Railway World
Volume 49 (1988)
Key file

Number 573 (January)

Charles Long. Pullman postscript. Part 1. 6-11.
Material aditional to that contained in Brian Haresnape's Pullman: travelling in style: the origins of the Pullman sleeping car; the differences between US Pullman company drawings of vehicles allegedly for Britain and the cars as supplied and running in Britain

Number 574

C.P. Atkins. Minutiae from the Minutes: changing Standards. 89-91.
Minor changes sought but not implemented in Class 3 2-6-0: Cox had hoped for an improvement in appearance and Civil Engineer in Scotland had originally requested a shorter chimney for working through Glasgow Central Low Level, Reiterates the story of the 2-8-2 in preference to 2-10-0 before history was rewritten and that rear coupling rods for 9F were redesigned at Swindon along County class lines to avoid fracture. Originally a multiple valve had been intended, but this was dropped due to cost and lack of need. A special tender with increased coal and water capacity was designed for the 9F type to be operated on the Eastern and Southern Regions.

Number 575 (March)

Ian Huntley. Impressions of a ghost. 134-8.
Fowler's Ghost as perceived by Jesse Wicks (1863-1933) an early railway enthusiast who kept notes of the motive power on the Metropolitan Railway. John Fowler had advocated a 2-2-2 type locomotive with a boiler raising steam from hot bricks to obviate ths smoke problem. Both Brunel and Gooch were also involved and it seems that "Fowler's Ghost" was a condensing 2-4-0 locomotive and this was manufactured by Robert Stephenson. This is illustrated  by a photograph of it working on a special train prior to the line opening on 24 May 1862, and by a line drawing. The livery may have been dark green,.

Number 576

Christiansen, Rex. 50 years of Wirral electrification. 198-202.
Very brief appreciation of how the original LMS electrification to Hoylake and its integration with the Mersey Railway's under the Mersey had grown through the Loop and Link lines to be a major transport system for Liverpool and its environs.

New books. 205
Historic railway sites in Britain. Michael Bonavia. Robert Hale.
An up-market coffee-table book
Echoes of the Great Centra. John Healey. OPC
Predominantly on the London Extension
The Aerofilms book of Britain's railways from the air. Chris Leigh. Ian Allan.

The BR Standard 2-8-0s. C.P. Atkins. 222-3.
The Western Region was far from happy with the decision to have 2-10-0 locomotives supplied to it instead of the 2-8-0s which it wished, preferably of the 28xx design. K.W.C. Grand, the CRO argued that such 2-8-0s could be supplied for £14,150 as against £23,500 for the 2-10-0s, and would be cheaper to run. The Railway Executive was prompted to design a 2-8-0 version of the class 5 4-6-0 but with the boiler pressure raised to 250 psi and Derby designed a 2-8-0 version of the 2-10-0 with a wide firebox and various cylinder dimensions and boiler pressures. Neither design was built as the policy decision to phase out steam traction had by then been taken..

Number 577

Bryan, Tim. The locomotives that launched the GWR. 262-4.
The locomotives ordered by Brunel before the appointment of Gooch. Notes that the RCTS History Part gives further information.

Number 579 (July 1988)

Rowland, Don. Two off the road: Essence of LMS. 390-3.
Two mishaps are described: one occurred at Millway which served a Royal Ordnance Factory and was adjacent to Radway Green and involved an unbraked vehicle being shunted and "escaping" onto the main line towards Crewe where resourceful railwaymen slowed the vehicle with cinders placed on the line and caught the coach with a 4F 0-6-0 driven with care. The second incident involved a signalman on the Central Division making a mistake which led to the demolition of his own box, immediately prior to his leaving the LMS; it also involved inter-union rivalry between the Union of Railway Signalmen of which the unfortunate man was an official, and the NUR.

New books. 396-7.
LNER 4-6-0s at work. Geoffrey Hughes. Ian Allan.
"Geoffrey Hughes's text is as lucid and enjoyable as ever"
The power of the B17s and B2s. Peter Swinger. OPC
"The book is a valuable photographic record, but this does not make it interesting or attractive"

Letters. 397
Fowler's Ghost. David L.F. Gilbert
See article by Ian Huntley: cites A.R. Bennett's Chronicles of Boulton's Siding Chapter 18 (pp. 190-5), Chapter 19 (pp. 199-201) and Figures 59 and 59a, all of which relate to Fowler's Ghost.

Mullay, A.J. The 1928 air rail race to Edinburgh. 423-6.
Event appeared to have been staged by Imperial Airways for its own objectives. The "race" started with breakfast at the Savoy and then the air passengers being taken to Croydon Airport and a select party for the non-stop Flying Scotsman from King's Cross. The Hawker Syddeley biplane was called City of Glasgow and the non-stop is believed to have been hauled by 2563 William Whitelaw. Both left at 10.00 on 15 June 1928.  The day was perfect for flying, but the journey required stops to refuel: at Bircham Newton, near Kings Lynn and at Cramlington. It had been hoped for the two modes to keep in rado contact, but the pilot mistook the late Junior Scotsman for the non-stop and this enabled the Flying Scotsman to get to Waverley before the air passengers could make their way from Turnhouse

Number 583 (November 1988)

Rowland, Don. The Crewe sound: Essence of LMS. 670-1.
The extrordinary exhausr sound from LNWR locomotives, but especially the Super D 0-8-0s.

New books. 669.
The Lartigue. Michael Guerin. Lartigue Centenary Committee.
Listowel & Ballybunion
Festiniog Railway locomotives. Taliesin. AB Publishing.
"Well worth reading"

Number 584 (December 1988)

Hugh Phillips. The Caprotti Claughtons ~ and others. 710-14.
Attempts to improve the performance of the Claughton class by modifying them with Caprotti poppet valve gear, modified piston valves, larger boilers and by rebuilding them as three-cylinder locomotives. Only the last was fully effective, although the other modifications produced substantial improvements. Notes the influence of Caprotti's presentation to the "Institute" [sic] of Locomotiove Engineers Paper 176.  and its influence upon H.P.M. Beames.  It is recorded that a report was sent to Swindon on 7 April 1927 concerning the performance of No. 5908, the initial Claughton to be fitted: the advantages included the elimination of joint pins and spindle packing; no lubrication of valves and valve motion; ease of cambox removals; freedom to drift without steam; greater steam expansion; decrease in oil, water and fuel consumption. . Also notes that four locomotives were fitted with Kylala blast pipes and that four Caprotti-fitted locomotives had their crankshaft settings altered to 135°.

Sir John Elliot; John Bellwood [obituaries]. 729.

Chapman, R.G. An Irish double anniversary. Part 1. 744-7.
Railways were nationalised in Northern Ireland in 1948 when the Ulster Transport Authority was formed, and ten years later the Great Northern Railway (Ireland) ceased to exist, being divided between the railway administrations in the Republic of Ireland and in the Six Counties. During WW1 the railways of all-Ireland had been administered by the State, but Ireland was partitionned from 15 January 1922 when the railways were returned to company ownership. The partitioning of a relatively small country caused the railways great problems, especially for the Great Northern Railway, and emnity between the two countries was reflected in absurd bureaucracy which led to grave inconvenience for cross-Border traffic.