 |
Journal of the Railway & Canal Historical Society 2014 |
No 219 (March 2014)
John van Laun. John Cooke Bourne (1814-1896),
lithographer: Drawings of the London & Birmingham Railway
(1836-1838). Chapter 1. 'The great excavations'. 2-17.
Covers the approach to Euston Station from the Regent's Canal at Camden
Town. The wash drawings are housed in the National Railway Museum.
Ray Shill. James Bough (d.1796) and Samuel Bull (1727-1806), forgotten engineers of the Birmingham Canal Navigations. 18-26.
Pat Jones. The inception and demise of the Roman Fossdike. 26-31.
Michael Aufrere Williams. A difficult year in the
history of the Whitby, Redcar & Middlesbrough Union Railway. 32-40.
The line involved major viaducts and a section along the cliffs between
Sandsend and Kettleness which included a tunnel at Deepgrove which tended
to fail and eventually led to the closure of the line. The engineers included
Arthur Hamand who worked in
conjunction with J.H. Tolmé. The unfortunate contractor was
John Dickson partly due to the
involvement of George Fraser. Includes
a transcript of a Memorandum by T.E. Harrison dated 14 November 1883.
Peter Brown. Why did the Chester Canal fail? 42-4.
Robin Simmonds. Is there a Brunellian Viaduct at Tonmawr? 45-9.
Produes evidence to show that a timber viaduct constructed by the
South Wales Mineral Railway may be buried within an embankment designed to
replace it.
Obituary: Roger Davies. Matthew Searle. 50
Correspondence 51
Reviews 53
Carscapes: the motor car, architecture and landscape
in England. Kathryn A. Morrison and John Minnis. Yale University
Press for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art in association
with English Heritage, 400pp, Reviewed by Kevin Jones. 56
This stupendous study attempts in the authors' own words 'to retain
a tight focus on the privately owned motor car' and its effects on English
towns and countryside. Thus there is very little on the huge commercial vehicle
industry which has dictated almost all road improvements and exacerbated
the conflicts between the road lobbies and the residential lobbies.
The scholarly book is divided into two parts: the vehicle itself (from
manufacture through to scrapping), and on the road, although it is not entirely
clear whether this division is justified and there is some duplication. Some
activities, notably traffic and parking, are further divided into two periods:
pre and post World War 2. The authors, who are architectural historians with
English Heritage, clearly identify the sections which they wrote, but there
are no obvious transitions in style.
As the early cars lacked locks they required to be housed both at home and
at their destinations. Thus car houses were constructed, garage was added
to our vocabulary, and multi-storey car parks are nearly as old as motoring.
Surprisingly, a few of the last are worth listing and the art deco Daimler
Hire Garage (illustrated on page 166) is clearly a thing of beauty.
The authors describe and explain various trends, highlighting the contradictions.
Cars were a hygienic replacement for the horse yet are major polluters. They
promise freedom but have imposed severe restrictions on pedestrians. Now,
with the growth of out-of-town shopping, they are causing town centres to
decay.
The illustrations are integral to the study and are from many sources. Some
are highly decorative, notably the covers of pre-World War 2 motoring journals,
like Autocar, which were based on high quality commercial art. Many are highly
illuminating like the aerial photograph showing the delineation of an expanded
Ely from the Fens marked by a bypass. Some are surreal, notably those of
urban motorways where the townscape has been ravaged. Possibly the book fails
to illuminate some aspects of carscapes, such as tyre incinerators and the
the quarries needed for construction. The authors note the lack of a bibliography
equivalent to Ottley, but praise the RCHS for its efforts. There are over
a thousand footnotes and these extend to 18 pages. There is an eleven-page
bibliography and one of the best indexes to appear in a book on transport.
East Coast Main Line disasters. Adrian Gray.
Pendragon Publishing. 96pp. Reviewed by Philip L. Scowcroft.
This book concentrates on one particular major route afflicted by
many significant disasters which have long claimed historians' attention:
several at Welwyn, one of the many places which recur through the book; Abbots
Ripton (1876); Thirsk (1892); and in recent years, Hatfield, Potters Bar
and Great Heck. The book also deals in some detail with many lesser but still
important accidents and incidents.
The opening chapter recounts many instances of, for example, railwaymen being
killed going to and from work. It is well to be reminded that though fatalities
and injuries to passengers are properly viewed with concern, over the years
fatalities to railwaymen far outstrip them. The following chapters are divided
logically, though overlap is inevitable, into: drivers' errors (by far the
largest); signalmen's failures; track failures; careless shunting; technical
failures (to infrastructure, engines and boilers, wheels, and goods wagons);
weather and natural disaster (fog, snow and extreme cold, extreme heat, water);
railwaymen's deliberate dereliction of duty; and external causes as diverse
as terrorism (IRA 1939), sabotage (General Strike 1926), loose objects, fire,
and vehicles on the tracks. The final chapter, 'Cause Unknown' concentrates
on Tuxford (1857), Goswick (1947) and primarily Grantham (1906).
That the book has only 96 pages is deceptive as the format is roughly A4
and double-column. The illustrations (34 photographs and 12 artistic impressions)
are well produced. There is no bibliography as such, but each chapter has
full end-notes. Strongly recommended; perhaps the last word in a restricted,
albeit major, field.
Cover images:
Front: The Station at Euston Square' (T T Bury, The London and Birmingham Railroad, 1837). See pp. 2-17
Back: Tiled map of the North Eastern Railway, c.1900 (top). See pp. 32-41
The so-called 'Magic Roundabout' at Swindon (lower). See p. 56
Adrian Shooter. The process of privatisation — the Chiltern Railways
example. 66-73.
2013 Clinker Lecture presented on 28 September 2013 at the Birmingham
& Midland Institute.
Lucy Lead. 'They flow for country and people': landowners and early canal development in England. 73-68.
Tim Edmonds. Change and interchange: the evolution of the M4 motorway at Maidenhead. 90-103.
John van Laun. John Cooke Bourne (1814-1896), lithographer:
Drawings of the London & Birmingham Railway (1836-1838). Chapter
2. Euston station to Primose Hill tunnel. 104-20.
This is a remarkable survey of Bourne's meticulous observations on
the construiction and early operation of the Euston terminus including the
great entrance portico demolished by a nation of iconoclasts and on page
116 the almost comparable grandeur of Bury 2-2-0 No. 32 waiting to takeover
a train which has been hauled up the incline from the terminus.
Obituary Kenneth Seaward. 120
Correspondence. 121-5.
A review of the Beeching era. Allen Brackenbury
Reviews. 126-8.
Loco Motion: the world's oldest steam locomotives.
Michael R Bailey. History
Press. 216pp, Reviewed by Miles MacNair.
Michael Bailey, a past president of the Newcomen Society, is not
only a lucid writer about the history of transport development but also an
extremely practical, hands-on engineer. He is doubtless well-known to many
members for the publication of his forensic autopsy (with John P Glithero)
of Robert Stephenson's iconic Rocket locomotive on behalf of the National
Railway Museum in 2000. In his new book he expands this principle to review
all early locomotives — pre 1850 — that still survive, either in
their complete state or as components, including nameplates. He then expands
the range to include 'replicas', or more correctly 'reproductions', of certain
engines, pointing out that these working machines have to use substitute
materials — because the originals, such as wrought iron boiler plates,
are no longer available — and include additional, modem features for
reasons of 'health and safety'. With regard to 'originals', he stresses the
important point that survivors had themselves undergone modifica- tions and
improvements during their working lifetime, such that what we see now may
be very different to that which had originally been designed and built. These
are then analysed with the expertise of an engineering pathologist. The chapter
structure divides the subjects into logical 'species groupings', ranging
from 'The Trevithick Progenitors 1803-1808' through the Stephenson and Rastrick
locomotives, the 'Planets', 'Patentees', 'Bury', 'Crewe' etc types, to the
rugged, long-lived range of mineral locomotives built up to 1850. Unlike
more parochial publications, he covers examples from all over the world,
including France, Germany, Chile and Russia, with particular emphasis on
the USA, from their progenitors (both imported and indigenous) to the 'classic'
American 4-4-0 via the significant 'Norris' types. Each example through-
out the book is accompanied by a useful panel giving an historical ownership
time-line, condensed facts on dimensions and design details, and display
locations, both past and present. An appendix to the book lists all museums
that display pre-1850 locomotives, components and replicas. Although there
is no index as such, there is a staggeringly comprehensive seven page
'bibliography' of data sources. Printed on 'art-paper' throughout, production
standards are excellent, with 21 pages of colour plates and masses of crisp
black & white photographs, diagrams and drawings within the text. This
important, comprehensive addition to the history of early locomotives cannot
be recommended too highly.
The country railway. Tim Bryan. Shire Publications, 64pp. Revewed
by David St. John Thomas
With over 200,000 of my own The Country Railway sold, I've
often felt that it was the last word on the subject. But the excellent
Shire Library's tightly compressed series has covered the subject. And extremely
well it has done so.
The Shire books are only 64 pages including the index, but they are more
than excellent introductions to the subject. The new The Country Railway
is outstanding value at £6.99, and covers its subject surprisingly well
in so limited a space. Illustrations are original and well-produced, there's
a good human element, and much to learn.
The cover shows a cattle market with trucks ready to load, and hardly an
aspect of the subject is not covered in the text. There is even an enterprising
list of places to visit, and a good bibliography which includes my own title
by the same name.
Shire books have created an enviable reputation,and I've never been disappointed
by one. The inside back cover is devoted to other titles that readers might
like, showing something of the depth of the Shire Library. It really is an
admirable institution, and one could do worse than get a list of the titles
and purchase those of personal interest.
John Hore - Man of mystery? Man of genius! - Mike Corfield 142
Closing a line before Beeching : the end of the Whitby-Loftus line - Michael Aufrere Williams 149
Additional observations on Tring summit water supplies - Alan Richardson 159
John Cooke Bourne (1814-1896), lithographer: Drawings of the London & Birmingham Railway (1836-1838). Chapter 3 - John van Laun 170
Understanding the history of aquatic plants in canals: the example of the Chesterfield and Cromford Canals in Derbyshire - Raymond Goulder 182 'Remembrance of a riot' 193
Obituary (David St John Thomas) 194
Correspondence 196
Reviews 200
Cover images: Front: 'Near Newbury'. Painting by John Linnell of a river scene with a swivel bridge (© Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge). See pp. 142-148
Back: Members of the London Group of the R&CHS on a visit to Tringford pumping. station and other neighbouring sites, July 1964 (© Alan Richardson) See pp. 159-169