paul Joyce. rear cover
Yeovil Town station with much parcels traffic activity.

Issue 9 (September 2014) Number 281

HR 'Jones Goods' 4-6-0 No.103 at Forres on 23 August 1965. J.S. Gilks. front cover 
After arrival from Inverness on the first of a series of runs celebrating the centenary of the Highland Railway.

"Anything you can do, I can do better...". Michael Blakemore. 515
Editorial on place of women in railway employment (notably during World War I) and in Association Football and as locomotive enthusiasts [KPJ has happy memories of "healthy walks" with lady who had switched allegiance from driving steam to diesel on Norfolk's "preserved railways"]

Leicestershire locomotives. 516-18.
Colour photo-feature: 9F No. 92010 passing Leicester Central with southbound coal train in August 1961; BR Class 2 2-6-0 at Leicester West Bridge in May 1964 (J.P. Mullett); rebuilt Scot No. 46155 The Lancer at Market Harborough on Locomotive Club of Great Britain tour on 19 September xxxx; B1 No. 61281 leaving Leicester Belgrave Road on 6 August 1962 for Skegness (P.H. Wells); No. 6927 Lilford Hall at Leicester Central with stopping train for Banbury (J.M. Mason); Leicester Midland shed in 1962 with Midland Railway 4F 0-6-0 No. 44013; diesel electric No. D77 and BR Class 2-6-0 and 5 4-6-0, Fowler 2-6-4T and 8F 2-8-0; No. 6979 Helperley Hall in fully lined green livery passing Leicester Central with southbound express freight (J.M. Mason)

Tim Edmonds. Nassington Ironstone Quarries. 519-21
Owned by Nassington Barrowden Mining Company; located in Northamptonshire (about 9 miles from Peterborough on former LNWR line from Northampton): author visited quarries on 26 August 1970 when system in decline and met Stephen Robbins who worked there and supplied much of the information. Two of the locomotives, named after topographical features, survive in preservation: Jacks Green on the Nene Valley Railway and Ring Haw on the North Norfolk Railway were active then. These were Hunslet inside-cylinder 0-6-0STs: WN 1953/1939 and 1982/1940 respectively. Other locomotives which had worked there included King George V (Hawthorn Leslie WN 2839/1910) and No. 11 (Avonside WN 1830/1919) and Buccleuch (outside cylinder Peckett 0-6-0ST WN 1232/1910). A notable feature of the quarries was the Ransomes & Rapier W170 dragline which was electrically powered. The ore was calcined for a time, but not latterly.

David Andrews. Mails, steam and speed. 522-30.
The speed record of No. 3440 City of Truro on 9 May 1904 is re-examined with some emphasis on the influence of Inspector George Henry Flewellen and Driver Moses Clements. Flewellen's other high speed exploit (the 120 mile/h attained by Saint class No. 2903 on the 1 in 300 descent from Badminton to Little Somerford in May 1906 when running light engine) with Collett was also on the footplate is also considered. The reliability of Charles Rous-Marten is considered: both C.J. Allen and R.E. Charlewood had reservations. William Kennedy a Post Office letter sorter also noted the high speed attained near Wellington. Comparison with contemporary locomotive performance on other railwaays is considered, and later 100 mile/h records by Gresley Pacifics are compared. Andrews notes that an Atbara class achieved 97 mile/h and both Midland 4-2-2 and compounds exceeded 90 mile/h in the 1900s. Illustrations: King George V and royal party join footplate of No. 4082 Windsor Castle at Swindon on 28 April 1926; Queen Mary on footplate of Windsor Castle; Charles Rous-Marten (portrait); Inspector Flewellen (portrait); No. 4079 Pendennis Castle leaving King's Cross with 10.12 stooping train to Peterborough on 20 April 1925; William Kennedy and family; Dean 3031 class 4-2-2 No. 3026 Tornado leaving Teignmouth with up express in 1903; LNWR 4-4-0 No. 513 Precursor at Euston in 1904; Worsdell J class 4-2-2 No. 1519 in Edinburgh Waverley; No. 3442 City of Exeter at Teignmouth with up express c1905; No. 3440 City of Truro at Westbourne Park with possibly Driver Moses Clements; No. 3717 City of Truro at Shrewsbury c1930.

Geoffrey Skelsey. 'Give my regards to Broad Street!': the ruin and renaissance of the North London Lines and the birth of Overground.  Part Two. 531-7.
Illuminates the complex politics behind the redevelopment of the Broad Street site and the subsequent rediscovery of the derilict remains and their potential to form a new transport link to the City of London, the Canary Wharf area and infuse capital into rundown areas. The closure of Broad Street was complicated by the then perceived need to retain the through service to Watford Junction. For a time this was met by a temporary terminus on the north of the redevelopment site, but latterly by the Graham Road spur which enabled the Watford trains to enter Liverpool Street using the dual voltage 313 class EMUs. The development of an orbital railway goes back at least as far as the Sir David Barran report for the Greater London Authority in 1973 which led to Ringrail in 1979. To an extent these replaced the politically unacceptable Motorway Box: only two sections of which were constructed: part of the West Cross route and the A102(M) Blackwall Tunnel route (East Cross route). The new London Overground emerged in 2007 and exploits the long unused section ofv North London Railway from north of Broad Street to Dalston Junction; a major new bridge to connect it to the East London Line (the Brunel Tunnel) and extensions to Clapham Junction. The Gospel Oak to Barking service is scheduled for modernisation. Illustrations (all colour and unless otherwise specified by author): demolition of Broad Street station and clearnace for Broadgate development in July 1985 (Chris Hammond); Highbury showing unused unelectrified northern tracks; interior of residual Broad Street signal cabin in 1987 (Chris Hammond); Development of Liverpool Street and Broad Street Stations (cover of British Railways Board document); Gospel Oak with DMU in Network SouthEast livery in 1987; Willesden Junction High Level in 1996; West Brompton station in 2000 with Connex train for Watford Junction and District Line train behind; Liverpool Street (the street) with Metropolitan station and Broadgate centre in 1991; Overground Class 378 train with St. Leonard's Church and Cityscape behind; Blackhorse Road. See also letters on page 701 from Mike Storey and Claude R. Hart.

A.J. Ludlam. The Lincoln to Grantham Railway. 538-43
Lincoln to Honington (where the existing Nottingham to Sleaford line was joined) opened on 15 April 1867. The engineer was Joseph Cubitt and Kirk & Parry were the contractors.  The line served Caythorpe where the Chairman of the Great Northern Railway, George Hussey Packe, resided in Caythorpe Hall.  The line saw a wide variety of motive power especially when used as a diversion. Ironstone was mined and transported. Illustrations: C12 4-4-2T No. 4009A at Lincoln Central on 10 May 1946 (H.C. Casserley); Stirling No. 6 class 2-2-2 No. 14 at Lincoln on 4 August 1902; D3 4-4-0 No. 2000 (in special apple green livery with LNER coat of arms on tender) approaching Lincoln from Grantham in 1947 (R.E. Kirkbright); map; B5 No. 5185 taking water at Lincoln Central in February 1940 (V.R. Webster); Pelham Street level crossing on 6 April 1957 (bridge under construction behind: see also rubber components page); D2 No. 3044 on Lincoln train at Waddington (this and following: D. Thompson); Harmston station looking south in early 1950s; Navenby station; Leadenham station; Caythorpe station; A1 No. 60141 Abbotsford passing Honington Junction with diverted Queen of Scots Pullman. See also letter from Joseph Cliffe on p. 701 mainly on motive power observed.

Highland mixture. 544-6
Colour photo-feature: Inverness motive power depot with its distinctive arch and Class 5 No. 45117 on 20 May 1961; Caledonian Railway 439 class 0-4-4T No. 55178 at Forres engine shed in June 1957; preserved HR 4-6-0 No. 103 in yellow livery in Inverness motive power depot in 1960; Class 5 4-6-0 44978 crossing River Shin at Invershin with Carbisdale Castle behind and hauling rail tour train with two preserved Caledonian Railway coaches at front on 6 June 1962 (T.B. Owen); two class 25 diesel electric locomotives on freight for Kyle of Lochalsh at Strathie in April 1972 (J.S. Gilks); Class 5 No. 44719 at Grantown-on-Spey West with Forres to Perth train on 10 September 1959 (J.J. Davis); No. 5336 departing Broomhill on 09.30 Forres to Aviemore on 27 August 1965 (David Idle).  

A.J. Mullay. A Scottish railway at war. 547-51
Glasgow & South Western Railway: financial compensation as compared with the other Scottish companies; Royal Navy dealt directly with the railway companies taking over their ships for Admiralty service: sometimes this led to the railways having to charter vessels to maintain ferry services; troop specials; recruitment of railwaymen into the armed services; production of munitions especially at the vast factories at Gretna; coal transport from South Wales for the Navy some was routed over the GSWR who forwarded onto the NBR for movement to Grangemouth. Railway Executive Committee appeals for railway equipment for use in Europe. Catrine and Doura colliery branches was thus used. Neptune requistioned by Navy was lost as HMS Neapaulin when minesweeping. Mercury was severely damaged at least twice when sweeping out of Harwich, but survived on the LMS until 1933. Mars (HMS Marsa) rammed by a destroyer at Harwich. GSWR had an interest in the Stranraer to Larne ferry services where the turbine ferries were moved to the English Channel. Turnberry Hotel was used by the Royal Flying Corps. The War Memorial formerly at St Enoch station, but removed to Ayr was designed by Sir Robert Lorimer and constructed with Dalbeattie granite. Illustrations: Manson 4-6-0 No. 506 at Carlisle Citadel station waiting to take over Midland Railway through service; Class 8 4-4-0 No. 95 at Ayr post-1919;Stirling Class 22 0-6-0 at Monkton with heavy freight; TS Atalanta approaching Brodick Pier; Princess May operated by the Larne and Stranraer Steamship Company; Prince's Pier Greenock, PS Jupiter at Gourock; PS Mercury; 194 class 4-4-0 No. 204 at St Enoch with a Clyde Coast stopping train.

Great Northern Atlantics. 552-5.
Black & white photo-feature: C2 No. 3985 leaving Nottingham Victoria working a Bournemouth to Leeds via Doncaster forward to Doncaster its next stop (train formed of two LNER Gresley coaches then one orv two Southern Railway coaches); C1 No. 4436 on up West Riding Pullman at Grantham; C1 No. 4402 at Nottingham Victoria on a Grantham stopping train; C2 No. 3987 on freight at Grantham; C2 No. 3989 (with number on tender) assisting) unidentified C1 on climb to Stoke Summit; C1 No. 4436 on up express freight and parcels train leaving Wood Green tunnel in June 1929 (George Grigs); C1 GNR No. 1449 leaving Doncaster with up East Coast Royal Train passing Shakespeare signal box; C1 No. 4446 on up Silver Jubilee passing Potters Bar on 28 December 1938 (snow on ground: had taken over at Peterborough: E.R. Wethersett); No. 62822 at Grantham on up local service on 14 October 1950 (T.J. Edgington)    

John Chapman. Surrey days: summer Saturdays in the 1950s and 1960s. 556-9.
Schooldays observations of the holiday traffic over the Reading to Redhill line made at Dorking. The main service was the Birkenhead-Margate Express. It divided at Redhill, part went forward to Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings (reversals taking place at the first two named). At this time Schools class locomotives provided the motive power for the express which only stopped at Guildford on this leg. One memorable incident involved a heavy relief express hauled by 43XX 2-6-0 No. 5326 which struggled up the bank from Deepdene, had to stop for a blow-up and then struggled on up the bank., becoming ever later. Illustrations: 17.33 Redhill to Reading leaving Gomshall behind U class 2-6-0 No. 31809 on 2 September 1964 (colour: David Idle);  U class No. 31627 bringing a Reading to Redhill stopping train into Gomshall on 28 November 1964 (J.S. Gilks); No. 7813 Freshford Manor leaving Dorking Town with 11.20 Redhill to Reading on 21 December 1962 (colour: David Idle); N class 2-6-0n No. 31831 climbing from Deepdene to Dorking on train from Redhill on 10 October 1964 (J.S. Gilks); 43XX No. 6383 on 11.05 Redhill to Guildford near Gomshall on 21 November 1959 (J.S. Gilks); U class No. 31797 on Reading to Tonbridge service near Chilworth & Albury on 15 October 1960 (J.S. Gilks). See also experience of Robin Leleux p. 701 and John Roake and Jeremy Clarke on pp. 764 and 765

Rosa Matheson. 'Doing her bit for the Country' — women railway workers during World War I. 560-5.
WW1 changed the nature of women's work, but there was strong resistance from the railway trade unions, especially the National Union of Railwaymen, who argued that men's remuneration was expected to be sufficient to maintain a wife and family. Table lists some of the occupations filled by railwaywomen: clerks being greatest in number, followed by cleaners. Illustrations: manufacture of fuses (munitions) in Doncaster Works; and at Horwich; posed picture of lady uniformed member of staff communicating with footplate crewe of Robinson 4-4-0 at Marylebone; female ticket collectors aat Paddington; cleaning horsedrawn lorry; cleaning Great Northern clerestory brake first; cleaning electric multiple unit at Wimbledon (some ladies in dungarees); loading sacks by the fair sex; ticket collectors at Waterloo; loading coal at Derby. See also letter from A.J. Mullay on page 701.

Sounds of the Sixties. 566-9
Colour photo-feature of Class 60: No. 60 019 in EWS (English Welsh & Scottish) red livery passing site of Apperley Bridge station with Hull Dairycoates to Rylstone limestone quarry train on 7 September 1999; No. 60 017 Arenig Fawr in Railfreight Construction grey departing Redhill yard with 08.00 Grain to Crawley on 3 November 1992; No. 60 066 (grey livery) passing Selby on 09.50 Hull to Milford West Sidings on train of Draz biomass wagons on 7 December 2013; No. 60 081 Isambard Kingdom Brunel in Great Western green livery leaving Carlisle Kingmoor on 16.52 for Tees Yard on 9 July 2004; No. 60 082 in Transrail livery on 14.17 Tees Yard to Aldwarke at Milford Junction; No. 60 056 in Transrail livery at Skipton on train for Rylhope on 8 April 2003; No. 60 008 Gypsum Queen II in Loadhaul livery at Kirkby Thorpe gypsum works on 04.57 from Drax on 30 October 2003; No. 60 006 Scunthorpe Ironmaster in silver grey livery on 7 June 2003.   

Michael B. Binks. The railway industry and public health. Part Two. 570-3.
Noise was covered by the Noise Abaterment Act and led to complaints from residents living near to jointed rails as continuous welded rail was quieter; waste collection; fly-tipping is a problem on railway land and can be a hazard to train operation; footpath crossings are an obvious hazard and there is a trend to replace them by bridges and to ensure that the remainder have adequate sighting both for the users and for train drivers; food safety legislation affects both restaurants on stations and catering on trains; ventilation is sometimes inadequate in old buildings; water; vermin includes rats, pigeons, insects, rabbits and teredo wood borers. At King's Cross anthrax spores were found in horse hair which had been used in plaster. Tunnel and bridge clearances can be very limited. Finally suicides are a major problem for railway staff, especially drivers. Illustrations by David Monk-Steel: Belvedere Leatherbottle  crossing; standard footbridge at Sidcuop; Lee station staff foot crossing; departure board at Victoria station (east side); New Eltham restricted bridge clearance; Woolwich Arsenal in 1966 (canopies very attractive to pigeons)..

Readers' Forum. 574

Don't look back in anger. A.J. Gosden
It seems a characteristic of some human natures to criticise others, sometimes without any reliable evidence, when they are no longer able to defend themselves. Geoffrey Williams makes good cause in his defence of C,J.. Bowen-Cooke and in particular his 'Claughton' class locomotives.
The 'Claughtons' were not without their problems, witness the number of modifications made to them in their lifetime, in particular larger boilers. E.S. Cox, from his experiences as a mechanical inspector in the early 1930s, refers in his book Chronicles of Steom to the investigations into the problems with 'Claughtons'. It was found that "their mechanical integrity left a lot to be desired" and that the problems were "truly deep seated and were due to nothing else but plain bad design".
In particular there were in the last six months of 1930 60 cases of trailing coupled hot boxes, each case requiring removal of the wheels concerned, remetalling and remachining the boxes and reassembling, thereby immobilising each engine for ten days to a fortnight. The problem was entirely due to poor design of the lubrication system to the trailing coupled axleboxes leading to damage during running to the oil delivery pipes, resulting in the bearings being starved of oil. In addition the design of the mechanical sanding gear allowed ingress of water to the sand which became caked and would not run. The smokebox door was of weak construction leading to warping and drawing of air in service and cabs and splashers worked loose due to inadequate bolting.
Even the more successful 'Prince of Wales' Class was not without fault. Having evolved from the 'George V' Class, very little consideration had been given to strengthening the frames to take the higher stresses due to the larger diameter cylinders and increased piston loads. As a consequence, to quote E.S. Cox, "frame fracture had reached epidemic proportions" requiring welding of frames and resulting in the engines being out of action for a week to ten days.
In retrospect Bowen-Cooke may be held responsible as the man in overall charge but in general Chief Mechanical Engineers, with very few exceptions, did not get involved with detail design. This was the responsibility of the Locomotive Drawing Office and in the case of the 'Claughton' and the 'Prince of Wales' Classes design fell short of good engineering practice.
As a former Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway engineer, Cox implies that Horwich and Derby locomotives, even taking into consideration their weak points, were on the whole better designed and built than those of Crewe. This might explain the mass slaughter of LNWR locomotives once sufficient of Stanier's locomotives came into operation. In conclusion, in many respects Bowen-Cooke was a sound engineer and it is unfair to label him as a failure as a CME. If anything he was let down by a complacent and technically outdated Crewe drawing office and works still thinking that Crewe led the world! It would take William Stanier as the new CME and Tom Coleman from Horwich as Chief Locomotive Draughtsman to really put the LMS Locomotive Department on its feet and give that railway an excellent fleet of locomotives.

Don't look back in anger. B.C. Lane 
Re LMS train photograph on p426: the leading coach is a Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway six-compartment corridor first of which just two were built to Diagram 92 in 1908 for the Liverpool-York services. They were numbered 233 and 234. Their smooth sides and semi-elliptical roof gave the impression that they were modern LMS types of at least twenty years later. They both lasted into the 1950s. Of course, they were 'cascaded' in the grouping years and most ex-L&YR carriage stock worked their lives far from the original home system.

Adlestrop. Paul Dryden 
Unfortunately, Jeffrey Wells takes a spelling mistake in his copy of the poem and runs with it. The word 'unwontedly' in the original becomes "unwontonly". This is meaningless, unless it means without wontons, which, I suppose, was likely at a station far from Chinese restaurants.

A panoply of pannier tanks. Robert Postance 
Re p. 352 picture of pannier tank on auto working travelling towards Yeovil Junction, not Yeovil Town as in the caption: train was just south of Yeovil South Junction so could have come from Town station or Pen Mill. Writer grew up in the South Wales Valleys where practically every train was hauled (or pushed) by a tank engine of one sort or another. At the end of our garden was the Caerphilly branch of the former Rhymney Railway where the service between Caerphilly and Pontypridd would pass, comprised of a pannier tank and a single auto coach. Goods trains at this time were often hauled by ex-Rhymney 0-6-2 tanks which had a distinctive, soft exhaust sound, compared with the Collett tanks which made a sharper bark when working.

A Modernisation Plan Diesel Multiple Unit Scheme. Nick Daunt,
Re article by lan Travers on the introduction of DMUs on the Liverpool Lime Street-St. Helens-Wigan line writer moved to Garswood in 1973 and for the next 24 years used the line to travel to Prescot until 1984 and to Huyton from then until 1997 and still frequently travels on the line between Wigan and Liverpool. Surveys DMUs used during this period: Class 108 at first, followed by Pacers and Sprinters, and for a period locomotive hauled trains formed of Mark I and II stock and powered by Classes 31, 37 and 47. Gradual improvement of stations and restoration of four tracks on section into Liverpool and electrification in progress.

The Fraserburgh-St. Combs branch. Alan J. Syng 
In his article Alistair F. Nisbet mentions the local MP who supported the objectors to the line closure. Unfortunately he has given the MP the wrong name. The Tory MP for Aberdeenshire East at that time was Patrick Wolridge-Gordon. Patrick Gordon-Walker was the Labour MP for Smethwick until he lost his seat at the 1964 General Election. As we was appointed Foreign Secretary in the first Wilson government a by-election was created for him at Leyton and he lost that as well! He must be one of the very few politicians to lose two seats for his party in just over three months.

The Fraserburgh-St. Combs branch. Alasdair Lauder 
Re errors in the photograph captions for this article:  page 411 top. The two posts line up with the platform ends on the opposite side of the track, presumably for the guidance of the train staff. The train is therefore at Kirkton Bridge Halt, waiting to depart for Fraserburgh. Page 414 top. This is Kirkton Bridge Halt again (not Philorth Bridge Halt) looking in the opposite direction to the previous photograph. Note the platform end indicator post. Page 415. The station is St. Combs not Cairnbulg.

The Fraserburgh-St. Combs branch. Rory Wilson 
The interesting-looking wagon seen at Cairnbulg Ouly issue, p415) appears to be a Sturgeon rail/sleeper wagon.

The universal railway service. John Macnab 
Re letter by Alan de Burton reminiscing on the working practices and conditions of a railway parcels office were similar to experiences of my own formative BR days in the 1950s. The odour of fish glue used to adhere labels also came back to my senses. I can assure him that all this was experienced and practiced in goods station offices. The terms archaic and arcane can be applied with equal measure. As regards 'tracking' of consignments this was, by and large, purely a hit or a miss situation. It was only in the goods side there still existed the 'Green Arrow' registered service (for those who knew of it) which, hopefully, could keep track of a consignment on its journey. Introduced by the LNER around 1936 co-incidental with the naming of V2 No.4771/800 as Green Arrow to work such as the 'Scotch Goods' also mentioned of late, it cost 2s 6d, unchanged in early BR days. I also came upon the occurrences whereby when additional vans, both goods and passenger types, were required for Christmas traffic and on opening revealed long lost parcels, etc., which could include passengers' luggage in advance from the summer days. The reverse was on requiring the same for summer traffic, when Christmas goods and suchlike would be revealed!

Green goes the Bournemouth train. Tommy Tomalin. rear cover.
English Electric Type 3 No. D6808 at haed of 08.30 Newcastle to Bournemouth  express passing Kirkby South Junction on 19 April 1965. (train formed of Southern Region green stock). See long letter from Gerald Goodall on the death of through services from the East Midlands to anywhere (and East Anglia could be added to this depravity)

Issue 10 (October 2014) Number 282

BR 'Deltic' No.D9006 The Fife and Forfar Yeomanry leaves Edinburgh Waverley for London in April 1967. (George M. Staddon)

Trains drive you loco. A.J. Mullay. 579
Guest Editorial: incorrect use of terminology by media, especially television as exemplified by Miss Marples, as depicted in "1950s" using a train station. The utter confusion caused by the Flying Scotsman train and the locomotive, and in the case of the latter the failure to comprehend the basic concept.

Edward Gibbins. The Isle of Wight railway closures. Part One. 580-9.
Railways on the Isle of Wight were never really profitable: three companies operated prior to the Grouping and only the service provided by the Isle of Wight Railway from Ryde to Ventnor conveyed much traffic. The author concentrates on the plans by the Southern Region from 1949 onwards to close as much of the system as possible and the relatively long time that this took and the rather strange economy measures which were suggested by interested parties, but not implemented. One of the problems was the extremely peak nature of passenger traffic due to travel on a limited number of summer Saturdays; and another was its linkage with ferry services to Portsmouth. The bodies concerned were the Transport Users' Consultative Committee (TUCC), the County Council, local councils, and the Chamber of Commerce and the British Transport Commission. The first line to close was from Merstone to Ventnor West: this carried negligible traffic and closed in September 1952. In April 1953 the BTC  proposed to close Bembridge-Brading, Freshwater-Newport and Newport-Sandown and some intermediate stations between Newport and Ryde. As a reaction to this the County Council and Chamber of Commerce produced a Case for the retention of Island railways which accepted that they ran at a loss and proposed some rather capital intensive measures, such as diesel units, to reduce costs. It was also suggested that the popular island runabout ticket would become less attractive once the ability to travel to places like Freshwater had gone. Damage to the Island's roads by extra buses was a sensitive issue. Sir Peter MacDonald, the Island's MP became involvedl. Stanley Hill was brought in as an expert witness and Hopkins of the British Transport Commission was closely involved. Illustrations (almost all show Adams O2 class 0-4-4Ts hauling pregrouping bogie coaches, unless stated otherwise): W20 Shanklin at Newport crossing River Medina with Cowes to Ryde Pier Head train on 9 August 1963 (colour: J.S. Gilks); W22 Brading departing Ryde St John's Road with 08.35 to Ventnor on 3 August 1964 (colour: David Idle); Isle of Wight Central Railway Terrier No. 11 at Newport c1917; W24 Calbourne on 14.05 Ryde Pier Head to Ventnor at Wroxall on 5 August 1964 (colour: Alan Tyson); No. 19 Osborne in malachite green but lettered BRITISH RAILWAYS at Sandown on 29 June 1948; No. 33 Bembridge at Freshwater in summer 1949 (T.J. Edgington); Ashey station on 11 September 1960 (colour); W16 Ventnor at Brading with 10.45 Shanklin to Ryde on 29 October 1966 (colour: David Idle); No. 32 Bonchurch at Cowes with 4-wheel coaches in early SR period; Merstone station in September 1952 (T.J. Edgington); W27 Merstone at Ventnor West on 13 September 1952 (T.J. Edgington); W24 Calbourne departing Ryde St John's Road on 2 March 1963 (colour: Paul Strong). See also Part 2 and letters from Richard Vote and George Moon on page 764

Jeffrey Wells. The first railways to Selby. Part 1. The Leeds & Selby Railway. 590-9
An early statement that Selby is "112 miles from London" is clealy incorrect. The Leeds & Selby was promoted by Hull interests who wished to increase traffic on the river from Selby to Hull and a key meeting took place in Hull on 11 December 1828 when a route surveyed by George Stephenson was condemned for its use of three inclined planes. James Walker was requested to comment on and modify Stephenson's plan and he appointed Alexander Comrie to survey the route. The report of 18 June 1829 recommended that the Leeds terminus proposed for Farbank should be changed to Marsh Lane, that the location of the Selby terminus should also be changed; that turnpike roads should be bridged, the gradients should not exceed 1 in 135 and that a tunnel under Richmond Hill on the approach to Leeds would be required. The Leeds and Selby Bill was opposed by  landowners and by the Aire & Calder Navigation Company, but the Royal Assent was received on 29 May 1830. Nowell & Sons of Dewsbury were contractors for the Leeds end, including the tunnel, and Hamer & Pratt of Goole for the Selby end.  The railway opened on 22 September 1834. The inaugural train found the climb out of Leeds difficult, but the return journey was far more speedy.  The arrival of the York & North Midland Railway, incorporated on 21 June 1836, gave it access to Selby and on 23 May 1844 the Leeds & Selby was amalgamated into it. Illustrations: Selby station with G5 No. 67250 and two-coach push & pull on 1 June 1957 (H.C. Casserley); Cross Gates station in 1961; map (Selby end only); plans of Selby and Leeds terminus stations (which set pattern for such structures); Garforth staion; Micklefield station in 1960; Milford station c1930; Selby station with D20 class 4-4-0 No. 62396 on Bridlington train on 31 August 1956 (R.M. Casserley); Hambleton station in 1959 and Garforth station. See also letter from J. Whiteing from Huddersfield that Selby was in the West Riding, as was Goole (and KPJ so was Saddleworth) until translated into "North Yorkshire" and that the East Coast Route ran through all three Ridings plus York; and from Leonard Rogers pointing out that the tunnel under Richmond Hill was opened up when the line was widened in the 1890s. Part 2 next Volume page 87

R.A.S. Hennessey. Lost chords and earthworks: the unevolved railways. Part Two. 600-3.
Part 1 see page 460 The London Transport Bushey Heath extension from Edgware led to the construction of car sheds at Aldenham, subsequently used to manufacture aircarft in WW2, use as a bus depot, and now covered in houses, and the crumbling Bushey Arches of a partly constructed viaduct (illustrated), but changes in Green Belt legislation led to abandonment. The remains of Duddeston Viaduct (illustrated) still linger in Birmingham where the Great Western had sought to enter New Street, but built Snow Hill station instead. Other lingering works remain at Newport Pagnell of a proposed extension to Olney; Sandywell Tunnel near Andoversford on a line to Fairford; a bridge (illustrated buut long removed) at Trentham Gardens on a link to the North Staffordshire Railway's Stoke to Market Drayton line; Euroclydon Tunnel on a line between Drybrook to Mitcheldean Road, and Lullingstone Airport where the Southern Railway announced that its new station would open in 1939: once again changed Green Belt legislation led the new station to crumble. The Russians and Americans did similar things, but on an even grander scale: illustrations show Andrew Carnegie inspecting Ray's Hill Tunnel on the South Pennsylvania RR which never served rail traffic, but is used by a highway and the vast works of the Cincinnati subway which remain unopened. See also letter from Robin Leleux on pp. 637-8.

Lancashire life. David Hampson. 604-7.
Colour photo-feature: Class 4 2-6-0 No. 76081 at Blackburn station with 13.25 Saturdays only to Southport on 31 August 1963; Class 2 2-6-2T No. 84010 at Fleetwood with 16.55 to Manchester Victoria (which locomotive worked only as far as Poulton-le-Fylde) on 29 June 1963; Class 5 No. 45227 passing through flying arches near Chorley with 14.30 saturdays only Blackpool North to Manchester Victoria on 1 June 1963; Class 4 4-6-0 No. 75048 picking up water on Lostock troughs on 14.00 Manchester Victoria to Liverpool Exchange on Sunday 15 September 1963; Jubilee No. 45716 Swiftsure passing Crow Nest Junction with 16.10 Manchester Victoria to Southport express on 8 Jone 1963; Class 4 2-6-0 No. 43129 passing Deane Clough; BR Class 4 No. 76080 crossing old swing bridge over River Douglas approaching Hesketh Bank station with 13.25 SO Blackburn to Southport on 8 August 1964; Stanier Class 4 2-6-4T No. 42569 on 10.00 Southport to Manchester Victoria emerging from Farnworth Tunnel on 20 July 1963; Stanier Class 4 2-6-4T No. 42645 in Southport Chapel Street with 13.50 to Preston on 27 July 1963; Bacup station on 27 July 1963 with Ivatt Class 4 No. 43077 with train for Southport and Stanietr 2-6-0 No. 42946 on train for Llandudno.  

'Deltic' delights. 608-11
Colour photo-feature: all in Rail blue unless stated otherwise: D9002 Crepello (green livery) on 16.50 Leeds to Doncaster in cutting north of Wrenthorpe on 17 July 1965; 55 019 Royal Highland Fuslier at King's Cross fuelling point in June 1965; green livery D9005 the Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire on up Queen of Scots Pullman at Wortley Junction on 29 June 1965 (Gavin Morrison); 55 007 Pinza approaching Edinburgh Waverley from Calton Tunnel with 18.05 shuttle from Dunbar on 4 August 1979 (during closure of Penmanshiel Tunnel); green livery preserved D9000 Royal Scots Grey on Virgin train 06.58 Birmingham New Street to Ramsgate passing through Chatham on 22 August 1998 (Rodney Lissenden); No. 55 003 Meld (blue livery) with Flying Scotsman headboard at Finsbury Park depot on 30 July 1977; No. 55 008 The Green Howards (blue livery) leaving Stoke Tunnel with 14.03 King's Cross to York on 25 July 1981 (Rodney Lissenden); No. 55 020 Nimbus (blue livery) pulls out of Doncaster with 06.10 King's Cross to Leeds on 8 June 1977 (Gavin Morrison);  No. 55 003 Meld and 55 001 St. Paddy (both blue livery), latter on down express at King's Cross on 10 July 1976 (Gavin Morrison); green livery preserved D9000 Royal Scots Grey with coaches in Inter-City livery on 06.58 Birmingham to Ramsgate at Swanley on 25 July 1998 (Rodney Lissenden).   

Alan Jeavons. In terminal decline [Dudley Freightliner Terminal]. with many photographs by the late Michael Mensing. 612-18.
Opened 6 November 1967 for both domestic and shipping container services, but lost latter in 1969 to Landor Street in Birmingham.  The variety of materials transported was very broad: from industrial raw materials, to consumer electricals to many food products. The service to Glasgow was highly varied with respect to loads. Great efforts were made to avoid uncoupling the locomotives and to achieve this circuitous routes were followed. Illustrations: The author submitted a long letter published in the next Volume on page 126: it seems to be more helpful to cut and paste the extra information onto this entry indicated by italics one piece ias appended her as it is not clear which picture it relates to: The southbound service to Swansea carried the WIT identification of 4V60 rather than 4V66 as I stated. This information has been gleaned from the copious volumes of WIT archives in the possession of David Hayes, in response to an enquiry that I made to Andy Williams at BescotPlus: Dudley Freightliner Terminal with two mobile gantry cranes on 12 September 1977 (colour: Michael Mensing) half-height container liveries in weathered bauxite red is one of the sand/steel coil carriers for the Dudley—Swansea circuit. The cylindrical load adjacent to the Merzario box is beer kegs to/from Scottish & Newcastle at probably Newcastle (load appears to be covered with rope net acceptable to S&N but not Bass Productions which required their loads to be fully tarpaulined) The neatly sheeted rectangular load between the cranes is probably crates of bottles of Bulmer's cider and the shiny rectangular consignment further to the right is most probably aluminium billets (or slabs or blooms). The presence of several curtain-sided boxes within the terminal suggests that beer traffic continued to be a mainstay of the terminal during that time; Class 47 No. 47 298 with an up Freightliner taking Nuneaton route near site of Whitacre station and magnificant ecclesiatical establishment (what was it?) on 31 May 1978 (Michael Mensing) presence of mixture of shipping containers (particularly OCL) and Freightliner boxes suggests that train was heading to either Tilbury or Felixstowe. The Tilbury service conveyed Freightliner containers to/from Willesden whilst Felixstowe handled Freightliner containers for deliveries within East Anglia. As the photograph bears the date of 31 May 1978 this would most probably be the early evening train to Felixstowe, OCL by that time having forsaken Berth 39 at Tilbury for the more reliable and less stressful environs of Felixstowe.The'cathedral' in the background is in reality a water pumping/ sewage treatment plant; No. 47 327 passing Warren Road, Washwood Heath with an up Freightliner on Aston-Stechford route on 12 August 1977 (Michael Mensing); Class 86 No. 86 005 passing Crewe with southbound Freightliner on 22 October 1983 (Gavin Morrison); No. 47 113 on northbound Freightliner near Lea Marston village between Water Orton East Junction and Kingsbury Junction on 19 July 1978 (colour: Michael Mensing) first container next locomotive appears to carry the logo 'Bass for Belgium' as part of a plan by Bass Charrington to foist their wares on the drinking public of Europe! The power stations in the background are Hams Hall 'B' and 'C', long since decommissioned and demolished and now the site of Hams Hall Business Park and Hams Hall Freight Terminal;  No. 47 223 departing Ipswich yard for Felixstowe with container train on 12 April 1984 (Gavin Morrison); No. 45 074 with northbound Freightliner heading towards Tamworth on 11 July 1978 (Michael Mensing) leading container can just be determined as a Seawheel (now Samskip) box which almost without exception entered/departed Britain via Harwich M.C.T. Possibly the train is 4E69, the 16.25 Landor Street—Harwich, although in 1972 this service used Class 47 haulage and ran via the WCML. Possibly this is a revised working via Nottingham (due to restrictions within Oakham Tunnel?) although where No.45 074 worked to would be debatable as 'Peaks' were very rare in East Anglia at any time;  and No. 47 023 leaving Guild Street depot and heading south from Aberdeen with palletized freight adjacent to Freightliner container on 2 September 1977 (Gavin Morrison) non-containerised load is a 'K'-type 30ft open flat container, the headboard of which is partly sheeted over, thus obscuring the container number.The load would appear to be reels of paper produced by International Papers at Dyce (now closed). Note also that two, or possibly even all three, of the reels protrude beyond the side of the wagon, possibly to the point of being out of gauge. Note that there are two sets of metal stanchions with wooden side panels attempting to resist the lateral forces of the load. It was always amazing what some Senior Supervisors at Freightliner terminals would 'let through' which their counterparts at BR terminals would refuse point blank to allow to go on to the running lines.

To Scarborough for the summer. 619-21
Black & white photo-feature; Scarborough station frontage with charabanc and evidence of electric tramway system, c1910; NER Class M 4-4-0 passing Falsgrave signal box c1905 with passenger train; D49 Hunt Class 4-4-0 No. 62737 The York and Ainsty with arrival of train from Hull on 12 August 1957; B16 No. 61459 arriving with excursion with former LNER articulated streamlined coaches at front in August 1960; Class 5 4-6-0 No. 44804 with train for King's Norton passing entrance to Falsgrave Tunnel (T.J. Edgington and previous); B1 No. 61306 departing with an express for Hull in August 1961; 8F 2-8-0 No. 48078 with return Sunday excursion to West Riding on 1 July 1962; Class 31 on two trains and DMU with semaphore signals still to fore on 25 July 1981 (T.J. Edgington).

Stephen Roberts. The Castle Cary to Dorchester Line. 622-6.
The Wilts, Somerset & Weymouth Railway, a broad gauge railway was sanctioned by an Act of June 1845 to link Chippenham with Weymouth. Subsequent developments by the Great Western Railway made the line a branch from Castle Cary. The contractor for the Yeovil to Maiden Newton section was A.W. Ritson; the remainder G. Hennet. The company was taken over by the GWR in March 1850 and opened in stages and opened throughout on 20 January 1857.  Doubling the line took place between 1858 and 1885. In June1874 the line was converted to standard gauge in a week of intensive work. During the 1930s the line had frequent trains including some fast expresses and carried considerable freight. The line was rationalised in the 1960s, but still "enjoys" a basic train service. Illustrations: Yeovil Pen Mill with No. 6993 Arthog Hall on Weymouth train and 57XX No. 4689 shunting in BR period; Castle Cary station looking west; Yetminster station; Evershot station in c1910; Maiden Newton stsation with No. 4562 in bay platform with Bridport train c1950s; Grimstone & Frampton station; Dorchester West with No. 6358 on Weymouth train; Castle Cary station with train formed of Class 150 and 153 units on 25 July 2009 and Yeovil Pen Mill in July 1959 (both colour: G. Sheppard). See also letter from Rory Wilson on date of photograph on page 623 that is post May 1968; that the Weymouth "branch" from Castle Cary had been the original main line; and the bombing on 3 September 1942 which killed the signalman, the fireman on No. 1729 and two in the Railway Hotel. Further letter from John Roake in Volume 29 p. 61.

Miles Macnair. Lead on: the whys and some of the wherefores of locomotive valve gears. Part 3. Small can be mighty. 627-31.
Part 2 see page 390. The concept of the steam motor, possibly coupled with a rapid steam-raising boiler is the theme. There are several refernces to websites where animations may assist in an area where words frequently fail to convey what  are complex concepts, although many of the mechanisms aim for simplicity. The Paget locomotive employed eight cylinders and aimed to eliminate hammer blow at high speeds. Sleeve valves activated the uniflow cylinders. Unfortunately, lubrication problems were encountered and the complete seizure of the mechanism led to the project being abandoned. Walter Giger, who was associated with Brown Boveri in 1937 and saw his ideas being developed, but not completed on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad sought to develop a sixteen cylinder locomotive. The Swiss Locomotive Company developed an 18-cylinder 4-6-4 No. 221-TQ-1 for the Nord CdF: this was tested at Vitry. These used Doble poppet valves. Isaac Dodds patented a wedge motion in 1839: the essence of which was a slip eccentric. The Dodds motion was employed by Dubs & Co. between 1842 and 1852. Bulleid's chain-modified Walschaerts gear and the associated oil baths are considered both on the Pacifics and on the Leader class where a furth complication was the use of sleeve valves.  Illustrations: North Stafford shire Railway 2-4-0 No. 19 built with Dodds's wedge motion; diagram of wedge motion; Hannoversche Machinenfabrik 0-6-0T fitted with Lentz oscilloating cam valves operated off a single slip eccentric gear; streamlined German DR No. 14.1001 with V configuration steam motors driving via flexible couplings (painting by Robin Barnes); valve gear for previous (coloured diagram); No. 21C1 Channel Packet pasing Bickley with down Golden Arrow on 22 April 1946; Bulleid chain driven valve gear; Leader class No. 36001 inside Eastleigh Works on 2 September 1950 (T.J. Edginton); Berry accelerator: diagram and digital image created by Richard Leonard. See also letter from Paul Mahoney on use of sleeve valves in New Zealand on p. 701.. 

Welsh waysides. Roy Patterson. 632-5
Colour photo-feature; stations or halts at Glogue (Carmarthen branch) on 18 August 1962; Tallylyn Junction on 14 April 1962; Pontdolgoch on 30 May 1964; Crymmych Arms on 18 August 1862 with passenger train (single coach plus 0-6-0PT); Three Cocks Junction on 14 April 1962; Abernant on 28 October 1961; Glan Llyn Halt (near Bala Lake) on 7 November 1964; Torpantau on 14 April 1962; Drwys-Y-Nant on 7 November 1964. See also letter from G.L. Huxley explaining the presence of the Midland Railway/LMS trains on the eastern approach to Brecon

Peter Butler. Signalling spotlight: Gristhorpe Crossing Box. 636
Colour photo-feature based on photographs taken on images captured on 29 April 2014 of a residual manually operated level crossing on Scarborough to Filey line:

Readers' Forum. 637-8

A day out on the Backworth Colliery Railway. David Higdon
Joseph Cowen first Chairman of The Tyne Improvements Commission. Family amassed fortune exporting firebricks using fireclay from Blaydon Burn.The yonger Joseph Cowen was known in Parliament as 'The Brick' invited Garibaldi to stay in Summerhill

All that jazz. Leonard Rogers.
No. 61846 heading towards, not away from Sheffield. Victims of great purge by accountants before end of BTC and ceation of BRB. No.61943 remined in use as a stationary boiler at Colwick until October 1965.

Lost chords and BR Southern Region Magazine. Claude R. Hart
Crossing of River Severn in Shrewsbury by partially developed S&MR ('Potts') extension. Double deck electric multiple unis very difficult to enter and leave at stations because of close proximity of passengers quotes Bexley.

Signposts to the past. Tim Edmonds.
Colour image of road sign near Ledsham pointing to Mollington station in the Wirral; also notes that these cast iron signs still point towards long closed ferries from the Wirral across the Mersey and the Dee

Engineers doodling at their drawing boards. L.A. Summers.
See article by Summers on page 360: refers to article by E.B. Trotter in Trains Illustrated (1954: February) in which is described ARLE design for standard 2-6-0 drawn up by Swindon; also refers to writer's book Swindon steam reviewed by Phil Atkins (page 510) and still not seen for review by KPJ due to tardiness of publisher and construction of Clan class for Western Region

Lead on. David Page
Letter from Kingston, Ontario, points out that Canadian National Railway had 439 locomotives fitted with Baker valve gear and refers to Don McQueen's Canadian National steam.

Around Ayrshire. Ted Cochrane
Train hauled by No. 40665 was probably for Ardrossan via Crosshouse (or for Glasgow via Dalry) not for Troon

Fire hazard and lost chords. Robin Leleux
Memories of childhood picnics spent at Whilton Locks near Weedon where embankment fires on West Coast main lwere put out as they started initially by unrebuilt Patriot class and much more recent experience on Kent & East Sussex Railway; also embankment in Emberton Park outside Olney on abandoned Newport Pagnell branch extension towards Wellingborough (refers to page 460, but mentioned on page 600!).

Book Reviews. 638

The iron road book. Francis Coghlan. First published 1838. Tentmaker Publications. MB ****

Paddington to Birkenhead, a tribute to a much appreciated railway route, 1954 to 1967. Christopher Magner. Author. RC. ***

The Earl of Dudley's Railway. Ned Williams. History Press. JS. ****

Past Tyne Dock signals. T.J. Edgington. rear cover
Q6 0-8-0 with solitary wagon with huge signal gantries with both upper and lower quadrant semaphore signals and complex but empty tracks.

Issue 11 (November 2014) Number 283

GWR Castle 4-6-0 No.4000 North Star stands in front of the coaling stage at Stafford Road shed, Wolverhampton, in March 1956. (K. Cooper). front cover

New Streets for old. Michael Blakemore. 643
Birmingham New Street station (in process of becoming basement for John Lewis Birmingham) criticed for its former manifestations: notes that its power signal box is Grade II listed. See also letter from Christopher Hilton in Vol. 29 p. 125

Steaming through the Thames Valley. Ken Wightman. 644-5
Colour photo-feature: slides from David Clark Collection: No. 7033 Hartlebury Castle on up Cheltenham Spa Express formed of chocolate & cream liveried stock passing Hanwell on 6 October 1958; No. 5035 Coity Castle on down Torbay Express near Hanwell on 6 October 1958; No. 5014 Goodrich Castle on up express with chocolate & cream stock in Sonning cutting; No. 6023 King Edward II with up Capitals United formed of chocolate & cream stock in Sonning cutting on 10 September 1960; No. 7033 Hartlebury Castle on down express near Hanwell on 6 October 1958; No. 6013 King Henry VIII on 07.00 ex-Weston-super-Mare formed mainly of carmine & cream livery coaches passing Hanwell station on 6 October 1958. Letter from John Pearse on page 764 suggests that first picture does not depict No. 7033 Hartlebury Castle, but possibly No. 4085 Berkeley Castle. No. 6023 King Edward II was not in Sonning cutting, but at Ruscombe.    

Colin G. Maggs. The Yatton to Witham branch. 646-52.
The railway was actually two separate lines: the Cheddar Valley Railway (from Yatton to Wells) and the East Somerset Railway from Witham to Wells. Each had its own station in Wells. The line from Yatton reached Cheddar on 3 August 1869 and Wells Tucker Street on 5 April 1870. It was a broad gauge line, but was converted to standard gauge in November 1875 and was the only section of the Bristol & Exeter Railway to be converted before that railway was absorbed by the Great Western.  An Act for the East Somerset Railway was obtained on 5 June 1856 and opened to Shepton Mallet on 9 November 1858: Colonel Yolland had not been happy with state of the proposed single line working methods inspected the line. The extension to Wells was subject to further scrutiny from Yolland, but it opened formally on 28 February 1862 and to general traffic on the following day. At Wells both lines met and had a junction with the Somerset & Dorset Railway's Wells branch from Glastonbury which had its own terminus at Priory Road in Wells. The complexities of Wells are more visible in the track diagrams in XXXXX. The route is described in detail noting the special station at Cheddar to cater for tourist traffic, and the severe gradients on the eastern part, and how train services tended to wait in Wells to establish good connections with the services at the outer ends of the line. Stone traffic continues from Merehead Quarry near Witham and part of the eastern section is a heritage railway. Parts of the western section have become a footpath and cycle track inluding the tunnel at Shute Shelve tunnel. Illustrations: No, 41298 enters Congresbury with 13.27 to Wells and No. 8746 on a freight on 11 March 1961 (R.E. Toop); up train enters Sandford & Branwell c1910; No. 21425 at Yatton with 14.45 to Witham on 22 August 1962 (colour); map; Class 3 2-6-2T No. 82035 on 14.52 Yatton to Witham and No. 41240 on 14.46 Wells to Yatton at Axbridge on 2 July 1960 (R.E. Toop); strawberries being loaded at Axbridge; No. 21240 at Cheddar on 28 May 1960; inaugural broad gauge train enters Cheddar on 3 August 1869; No. 4924 Eydon Hall entering Witham on up express with 0-6-0PT No. 3773 on 13.00 for Witham on 20 June 1959 (R.E. Toop); No. 82035 calls at Lodge Hill with 11.12 Saturdays only Yatton to Witham on 7 June 1960 (R.E. Toop); No. 82039 with 11.12 Yatton to Witham calling at Wookey on 17 March 1962; Ivatt 2-6-0 No. 46517 entering Wells Tucker Street with a freight on 28 May 1960; No. 41245 at Wells working 14.45 Yatton to Witham on 22 August 1963; Shepton Mallet c1905 with 0-6-0ST shunting and down train arriving; Wanstrow with milk churns, bridge rails and longitudinal sleepers c1900. Text mentions diesel railcar destroyed by fire as "No. 17": which is improbable as was a parcels car (see letter from Chris Foren on page 764).

Freight variety at Potbridge. David Cable. 653.
Colour photo-feature: No. 47 338 Warrington Yard in Railfreight Distribution livery at head of varied liveried containers on Southampton Maritime to Ripple Lane Freightliner in August 1992; weedkilling train heading towards Winchfield with No. 20 904 Janis and 20 901 Nancy fore and aft; and EWS livery No. 58 039 with train of Ford Transit vans from Eastleigh en route to Dagenham, class 442 EMU and class 423 EMU, and Railtrack Sandite unit (i.e. trains on all four tracks)

South Wales locomotives. 654-7
Black & white photo-feature: former Taff Vale Railway Class A 0-6-2T formerly No. 407 as GWR No. 394 at Barry with 11.15 to Llandrindod Wells in August 1931; Brecon & Merthyr Railway 2-4-0T No. 9 at Machen; Taff Vale Railway Class A 0-6-2T No. 149 at Merthyr High Street; Barry Railway Class H 0-8-2T No. 84; Burry Port & Gwendraeth Valley Railway 0-6-0T No. 3162 shunting at Burry Port in June 1953; Barry Railway 0-4-2T No. 33 at Barry with passenger train for Llantwit Major: Powlesland & Mason Peckett 0-4-0ST with BR totem at Danygraig shed in early 1950s; Alexandra (Newport & South Wales) Docks and Railway 0-6-0T No. 666 at Newport Pill shed on 2 September 1951; Rhymney Railway class A1 0-6-2T No. 67 at Cardiff East Dock shed on 12 August 1951; LNWR G2A 0-8-0 No. 49064 with 2251 0-6-0 No. 2218 and 56XX 0-6-2T No. 6628 on Barry shed on 20 June 1956.

Adrian Gray. The rise and fall of the 'compressed air' railway locomotive. 658-9.
Topic had been mentioned before in Backtrack: see 2001, 15, 403. This mainly concerns the contribution made by Arthur Parsey through his patented improved compressed air locomotive and its testing on a branch line of the Eastern Counties Railway, possibly the direct line from Great Chesterford to Newmarket. Parsey published a book on Compressed air power in 1852 (Ottley 358) and earlier in his life had published poetry and works on painting miniatures and on perspective in art. A model of his locomotive is part of the NRM collection. Later compressed air locomotives were used during the construction of the St. Gotthard Tunnel. See also contribution by Nick Kelly in Volume 29 page 126.

Alistair F. Nisbet. Robberies on the Great Eastern Railway. 660-5.
Police Sergeant Standingford of the Great Eastern Railway was based at Wymondham. He detected an attempted robbery taking place in the early morning of 18 March 1865 when he observed James Clark or Clarke attempting to load a sack into an empty wagon. Property worth £100 was found to be missing at Norwich when the 19.30 freight from London via Ely arrived. It had been examined at Bishops Stortford on the evening of 27 August 1867. Three days later a platelayer noticed the tracks of something being dragged away from the railway towards an osier bed north of Bishops Stortford and found the bales. The police set a trap, but this was evaded: Superintendent Hedington of the Hertfordshire Constabulary caught William Betts, a former railway employee and his accomplices William Jones and Thomas King. At the Quarter Sessions in Hertford on 14 October all three were sentenced to five years. Goods guards Benjamin Mills and William Moss were sentenced to eighteen months hard labour at Bury St. Edmunds on 26 October 1874 for stealing wine in transit from Bury to Elmswell. Carpet in transit from Halifax to Norwich was removed from a train by a foreman platelater James Cutting and a signalman William Barber of Mildenhall. At the trail in Bury St Edmunds Cutting received two years hard labour and Barber eighteen months. Illustrations: J15 coming off Derham line at Wymondham with a freight (I.C. Allen); Wymondham station in 1911; Norwich Thorpe station c1911; Mildenhall station in 1910; E4 2-4-0 No. 62787 on passenger train at Mildenhall in 1950s (I.C. Allen); Bishops Stortford station in 1950s (R.E. Vincent); J17 0-6-0 No. 65582 at Mildenhall on freight train (I.C. Allen); Elwell station in 1952; diesel electric shunter at Thurston (I.C. Allen). See also letter from Author on p. 764 that one of captions infers that train was running through Mildenhall which was impossible as was a terminus. 

Peter Robinson. 100 years on — the Ais Gill accident revisited. Part one. 666-71.
The Ais Gill acident occurred during the early morning of 2 September 1913  when two overnight trains collided and fire broke out. A similar accident had happened at Hawes Junction on 24 December 1910 which also involved fire and Major J.W. Pringle was the Inspecting Officer for both. The first train was hauled by a 999 class 4-4-0 No. 993 hauling 240 tons, driven by William Nicholson and fired by James Metcalf and failed through shortage of steam on the climb in the section beyond Mallerstang. The second train was lighter (160 tons) and was hauled by a 2P class 4-4-0 No. 446 driver by Samuel Caudle and fired by George Follows. Due to being occupied with oiling the motion Caudle missed the signals at danger at Mallerstang and ran into the rear of the earlier train. Fire followed. The Inquiry opened on 5 September and due to its seriousnes J.H. Thomas, MP, the National Union of Railwaymen and the Trades Union Congress became involved much to the distaste of Cecil Paget   Issues included the poor qulaity coal supplied to Carlisle and the need to lubricate the engine whilst it was in motion and the lack of track circuits. The jury of the inquest held at Kirkby Stephen concluded on 19 September attempted to incriminate the locomotive inspector at Carlisle  and the rear guard of the stalled train, but the coroner rejected this. Concluded on page 46 of next Volume..

The cream of Devon and Cornwall. Roy Patterson. 672-4
Colour photo-feature: No. 1471 with single coach and van at Culmstock on Hemyock branch on 29 September 1962; N class No. 31855 at Okehampton with Padstow train on 12 July 1963; 0298 2-4-0WT No. 30587 at Tresarrett Siding on Wenford Bridge branch on 14 October 1960; No. 6868 Penrhos Grange entering Gwinear Road with 16.20 Truro to Penzance on 26 May 1962; No. 4564 climbing towards Carbis Bay on 12 August 1961; No. 41316 at Chilsworthy on Callington branch on 6 May 1961. See also letter from Stephen Abbott refering to journey on Hemyock branch on 20 October 1962 (Vol. 29 p. 61): KPJ made pilgrimage in summer 1960.

Birmingham New Street — as it was. Michael Mensing.  675-7
Colour photo-feature: Class 5 No. 44872 at Platform 3 with 10.15 ex-Manchester Piccadilly on 9 September 1961; Class 5 No. 45013 arriving Platform 9 with stock for 09.35 Sunday excursion to Rhyl on 30 August 1959 (carmine & cream LMS corridor coach introduces splash of colour into Stygian gloom); Britannia No. 70046 Anzac with stock for 13,40 for Liverpool and Manchester on 25 March 1961; Park Royal and Metro-Cammell DMUs forming 12.40 ex-Stafford leavin Platform 3 as empty stock on 26 August 1961; No. 46233 Duchess of Sutherland in ashen green livery with 16.02 Wolverhampton High Level to Euston on 24 March 1962; Jubilee No. 45704 Leviathan arriving with 09.35 from March on 9 September 1961; Class 5 No. 45324 arrived with 08.10 from Bangor on Sunday 20 September 1964 where evidence of transition into basement of shopping centre visible.

J.D. Bennett. The first railway guidebooks. 678-9.
A brief examination of printed guides (Ottley Class T preferred guide books) which were published very soon after the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway and by other early railways. The authorv notes that these guides are frequently a source of information about travel in those early days, such as the colour (green) used by railway police uniforms which otherwise followed those of the Metropolitan Police. The illustrations are reproductions from guides mainly to the Grand Junction Railway.

A.J. Mullay. What did you do in the War, Mr. Porter? Railway employment, enlistment and casualties in World War I. 680-5.
184,000 railway staff served in the armed services. In January 1916 conscription was introduced. Norman McKillop treated his military service almost as a diversion from his working life. Includes statistics of female recruitment, and loss of male employees, by LNWR, Midland, North Eastern and Great Western Railways. Also includes statistics showing the danger of being a shunter or a permanent way man at that time. Women had been employed as clerical staff before the outbreak of war. Attitude of National Union of Railwaymen towards women. Statistics of casualties from major railways including Great Central, South Eastern and Great Northern in addition to those railways noted above.  Notes the failure by Government to introduce any form of reserved occupation for railwaymen which led to staff shortages. Illustrations: Quintinshill disaster memorial at Rosebank Cemetery in Edinburgh; women munitions workers leaving Gretna Township during WW1; Royal Signals soldiers ex-Great North of Scotland Railway: see Robert Emblin on page 764; Royal Army Medical Corps troops also ex-GNSR; female porters at Marylebone Goods Station; female engine cleaners decorating a Gresley 2-6-0 No. 1657; lady porters with their supervisor on Metropolitan Railway. See also letter from John Bushby in V. 29 p. 125..

Jeremy Clarke. Robert Billinton: an underrated engineer? 686-91.
Condensed biography based mainly on Marx's excellent biography and notes on his 0-4-4T, 4-4-0, 0-6-0 and 0-6-2Ts; the last includes the preserved Birch Grove, stalwart of the Bluebell Railway. Billinton had to break with many of his illustrious predecessor, Stroudley's ideas, notably his abhorrence of bogies. Illustrations: D3 class 0-4-4T No. 365 Victoria (M.P. Bennett); B2X 4-4-0 No. 321 on down Portsmouth train near Mitcham Junction c1920; C2X  0-6-0 No. 32445 passing Edenbridge Town with freight for Norwood Yard on 7 June 1957; E4 0-6-2T No. 473 Birch Grove in service on LBSCR; E5 0-6-2T No. 8567 passing Honour Oak Park with train for London Bridge in June 1931 (George R. Grigs); B4 No. 70 Holyrood at Brighton shed in December 1901 (M.P. Bennett); E6 0-6-2T No. 32414 on Norwood Junction shed on 13 August 1949; B4 No. B62 passing Forest Hill in 1931 (George R. Grigs). See also letters from Charles Long PULLMAN  LIMITED EXPRESS used in official publicity in 1881 and Michael Field on page 61 of Volume 29 on D3 shot up on Romney Marsh during November 1942 Further information on D3 episode during WW2 from Rory Wilson in Volume 29 page 126.

London Transport above ground. Paul Joyce. 692
Colour photo-feature: Metadyne stock with car No. 54253 leading in red livery at Ealing Broadway with service for Upminster in 1979; R stock in aluminium livery at Stamford Brook with District Line service in 1979; and Bakerloo Line train in bus red livery with white LT roundels on sides at Queen's Park in 1979. See letter from Michael J. Smith on p. 61 of next volume on incorrect reference to Metadyne stock: should be former Metadyne (converted to Pneumatic Camshaft Mechanism or PCM)

Sitwell D. Williams. War memorial engines. 693-9.
Locomotives named following WW1 relating to individual bravery, battles and regiments in addition to the well-known Patriot (LNWR/LMS), Valour (GCR/LNER) and Remembrance (LBSCR/SR) which are not considered herein. The North British Railway sent 25 Class C 0-6-0 to France in October 1917 and all returned in 1919 and were named after generals and battles. As the names were painted on they were liable to prolonged disappearances or use on other locomotives. The names are considered individually with very brief notes on both the individual locomotives and the people or events concerned:
Sir Douglas Haig: No. 650 Haig withdrawn 1951, but Craigentinny staff named No. 65311 Haig and this was officially painted on at Inverurie in June 1955
Sir John French: No. 176 French; stored in May 1939, but reinstated and not withdrawn until 1962
Sir Julian Byng: No. 628 Byng
Edmund Allenby: No. 611 Allenby
Sir Henry Rawlinson: No. 620 Rawlinson withdrawn in 1937
Sir Charles Monro: No. 627 Monro withdrawn in 1937
Herbert Plumer: No. 657 Plumer withdrawn in 1960
Sir Hubert Gough: No. 659 Gough withdrawn in 1961
Sir Henry Horne: No. 660 Horne withdrawn in 1956
Sir William Birdwood: No. 662 Birdwood withdrawn in 1937
Sir Frederick Maude: No. 673 Maude: extant NRM
Three French generals were commemorated: No. 682 Joffre withdrawn in 1963; No. 627 Petain withdrawn in 1936 and No. 608 Foch withdrawn in 1937. Battlefields were commemorated in No. 648 Mons withdrawn in 1963; No. 612 Ypres withdrawn in 1947; No. 666 Marne withdrawn in 1935; No. 631 Aisne withdrawn in 1939; No. 647 Albert withdrawn in 1947; No. 676 Reims withdrawn in 1926; No. 646 Somme withdrawn in 1963; No. 615 Verdun withdrawn in 1939; No. 643 Arras withdrawn in 1947 and No. 605 St. Quentin withdrawn in 1934. The LNER Robinson Directors shared the names: Mons, Ypres, Marne and Somme. No. 661 Ole Bill withdrawn in 1939 completed the NBR names.
The London & North Western Railway began to commemorate people and events during the conflict: (mainly on the Prince of Wales class): No. 27 General Joffre; No. 1333 Sir John French; No. 2408 Admiral Jellicoe; No. 88 Czar of Russia; No. 877 Raymond Poincaré; No. 95 Gallipoli; No. 233 Suvla Bay; No. 126 Anzac; No. 2275 Edith Cavell; No. 1100 Lusitania. The Claughton class brought Nos. 2097 Patriot; 2401 Lord Kitchener, 13 Vindictive, 154 Captain Fryatt (employed by the Great Eastern Railway and executed by Germany); 1407 Lance Corporal J.A. Christie VC; 2035 Private E. Sykes VC and 1097 Private W. Wood VC. The Royal Scot class is then considered and the regiments commemorated are related to WW1.
Illustrations: J36 class: No. 9627 Petain on coal train; No. 9657 Plumer at Polmont in late 1930s (and colour illustration of the General in full dress upon a horse), No. 9661 Ole Bill. Former LNWR Prince of Wales No. 25662 Anzac at Crewe in April 1936; No. 25665 Suvla Bay at Crewe in 1935. Patriot class No. 5959 without a name at Camden in July 1932; No. 45537 Private E. Sykes VC on freight at Brent in 1960; Royal Scot No. 6100 and train (red: coloured postcard); No. 6100 Royal Scot at Montreal in 1933; No. 6121 H.L.I. with North British Locomotive Co. Hyde Park Works diamond works plate (official photograph); No. 46164 The Artist's Rifleman ex-works at Crewe in September 1948 (unrebuilt lined black livery); 46127 Old Contemptibles at Holyhead mpd in late LMS livery (Eric Treacy); No. 46112 Sherwood Forester having regimental badges unveiled at Nottingham Midland station on 18 September 1948; No. 46119 Lancashire Fusilier approaching Chester General with up Emerald Isle Express on 22 August 1951 (P.M. Alexander); Nos. 46144 Honourable Artillery Company and 46163 Civil Service Rifleman on Patricroft shed in May 1962 (J.R. Carter). See also letter from Alan J. Syng on page 61 of Volume 29 who adds to the list of German atrocities commemorated by the LNWR

Rolling stock focus: three LNER coaches. Mike King. 700
Colour photo-feature: ex-North Eastern Railway saloon No. E902179E (formerly used by locomotive superintendents and vehicle extant) at Morpeth in September 1963 (Roy Hobbs); passenger brake van No. E70586E with flat-sided timber planked bodywork at Leeds City station on 8 July 1964 (Bob Essery); LNER pigeon brake van No. E70262E: non-gangwayed 51ft long at Leeds City station on 8 July 1964 (Bob Essery).

Readers' Forum . 701

Green goes the Bournemouth train. Gerald Goodall
Re photograph of 'York-Bournemouth' on rear cover of the September issue. This train was until recently one of the great survivors. A former Great Central through working, it survived contraction, for one winter only, to a York-Banbury DMU working in the 1950s. This was reputed to be the longest DMU trip in the country at the time, but I doubt whether long-distance passengers were much impressed. Very enterprisingly, it survived the cessation of all other express passenger activity on the GC main line in 1960 and continued as a recognisably express service right up to final closure of the GC in September 1966. Traffic from the East Midlands, especially Nottingham, was always quite heavy and evidently considered worthwhile. It even survived the GC closure, being diverted to run via Derby and Birmingham New Street, becoming essentially the prototype for the cross-country services which developed. But the new links at St. Andrews and Bordesley Junctions, to enable trains to depart from New Street to the ex-GW main line via Solihill, were not yet ready. Undeterred, the train ran for a few months between Birmingham and Oxford via Worcester. In 1967 the links were ready, but things got even stranger. For unfathomable reasons, for some years the London Midland Region authorities were unwilling to contemplate reversing the train at New Street (though busy, the station was not that busy in those days). Therefore the southbound train went straight on at Saltley, on to the freight-only Camp Hill line avoiding Birmingham, then on the little-used north curve of the triangle at Lifford so as to come on to the main line from the south west and enter Birmingham via Five Ways. This brought it into New Street facing east, from which it could depart via the new links and Solihull. An extraordinary result of this was that, for about half a mile between St. Andrews and Bordesley Junctions, the train travelled twice on the same track in the same direction. It all added about twenty minutes to the journey. I then lived in a high tower block in Edgbaston and could see the train on its circuit for about 40 minutes, though not continuously. The northbound train, of course, did all this in reverse. Green SR coaches were indeed used on alternate days. One day, these were derailed in the North East on the southbound journey. Faced with the need to scratch up a twelve-coach inter-city train for the following morning's northbound working, the Southern assembled a wonderful collection of assorted stock in assorted liveries. If only there were a photograph! Since then, the train has been extended to and from Edinburgh, in some timetable periods to and from Aberdeen, including through running from and to Weymouth on summer Saturdays in 1991 (who knows that there was ever a Weymouth-Aberdeen service?); it was turned into an HST and then into Virgin 'Voyagers' - and then, so sadly, ceased. Arbitrarily constrained by the Regulator to reduce conflicts at New Street, Cross-Country now runs all the Bournemouth trains to and from Manchester (a 'Pines Express' every hour!). There are through trains between Southampton and the North East, but somehow these don't seem quite the same. As for the Nottingham and Leicester passengers who sustained the train in its darkest years, don't ask. See also letter from Leonard Rogers on p. 764

Give my regards to Broad Street. Mike Storey (ex-Head of Rail Projects, ODA) 
Re excellent article the reason the North London Line upgrade was undertaken so surprisingly quickly was due to the needs of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Major enhancements to the NLL service to Stratford was a vital part of the planned diversion of as many spectators as possible away from the tube and the major London termini. TfL and the Mayor had originally planned a more leisurely timescale for their London Orbital strategy, to ensure a spread of funding across a number of years. Once the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) agreed, after London won the bid, to contribute £105 million towards the expected c.£300 million cost, work was commissioned by TfL from Network Rail immediately, but it was to be extremely tight in project planning and construction terms. I add this just to ensure that another part of the legacy of 2012 is not forgotten!

Give my regards to Broad Street. Claude R. Hart  
Re East London Lines, via the Illustrated London News of November 1851!
If one left Fenchurch Street at this time, it would be under a "covered way lit by sash windows" (sic). These were considered necessary at the original construction of the Blackwall Railway to prevent accidents by horses taking fright from the noise and smoke of the engines as they "dart over the bridges crossing the streets of London". The ILN includes an engraving of such a bridge over the Minories. Next, Bow Spring Bridge, designed by L Clar, Esq and constructed by Messrs. Fox and Henderson of Birmingham comes in for particular comment. The watercress fields of Hackney also come in for a special mention. Travelling on via Kingsland and Islington the train would pass over 'the Great Northern Railway "and it is a curious sight to see a monster northern train, sixty feet below, entering the tunnel running under the extensive tract of land known as Copenhagen Fields". (In fact this area was developed very soon afterwards as a new Smithfield Market).
The ILN continues "From this bridge, looking down the gorge of a deep valley, we observe the lines of the direct York Railway gently curving to the entrance of the tunnel, which is a massive stone arch, with thick brick walls on either side, terminated by immense octangular piers, formed of brick with stone dressings. In the centre of the Great Northern Railway, a short distance from the tunnel are two immense piers, upwards of sixty feet in height, which support the viaduct of the Camden-Town Railway." Again an engraving shows the scene.
The railway claimed, in 1851, that 105,000 passengers were conveyed on this line during the week previous to the article being written. A great journey in a second class carriage for sixpence return, with trains starting every quarter of a hour from half-past eight in the morning till ten at night.Sounds like a great trip. I am off to book my ticket immediately.

Lead on. Paul Mahoney, Wellington, New Zealand 
Miles MacNair is to be congratulated for tacking such a Significant technical topic and also considering a global context in his 'Lead On' series. The following points are intended as a contribution to the further enhancement of the record he has assembled, rather than being picky.
Baker valve gear did have at least one other major application outside the USA (p.390). In New Zealand 91 Class J and Ja 4-8-2 locomotives, designed by the NZR, were built 1939-56 new with Baker gear. The UK connection is that 56 of these locomotives were built in the UK by the North British Locomotive Co. in two batches in 1939 and 1951. The other 35 were built in the Hillside workshops of the NZR. This class was held in esteem by crews for its free-running ability and turn of speed, frequently exceeding 100km/hr on level sections of the NZ 3ft 6in gauge. The Baker gear was found so successful that in 1949 the last two built of the larger Ka Class 4-8-4 were also Baker equipped.
The US poppet valve story warrants slightly more coverage, even within a largely UK context (p393). One valuable US source is Vernon Smith's wonderful 1987 autobiography One Man's Locomotives. In Chapter 3 Smith covers his career 1938-44 working as design engineer for the Franklin Railway Supply Co. which had the USA manufacturing rights for Lentz valves. Smith was involved in the design and improvement of several important US poppet valve locomotives, most notably the upgrade of Pennsylvania K4 4-6-2 (1939), the two prototype Pennsylvanian Class 4-4-4-4 (1942) and later with Santa Fe, the upgrade of 4-8-4 No.3752 (1948), very successful, but too late to be repeated.
Smith lists 13 US poppet valve conversions in the period 1926-35, both Caprotti and Lentz, and discusses some important US-European connections. For example, the chief engineer at Franklin, Julius Kirchhof, came originally from Austria, but had previously worked for the Dabeg Company in France, so he had Chapelon connections, and indeed Chapelon observed tests at Franklin in 1939. Smith notes that in 1938 only two of the 13 US poppet conversions remained in service. It was this US situation that Franklin aimed to turn around in 1938 when Smith joined to help improve the valves, gearboxes and drive systems.
Franklin's concept of an improved system of large passages, large areas through valves and suitably controlled valve events would fully utilise the latent capacity of the boiler. A further advantage was secured in mechanical efficiency; at high speeds the piston valves and ordinary valve gear of a locomotive may absorb as much as 200 to 300 horsepower to drive them. The Franklin gear at 500rpm of 80in wheels required only 3.3hp. Franklin's vision was stymied by World War 2 and a US government prohibition on the production of new locomotive designs. In the end the T1 Class of 52 locomotives was the only major US application of poppet valves. By then the diesel was entrenched. Smith also discusses some of the later US poppet locomotives. His book delves into technology, testing, diagnostics and service performance and is great reading on the whole poppet valve topic.
If he was alive Smith would take issue with the suggestion (p394) that running the T1s over 100mph "probably did the valve gear no good at all". Smith (p72) states that the T1 design specification was "to move an 880 ton train at 100mph on straight level track" on an engine run of total length 713 miles. Of the T1 in service he states (p74) "It is a matter of record that 6111 with 16 passenger cars averaged 102mph over for 69 miles on the Fort Wayne Division. In my opinion the T1s were the swiftest locomotives ever built... Only A. E. Durrant, of foreign writers, seems to have recognised that these locomotives were apart from all others in speed". Smith comes across as a competent engineer and man of high personal integrity, and so his views are worthy of consideration in the wonderful mix that reveals history.
Finally, the topic of sleeve valves - which may be the focus of Miles's third instalment. In New Zealand sleeve valves were successfully applied by J. McGregor & Co. of Dunedin to two small forestry railway locomotives built in 1927 and 1929. This innovative locomotive design is described and illustrated on p. 132-4 of my 1998 book on New Zealand bush tramways. [KPJ: Bulleid had New Zealand roots!]

Doing her bit for the Country. A.J. Mullay 
Re Rosa Matheson's article writer was concerned by assertion that "railwaymen were placed under the restriction of 'protected occupations' dictating if and when they could go [to join the armed forces]". Mullay's research, published above shows that the authorities looked on railways as huge manpower reservoirs for the army. So much so that Herbert Walker, acting chairman of the Railway Executive Committee, sought an interview with Lord Kitchener, Minister of War, in February 1915 to discuss the pressure being applied to the railways to release staff. The old warhorse accepted —- in principle — that railwaymen could not be recruited indiscriminately, but Walker had to agree to an immediate assessment of what tasks on the railway could be undertaken by women and youths. The companies also had to agree to the cancellation of nearly 1,900 vetos where they were attempting to prevent staff leaving for the forces.
As far as can be seen, the 'catch all' legislation of 1916 included railwaymen as well as every other fit male between 18 and 41. No wonder the Transport Battalions had to be established later that year, a sure sign that the recruitment of men was far too comprehensive. Coalminers were similarly being accepted in droves by the armed forces, not the most forward-looking of poltctes and the cause of a massive production deficit within a year. These were lessons learned and put into effect in World War  2.

The Lincoln to Grantham line. Joseph Cliffe
Re photograph captions: writer knew this line in the 1940/50s and to his knowledge the C12 4-4- 2Ts were never used on this line. Those at Grantham and Lincoln were used solely on station pilot duties as No.4009A shown in the photograph. The C12s at Langwith did run in to Lincoln, on the LDEC line from Chesterlield, for a period in the late 1940s. In his experience tank engines were very rare on the Grantham line. Even the L1s and A5s latterly at Grantham and Lincoln were used elsewhere on other lines in Lincolnshire and to Nottingham and Derby.
The date of the photograph on p541 of D2 4-4-0 No.3044 at Waddington could not have been 1946 as stated, as the locomotive is shown still with the earlier long chimney as built. I knew this engine well with a short chimney in 1946, as the whole class had been so fitted since c1935, which predates the photograoh as earlier than this. As a footnote, I saw one of the last 'Klondyke' 4-4-2s No.3250 in 1943 at Grantham working a Lincoln train.

Surrey days. Robin Leleux 
Considered John Chapman lucky to see Schools Class locomotives daily on the North Downs Line when he was growing up at the end of the 1950s and into the '60s. When writer lived overlooking the line at Chilworth as a boy ten years earlier (1950-55) a Southern 'namer' was very much a rarity. Indeed I can only recall two occasions although I expect there were more. The 'Birkenhead' was indeed the top train of the day, but it never produced anything more interesting than a Maunsell Mogul, usually a Class U, occasionally an N. It would come westwards soon after 12.00 noon and eastwards before about 2.15 pm. With a lengthy train of carmine and cream coaches it was a fine sight and contrasted with the rakes of elderly SECR 'birdcage' stock on the locals, either in vermillion or green. The only named locomotive we regularly saw in summer was a GWR Manor; for years it was always No.7821 Ditcheat Manor; later No.7814 took over. We did, though, still regularly see elderly LSWR and SECR 4-4-0s. Despite living so close to the line, only once could we persuade Mother to bring us back from Guildford on the train; this was because the station was at the further end of the village while the 425 bus stopped outside the gate. Had we stayed I would no doubt have followed my elder brother to Dorking Grammar School and he went daily on the train. As it was in August 1955 we moved house to Northampton which opened up the delights of the West Coast Main Line.

Book Reviews. 702

Manchester buses from the platform. Ron Barton. Sonnick Publications. 393 pp.  RW ****
Comprehensive and well illustrated description of the organisation and day to day operation of part of a major municipal bus system, run by and for the benefit of the citizens, in sharp contrast to the present-day privatised hotchpotch of service, run largely for the benefit of the directors and shareholders.

The Birmingham to Gloucester Line. Colin Maggs. Amberley Publishing. 176 pp. £16.99.  RH ****
This latest contribution to the B&G library is a good one, covering its early history, a mile-by-mile description of the line, its locomotives, rolling stock, working the notorious Lickey incline, train services, etc. There is strong emphasis on the early years, balanced by the many illustrations of more recent times. The broad structure of history is offset by some revealing details: drink-drive problems amongst B&G drivers, the close link between the B&G and coal gas production. The B&G story really starts with the early Gloucester & Cheltenham Tramway, dealt with later in a narrative that rounds off with detailed appendices, three of which cover the B&G's unusual locomotive stock which included a series of American-designed, and in some cases built, Norris type 4-2-0s.

The Newton Abbot to Kingswear Railway. C.R. Potts. Oakwood Press, 351pp. First edition, 1995, Second revised edition, 2014. AB *****
Carefully considered, revised edition reflects the commitment and the authority on the part of the author as to his subject. In each of the twelve chapters and the seven appendices new and wider contextualised resources — of primary and secondary status, of direct local and related national significance and of authoritative first-person contributions — have given this study safely established critical foundations. ... a spectacular range of photographs illustrating the progress of the line in a wide context of circumstances and situations, not least that of the community perspective in terms of railway, place and time. This book has been a pleasure to review: a superlative work of railway history that must surely be a landmark in its field: a credit to both its author and publisher

Signal boxes on Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway lines: north and west of Manchester: Part Two. Chris Littleworth. Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Society, 162pp. MB *****
Part One of this work reviewed in the May issue and can only reiterate the praise lavished on that. This part covers the L YR's Central Line, basically encompassing the area serving Manchester, Bury, Bolton Rochdale, Accrington, Bacup and branches in-between. All the signal boxes within this area are described with track and signalling plans, most with accompanying photograph, operational notes and dates of opening and closure. Many of the photographs are interior shots, showing the robustly constructed lever frames from the railway's own signal works at Horwich. Other interesting details include appendices describing the staffing and wage grading at the boxes and amendments and additions to Part One. A very readable opening chapter 'In the Box: How the trains were kept moving' explains some of the principles of signalling operations, the purpose of signal box diagrams, the thoughts behind the logical (or sometimes not!) arrangement of levers and the facilities within the box for their operatives; we should remember that these chaps often lived quite a spartan existence. There is also a section describing the signalling arrangements on the heritage East Lancashire Railway (which also, of course, appears earlier in the work when it was still part of the 'working' railway network) on which some commendable installations have been commissioned and are continuing to be brought into use. Outstanding historical work from one of the most active specialist railway societies.

The railways of Carnforth the town and its ironworks. Philip Grosse. Barrai Books, 174 pp, MB *****
The Lancashire town of Carnforth is one of those places that started from a small settlement to become a railway centre of some importance, situated on the West Coast Main Line and junction for the Furness lines and the Midland to Hellifield and Leeds. Its name became well known in the end for having one of the very last steam depots on BR in 1968, then for securing a place as a leading centre in the world of heritage locomotive and train operation, while along the way it secured a place for itself in cinema legend. Yet for all that, not much has been written about the town's wider role in the railway and industrial scene, which this excellent book admirably addresses. We have the expected history of the railways which passed through and started from Carnforth before the book gives due consideration to one of the once significant, but now lost and largely forgotten, industries of the Furness area — the mining of iron ore and the establishment of the Carnforth Haematite Iron Company's works (closed in 1929). The three railway companies present in Carnforth once had their own sheds until LMS days and the large shed which we know was completed by the latter in 1944; Italian prisoners-of-war were employed as labourers during the project. In 1960 the depot had 130 footplatemen of various grades and its top link had turns to London on the Heysham boat trains and fast fitted freights. Goods traffic was important at Carnforth and a chapter is devoted to the subject, both freight passing through and originating there, with the LNWR, Midland and Furness companies all having depots, and there were exchange and marshalling yards. Some extracts from the working timetables give an idea of the nature of Carnforth freight traffic and we are reminded of the busy night-time activity with letters and parcels to and from the neighbouring sorting office (which lasted until 1991) and then the fish and newspaper trains which called in the early hours for local traders. Another chapter surveys the signalling arrangements and the track layouts at the signal boxes. The station lost its WCML platforms in 1970 and became unstaffed in 1988 after which its largely abandoned and boarded-up building presented a depressing sight. In the 1990s, however, Carnforth station's role in the well-known 1945 film Brief Encounter came to be the basis for a regeneration plan and work began to rescue the buildings from the doldrums of decay. Today we can appreciate the Carnforth Station and Railway Trust's achievements with the creation of a visitor centre, the reopening of the refreshment room replicating the studio setting of the film and the renovation of the famous clock above the subway. This is a well researched, well illustrated and well produced work which I have no hesitation in recommending.

Permanent way special. David Idle. rear cover 
Class 8F 2-8-0 No. 48554 with short permanent way train joining West Coast Main Line at Leighton Buzzard off Dunstable branch on 8 Februry 1964. See letter from Richard Barrow on p. 764.

Issue 12 December 2014

King Arthur 4-6-0s Nos.30787 Sir Menadeuke and 30784 Sir Nerovens with Lord Nelson No.30859 Lord Hood line up at Eastleigh shed in April 1957. (Colour-Rail). front cover

Colm Flanagan. The UTA's finest train. 708-13
Ulster Transport Authority's diesel electric multiple units using similar English Electric traction equipment to that used on the Southern Region Hastings units. The vehicles were constructed at Duncrae Street, Belfast and the trailers were former corridor steam stock including restaurant cars (for a brief period). They were employed on Belfast to Londonderry (Derry) services. Illustrations (mostly colour and taken by Richard Whitford): power car No. 71 on 28 May 1966; No. 75 at Ballmoney with train for Londonderry on 18 May 1979; No. 71 leading 08.20 departure from Belfast; seven-car train travelling along shore at Downhill (west of Coleraine) with 08.40 from  Londonderry on 10 August 1969; No. 73 at Clipperstown on 17 May 1983; eleven-car set with only two power cars on Sunday School excursion to Portrush on 7 June 1975 (Jonathan Allan: b&w); No. 71 and its train being recovered by railway brakedown crane on 11 July 1979 following it hit by a car on a level crossing near Ballymoney on 9 July (Jonathan Allan: b&w); Sealink liverish livery set between Magheramorne and Glynn on 14.30 from York Road to Larne Harbour on 17 May 1983 (is photography only possible in May in Ulster?). See also letter from W.H. Laird in Vol. 29 p. 125.

Paul Joyce. Berkshire's least known branch Line. 714-18
Reading Central Goods Branch was auithorised by an Act of 4 August 1905 and opened on 4 May 1908 to alleviate cramped freight handling arrangements on main line and complication of exchange with SECR/SR at eastern end.  Simonds Brewery was served by a siding from it. Although it terminated alongside the Kennet Navigation the branch lacked locomotive water and tended to be operated by tender engines. An Anglo-American OIl depot was installed on it. Illustratiions: Reading West looking west; map; junction off to Central Goods branch prior to Southcote Junction; plan of depot; Central Goods Yard, c.1919; Goods Depot with difficult caption; 2251 0-6-0 No. 2245 on 3 November 1956; No. 76058 on LCGB rail tour on 5 February 1967. See also two-part feature in Great Western Railway Journals: Volume 10 p. 422 and 11 p. 24. and letters from D.W. Hadley and K. Cockell in next Volume on page 126. refuted by Joyce on p. 189 (Vol. 29).

Mike Bunn. Inferno under the Pennines: the story of the fuel tanker train fire in Summit Tunnel 30 years ago this month. 719-23.
Summit Tunel was constructed between 1837 and 1841 for the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway. The accident happened on 20 December 1984 and involved a train train of bogie tank wagons owned by Procor (UK) Ltd on hire to ICI Petrochemicals and Plastics Division. The fire led to very high temperatures: 1350°C which fused the ballast and melted the rails, but remarkably the tunnel survived. Illustrations taken by Raymond Banyard and by the West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service and by the Greater Manchester Fire Service include flames roaring from the ventilation shafts; smoke pouring from the shafts; firemen fighting the flames in the early stages; providing a water curtain at the tunnel portal to contain the fire, attempts to communicate communication, and the damaged vehicles and track.

Geoffrey Skelsey. 'A Sideshow of a Sideshow': Lawrence, the Hejaz Railway and the Great War. 724-8.
The Hejaz Railway is mentioned frequently in the old Locomotive Magazine when the railway, like the one at the North West Frontier of India was still under construction, thus it was a surprise to find an article about it in Backtrack. The general aim of the Hejaz Railway was to link Turkey, the heart of the Ottoman Empire, with Medina (for the Holy City of Mecca) via Damascus (the actual starting point for the Hejaz Railway) to cater for the Muslim pilgrimage, or Hajj. The article uses the original terminology of Madinah and Makkah (but the original names are Arabic). During WW1 the railway gained in strategic significance as it provided a route for the Axis powers to block the towards the Anglo-French Suez Canal. T.E. Lawrence diverted Turkish resources by attacking the railway during WW1. Illustrations: Sultan Abdulhamid II who promted the railway; Lietenant-Colonel T.E. Lawrence with assorted Middle Eastern potentates at the Paris Peace conference in 1919; monument to railway unveiled in Haifa on 1 September 1905 and extant at time of publication; map of railway; Al Ula station dwarfed by landscape; train in Hejaz station and pilgrim in transit by train to Mecca in about 1910. See also letter from Keith Chester on p. 125 who travelled on Hejaz Railway in 1975..

John C. Hughes. Peeping Tom. 729-33
Same author wrote brief article on single incident: Volume 5 page 295. Compartments in railway trains provided opportunities for amourous adventures by passengers and for the purient observation of such cavorting by other passengers or by railway staff, some of whom became casualties from their behaviour.

North British whereabouts. David Idle. 734-5.
Colour photo-feature: J37 No. 64569 on RCTS railtour at St. Andrews station on 28 August 1965 before deparing towards Crief and Thornton Junction; Caprotti Standard Clas 5 No. 75153 on 13.15 Glasgow Buchanan Street to Dundee West near Castlecary on 21 April 1963 (caption states on NBR main line: no CR metals see Editorial confession); preserved No. 256 Glen Douglas on Jacobite railtour at Crianlarich on 1 June 1963

Arthurian legends. 736-9.
Colour photo-feature: N15 (King Arthur class) No. 30784 Sir Nerovens at Eastleigh in April 1957; No. 30798 Sir Hectimere departing Waterloo on 14.54 to Basingstoke on 17 April 1952 (C.J. Gemmell); No. 30788 Sir Urre of the Mount approaching Millbrook with 10.40 Bournemouth to Waterloo in the summer of 1961; No. 30796 Sir Dodinas le Savage departing Cannon Street on 17.45 to Ashford on 31 May 1958 (R.C. Riley) David Cable (Vol. 29, p. 125) takes issue on caption to this picture on six-wheel tender usage; No. 30765 Sir Gareth at Woking with train from Southampton; No. 30453 King Arthur at Nine Elms on 8 September (R.C. Riley); No. 30796 climbing Sole Street bank with train mainly painted in carmine & cream in August 1958 (Ken Wightman); No. 30451 Sir Lamorak at Waterloo on 12.54 to Bournemouth on 14 August 1961; No. 30791 Sir Uwaine passing Winchfield with an up stopping train from Basingstoke in January 1959 (T.B. Owen); No. 30794 Sir Ector de Maris passing Ravensbourne with Victoria to Ramsgate train on 21 July 1957 (Ken Wightman).

Eric Bruton on the West Coast Main Line. 740-3.
Black & white photo-feature: de-streamlined Coronation class Pacific No. 46247 City of Liverpool hauling 10.15 relief service from Glasgow to London at Thrimby Grange on 11 June 1950 (tender still lettered "LMS"); Jubilee class No. 45630 Swaziland on up Class H freight in Lune Gorge on 26 May 1952; Class 5 No. 45191 on Bushey water troughs with 07.10 from Northampton to Euston on 30 June 1951; Ramsbotton Special Tanks (0-6-0ST) Nos. CD7; CD6 and CD3 at Wolverton Carriage Works on 10 October 1954; G2A No. 49245 on descent from Shap near Skew Bridge with 10.30 express freight from Old Junction Warrington to Carlisle Viaduct Yard on 7 June 1950; 4F No. 44121 approaching Penrith No. 1 signal box with permanent way Ballast train on 5 June 1950 

Geoffrey Skelsey. Tickets, please! 744-5.
Mainly a celebration of the Thomas Edmondson ticket which characterised passenger travel, but is now only seen on heritage railways and disappeared from British Railways in 1990. Latterly the in-house printing was performed at Crewe. The Netherlands Railways are about to dispense with tickets and the Oyster Card has brought ticketless travel to London. With one exception all the illustrations are in colour: Birmingham Snow Hill ticket offices (exterior) (Robert Darlaston); LMS blank single ticket written out for travel from Birmingham Snow Hill to Hockley (issued at Alvechurch in 1960); City & South London Railway Bank to London Bridge single issued in 1904; LNER privilege single Marylebone to Loughborough Central issued in 1966; British Railways Workmen's Return Croxley Green to Wembley Central; interior of Paddington ticket office in 1920s (black & white); Southern Railway Government Rate Wokingham to Aldershot single; Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway first class golf return from Londonderry to Buncrana where the links still exist in Railway Road, but; British Railways single Birmingham Snow Hill to Great Bridge South and Liverpool Overhead Railway double single ticket for James Street to Seaforth Sands. See also letters on page 125 of V. 29 from Stephen Abbott; from Andrew Kleissner and from John Macnab (the last with a shaggy dog story) and comment on these from Brian Pask on p. 190.

Edward Gibbins. The Isle of Wight railway closures. Part 2. 746-53.
The British Railways 1963 Reshaping Plan proposed closing all lines on the Isle of Wight and the reactions of the County Council and the various tourist bodies as expressed through the deliberations of the Transport Users' Consultative Committee are examined. The line to Cowes closed in February 1966; but part is operated as a seasonal heritage railway. Illustrations: all Island O2 class as motive power except last: W35 Freshwater leaving Shanklin for Ventnor with 17.05 ex-Pier Head on 3 August 1964 (colour: David Idle); W32 Bonchurch leaving Ryde for Ventnor  on 25 May 1958; W20 Shanklin climbing from Cowes on 11.24 for Ryde on 3 August 1964 (colour: David Idle); W31 Chale arriving Ryde St. John's Road on 15 January 1966 (T.J. Edgington); W33 Bembridge crossing River Medina with 12.35 Ryde to Cowes on 5 February 1966 (T.J. Edgington); W14 Fishbourne at St. John's Road with train for Cowes on 11 April 1961; W28 Ashey entering loop at Wroxall with 18.20 Ventnor to Ryde on 31 July 1964 (colour: David Idle); W33 Bembridge at Ventnor on 15 January 1966 (T.J. Edgington); W27 Merstone and W29 Alverstone at Newport on 2 March 1963 (colour: Paul Strong); W31 Chale on Cowes train at Newport on 21 April 1957; W24 at Ryde St. John's Road with train for Cowes on 15 January 1966 ; ex-London Transport tube stock heading into tunnel leaving Ryde Esplanade on 3 Septenber 1967 (last 3: T.J. Edgington)

R.A.S. Hennessey. From the 'Met' to the Mersey. 754-5.
The Hammersmith & City line was a joint operation of the Great Western Railway which generated the electricity at Park Royal and converted it to direct current for traction via La Cour converters, and the Metropolitan Railway. The multiple units were jointly owned by the two companies, but for accounting purposes each owned individual vehicles. Following the Liverpool Blitz which damaged or destroyed some Mersey Railway multiple units it was decided to prepare some stored London Transport vehicles for use in Liverpool. These were repainted in LMS livery and adapted to be capable of running on 3-rail sections. They were never actually used in service in Liverpool, but the illustration shows one such unit, possibly on test in the Mersey area.

Mike G. Fell. The Centenary of Hull's King George Dock. 756-62.
The Hull Dock Company came into existence in 1777 with a dock off the River Hull. This dock closed in 1930 and was filled in to bdecome the Queen's Gardens. The Hull Dock Company was a monopoly until the Hull, Barnsley & West Riding Junction Railway & Docks Company was formed to construct the Alexandra Dock and a railway from Cudworth to Hull. Royal Assent was given on 26 August 1880 and the formal opening of Alexandria Dock took place on 18 July 1886. The Hull Joint Dock Act was obtained on 9 August 1899 to build what became the King George Dock on a 206 acre site reclaimed from the Humber, but from which direct access was obtained. The engineers were Richard Pawley of the Hull & Barnsley and Thomas Monk Newell of the North Eastern Railway. Samuel Pearson & Son were the contractors. The consulting engineers were Arthur Cameron Hurtzig and Sir John Wolfe-Barry. The formal opening took place on 26 June 1914 and was perfomed by King George V who arrived on the Royal Train from Retford which had departed at 10.45 behind three-cylinder Atlantic No. 2164 with Dent and Butterworth, General Managers of the Great Northern and Northern Railways in attendance.. Three special trains were run from London, one from Birmingham (via the Hull & Barnsley route); one from Liverpool, one from Bradford, one from Newcastle and one fom Sunderland, Breakfast was served on the outward journeys and dinner on the return. The LNER absorbed all the docks in Hull, The British Transport Commission Docks Board took them over and there was a long period of labour discontent until the National Dock Labour Scheme was abolished. Associated British Ports was formed in 1982 to run the docvks in Hull and elsewhere and following a period of decline the dock is enjoying prosperity with a container terminal, a ferry to Rotterdam and coal and biomass imports to supply fuel for electricity generation. The railway connection has been the subject of extensive capital expenditure. Illustrations: S. Pearson & Son wagon being tipped during construction of embankment on 31 January 1907; lock bottom inner set of gates; Hunslet locomotive working on wooden appproach jetty; lock pit after flooding with Dock Master's house under construction; Z1 Atlantic departing York during LNER period; Charles Edward Dixon painting for souvenir booklet for dock opening; another Dixon painting showing floating crane in action; coal hoists in operation in 1952; Blue Funnel vessel and grain silo; WD No. 90352 passing King George Dock Junction signal box; author with nameplate of No, 56 039 APB Port of Hull on 19 July 1994; No. 56 087 in EWS livery inside Hull Steel Terminal on 2 October 1997 (the Dixon paintings and Class 56 locomotives in colour)

Don Rowland. The Testers. 762-3
Photographs taken with a Box Brownie camera on 9 February 1948 of locomotives ex-Crewe Works being run on test: Royal Scot (in red livery) No. 6140 The King's Royal Rifle Corps, class 5 No. M 4841; and Rebuilt Patriot No. 5526 Morecambe and Heysham in LMS 1946 livery.

Readers' Forum. 764-5

Welsh waysides. Editor

Welsh waysides. G.L. Huxley
Reason for the presence of the Midland Railway/LMS trains on the eastern approach to Brecon from Hereford

The first railways to Selby. J. Whiteing
Written from Huddersfield noting that Selby was in the West Riding, as was Goole (and KPJ so was Saddleworth) until translated into "North Yorkshire" and that the East Coast Route ran through all three Ridings plus York

The first railways to Selby. Leonard Rogers
Notes that the tunnel under Richmond Hill on the approach to Leeds was opened up when the line was widened in the 1890s.

Steaming through the Thames Valley. John Pearse
Suggests that first picture does not depict No. 7033 Hartlebury Castle, but possibly No. 4085 Berkeley Castle. No. 6023 King Edward II was not in Sonning cutting, but at Ruscombe.

Permanent way special. Richard Barrow.
Train photographed might have been a S&T concrete train associated with a new cable route alongside track

What did you do in the War, Mr. Porter? Robert Emblin
Royal Signals not formed until 1920: hence must have been Telegraph Battalion of the Royal Engineers

The Yatton to Witham branch. Chris Foren.
Diesel railcar destroyed by fire stated as being "No. 17": was improbable as was a parcels car: car on fire was probably No. 37

Robberies on the G.E.R. Alistair F. Nisbet.
Caption infers that train was running through Mildenhall which was impossible as was a terminus

Green goes the Bournemouth train. Leonard Rogers
York to Banbury DMU prelude to total collapse of cross-country services

Lead on. David Rollins
Number of pins in Gresley form of valve gear.

The Castle Cary to Dorchester line. Rory Wilson
Date of photograph of Castle Cary station on page 623 that is post May 1968; that the Weymouth "branch" from Castle Cary had been the original main line; and the bombing on 3 September 1942 which killed the signalman, the fireman on No. 1729 and two in the Railway Hotel.

The Chacewater to Newquay branch. Tony Finney
noted that he travelled in an auto trailer on the line in July 1953 and has never seen a picture of one.

The Isle of Wight closures. Richard Vote
Suggests that the Island's railways should have been allowed to atrophy naturally without being nationalised (but an Act to leave out the Island would have been a non-starter KPJ). Nevertheless, the article notes the ingenuity of the Island's local management (total absent in today's shambles): perhaps what was left should have been run like the Vale of Rheidol. Response from original author in letter in Vol. 29 p. 190.

The Isle of Wight closures. George Moon
Suggests that Ventnor was excommunicated to save rolling stock

Surrey Days. John Roake
Writer observed the line in period 1953-7 when D, E and L SECR classes and D15 and T9 were still hauling the birdcage sets (KPJ: during 1954 KPJ travelled several times on line from North Camp, but by then E and D15 types had gone).

Surrey Days. Jeremy Clarke. 765
Residual use of Schools class on this strange backwater and elsewhere

Book Reviews. 765
KPJ: no attempt has been made to reduce the reviews in size: they are all models of what a good review should be and in the case of the Maggs book the reviewer is far more generous than KPJ in his own published review.

Railways of Ireland — 180th Anniversary 1834-2014. Charles Winchester (edited by John Christopher). Amberley. 96pp. DWM *
A strange book, nicely produced but a strange book nonetheless! Although purporting to celebrate 180 years of railways in the island of Ireland — and indeed 2014 was the 180th anniversary of the opening of the Dublin and Kingstown — the introduction 'to this edition' states that "the main text of this book comes from the Railway Wonders of the World which was edited and largely written by Clarence Winchester ... it was originally published in weekly parts issued from 1935 to 1936. It provides a fascinating period perspective on Ireland's Railways". The potential purchaser is therefore buying a book which is made up of three parts:
The text which was written in 1935-6 and thus hardly reflects 180 years of Irish railways. An 'image archive', which is a catholic selection of photographs, some splendidly fascinating, several fairly recent, some quite poorly produced, none really supporting the text - and quite what a 'Kestral' was is hard to fathom as neither hawk nor Class V compound fits the bill!
And the reproduction of the GSR's leaflet 'Touring for Health and Pleasure' (published in 1935) which does, at least, give a strong period flavour.
The coloured reproductions of a number of evocative posters are probably the book's saving grace. All of which comes back to your reviewer's first statement, a strange book using reprinted 1930s material to celebrate — it says across the top of the front cover — a 180th anniversary! Maybe your reviewer is just miffed that he didn't think of the idea first; but this is probably not a book to commend itself very readily to Backtrack readers.

Loco Motion. Michael R. Bailey. The History Press. 216pp. RG *****.
This beautifully produced book is not to be confused with the book Locomotion by Nicholas Faith published some years ago following a television series. Michael Bailey's book is everything you would expect and look forward to in a book about the thing that he and his colleagues excel at! That is Early Steam Locomotives!
There is a splendid foreward by Sir Neil Cossons, followed by a detailed glossary which enables the author to go quite deeply into technical matters concerning construction matters later on in the body of the book. A bibliography references statements chapter by chapter. Chapter 20 states where all the locomotives in the volume can be found.
The author brings together the information about about nearly one hundred locomotives from almost fifty sites around the world. The outcome from The History Press is superb and I cannot fault it. The nineteen chapters divide up the world's stock of 1803 to 1850 locomotives, components and replicas by date and type. I particularly like the choice of chapter heading called 'The Planet Suite' for what followed the' Rocket Type'. There is so much that I didn't know about these early machines, especially the ones based in the USA that I have really been pleased to learn so much about.
Michael writes in an accessible style and goes into considerable technical detail on the various characteristics of these early machines illustrating the points with black and white photographs taken by himself or his colleagues. For me this is delightful because it is so clear that he really understands the finer points of the designs. In many cases the evidence that has been brought into the public domain by the series of Early Railway Conferences is there set out for all to see and enjoy learning about in Michael's book. That is very gratifying for all those who have helped make the conferences work to share information on Early Railways.
There is in the centre section of the book a set of splendid colour prints of what the author considers are the principal players in this selection of locomotives. This does mean a bit of rummaging amongst the pages when reading about particular specimens to get the full picture.
One of the enduring images that I am left with at the end of reading this volume is that photograph on p40 of the bifurcation of the flues in front of the furnace inside the Agenoria's boiler. What a metalworking nightmare to have to construct and make safe and steamtight! It is a good job that risk assessments were not mandatory in 1829!
This is not a coffee table book! It is a fine piece of acedemic work correctly researched and referenced, and a must for people who are knowledgeable about, and love, early steam locomotives, yet thirst for more! You will not be disappointed!

The Ely and St. Ives Railway. Peter Paye. Oakwood Press.176pp, GBS *****
The relentless emphasis on the supposed crimes of the 'infamous' Richard Beeching tends to obscure the unhappy fact that railway closures had been proceeding for decades before his 1963 Report, with a notable spike in the grave recession years of 1929-1931. The unfortunate LNER, bereft of the handsome profits from its predecessors' lucrative coal and steel traffic, was especially hard hit and the subject of Peter Paye's admirable new book was only one of many victims of its urgent quest for economies. The regular passenger service between Ely and St. Ives ended on 2nd February 1931 having lasted less than a lifetime.
Wandering somewhat indirectly across the featureless fens, neatly avoiding such settlements as existed (located as they were on high ground) the railway never greatly prospered. Agricultural depression didn't help and an interesting table shows the area's steadily declining population, which partly correlates with the fall in passenger traffic. The latter was never robust: even in 1921 total passenger journeys averaged fewer than 70 a day from six stations and on eight trains. This was far too few to justify a conventional train service, but a minimally-engineered, staffed, and operated light railway might have fared better, for a time at least. The line soldiered on with its modest goods traffic, including substantial loads of sugar beet from the 1920s, as well as the soft fruit traffic which was a feature of the fenland districts (but costly to handle). Remarkably, in modern terms, some seasonal passenger traffic survived too, with annual excursions to the seaside. Inevitably all this dwindled and from 1957 the through route was severed to avoid the need for track renewal. The two spurs lasted a few more years but all had gone by 1964.
In many ways this was the archetypical branch line. Very little of note happened to it, apart from a few minor derailments, some incidental deaths on the line, the destruction by fire of Sutton station in 1921 and a surge of military-related traffic in the Second World War. But the minutiae of rural railway life are fascinating and are described here in affectionate detail.
Peter Paye has built up a formidable reputation from a long series of books dealing with minor railways, mostly but not exclusively, in East Anglia. They follow an established and successful formula, covering chronological history, route description, signalling and staff, train services and rolling stock. Drawing on a wealth of thoroughly- researched archival material, including minute books, working timetables, sectional appendices, local newspapers and personal reminiscence, the method works especially well when covering fairly short, self-contained lines like this one. Mr. Paye evidently has an enviable access to a wealth of unpublished illustrations and also uses superb maps and track diagrams which are a lesson to other authors. The result is works like this, of encyclopaedic comprehensiveness which can surely never be bettered.

A History of the Great Western Railway. Colin Maggs. Amberley Press. 152pp. DMA****
Are the best books on railway history to be found in second-hand shops? Perhaps you are like me foraging shelves for books of 50 or more years ago by classic authors long departed. The downside of this is to have a collection with torn sun-faded dust jackets, often smelling of stale tobacco. So it was a pleasure to receive a new book, dust jacket brightly coloured, black ink letters on pages bride white and crisp, with a fresh from the printing press smell. 50 how does it compare with the books of earlier generations? Now Colin Maggs's book is not a latter day MacDermot, it is titled A History of the Great Western Railway rather than MacDermot's confident History of the Great Western Railway. This book is aimed at the general reader rather than being an historian's work of reference and what it sets out to do it does well. Its language is clear and light, which makes for a relaxed read in a summer deckchair or by a winter fire and is fit for those already familiar with the GWR and for those who always wanted to learn but were afraid to ask.
A book describing the history of a railway is essentially a book about a business and businesses are not necessarily the subject of a riveting read. Where Maggs is strongest is in the heroic days of the Great Western Railway. The Scottish diver Alexander Lambert descending into the dark and flooded Severn Tunnel, slowly working his way 1,000 feet along a shaft to close a valve. Birkenhead shunter Norman Tunna climbing into the wagon of a munitions train to remove a German incendiary bomb with his bare hands. The tale of routine business at other times does not have this excitement, but it still gives the reader an idea of the experience of being a passenger or employee of the GWR.
There is very little on locomotive performance; no mention of the 'Cheltenham Flyer' for example, but there was always more to the Great Western Railway than copper-capped steam locomotives. What the reader will learn is how chocolate and cream paint was applied to aircraft, buses and diesel railcars as well as to railway carriages. The GWR was often forward thinking and a pioneer in different modes of transport. It is currently fashionable to look back at a nationalised golden age of British Railways but what damage was done in 1948 in splitting up sea, road, rail and air and replacing a customer focused management team with centralised state control?
The book is well illustrated in monochrome and colour with photographs of locomotives and reproductions of GWR posters. This writer's favourite was a poster aimed at potential customers in New York. Unfettered by the trades description act it sells a dream of a Weston-super-Mare abundant with sophisticated bathing beauties drinking wine as red as their swimsuits. One hopes that any New Yorkers who saw this and booked a holiday were not disappointed when they arrived. The one disappointment in this book is perhaps in its ending. The Great Western Railway's role in the Second World War is described along with wartime experiences of staff and passengers. Then the story tails off with no clear description of how and why the GWR ceased to exist in 1948. But that aside this is a comprehensive study of an important British company that provided a public service, made money and at the same time managed to find its way into the public consciousness.

Index to Volume 28. 766

Working hard at Polkemmet. Paul Strong. rear cover
Andrew Barclay 0-6-0T built in 1912, painted in lurid livery, working in West Lothian at Polkemett Colliery in November 1977.

Updated 2015-03-17