Brian Reed (1906-1982)
Brian Reed was an extremely difficult author to characterise, but see the biography generously provided by Phil Atkins. Part of the problem lay in Brian Reed being reluctant to mention anything of himself in his blurbs used on dust-jackets or in his prefaces. In the Acknowledgements to Profile 8 he noted his "old friends on Clydeside: Donald H. Stuart, Alan G. Dunbar and R.B. Haddon, the last-named being with the author at N.B.L. at the time the Scots were being built, and 'on them', while the author, in another wing of the office, wasted his time on Rhodesian 4-8-2s and the like". The preface to one of his last works (extracts follow) is highly business-like yet fails to characterise its writer who clearly regarded the development of alternatives to steam traction as "far more important" in maintaining railways as a transport system. In an attempt to catch the worth of the man an analysis is made of the 59 citations (references) of this last work: 13 are to Patents; eight are to his own Locomotive Profiles; 2 are Transactions of the Newcomen Society; a few are to recent historical literature, e.g. Cox; and the remainder to (mainly nineteenth century) contemporary material: Pambour, Clark and Booth. Some are poorly cited. Michael Rutherford has a high regard for his work, and especially for the Locomotive Profiles (which being part-works were in a format unsuited to the excessivley tidy habits of most librarians). In part this failure to publish in a "reputable format" must be held against Brian Reed, but authors have to earn a living and librarians should have been capable of recognizing material of lasting value, instead of buying tawdry Thomas the Tank Engine by the tonne.
Professional paper
Reed, Brian. Running tests of
a 500 h.p. diesel-mechanical locomotive. J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1953,
43, 366 - 411 (Paper No. 522)
Monographs
Crewe locomotive works and its men. Newton
Abbot: David & Charles, 1982.
Includes excellent short biographies of the major engineers associated
with Crewe Works.
Crewe to Carlisle. London: Ian Allan,
1969.234pp. incl plates. 19 maps/diagrs. 19 tables. Bibliography [company
minutes consulted]. List of Parliamentary Acts.
Dedicated to the Archivist of the British Railways Board
Locomotives. London, Temple Press,
1958. [vi], 138 p. 16 plates. 43 illus., 18 diagrs. (The power and speed
series for boys).
This is also suitable as an introductory work for adults.
Locomotives in profile. Profile
Publications, 1971-
This is a problem work bibliographically as it was produced both as
a part work, and subsequently as bound sets: the latter is/are listed as
Ottley 10398. The parts are liable to be available separately, and
are often cited as monographs. Most conform to a standard format with a centre
page of coloured diagrams. They include some illustrations and some tables.
A few had an additional author, Rutherford [rightly] appears to have a high
opinion of the series. Presumably, those volumes to which others contributed
(Atkins and Haresnape, for instance) must have been judged to be bordering
on comparable competence by Reed..
Modern railway motive power. London, Temple
Press, 1950. vi, 170 p. + front. + 10 plates. 21 illus. 25 diagrs., 8 tables.
Bibliog. (Technical trends).
This forms a good introduction to the subject (in 1950 steam was still
modern enough to dominate this study). The most appreciable defect is the
author's assumption that the reader will be able to cope with his technical
terminology. A glossary and a few introductory diagrams would have aided
clarity.
150 years of British steam locomotives. Newton
Abbot: David & Charles, 1975. 128pp.
A paradigm for how books should be prepared: clearly defined references
and excellent index, lucid overall structure: this should have been a model
for the miserable compilers of the Oxford Companion
who failed to note one of the best organized authors to have written
about railways (although Rex Christiansen did note his history of Crewe Works
in the entry for Crewe). It is remarkable that some scribes who imagine
themselves to be learned can cite Clement Stretton
and yet ignore this major authority..
Chapters
1 Some Fundamentals
2 From Trevithick to Stephenson
3 The Stockton & Darlington Phase
4 The Liverpool & Manchester Stage
5 Five Great Types
6 Fixed Cut-off to Variable Expansion
7 From Coke to Coal
8 From Iron to Steel
9 The Infinite Variety
10 The Years 1896-1922
11 The Group Era
12 National Finale
References
Index (interesting "error" in index reference to page 85 (from Hawthorn in
index) to page where no explicit mention is made (but should have been to
Durn and Snaigow of the HR).
The follwing information has come from Ottley 10398 (Volume 3 has also been inspected by KPJ at New Barnfield and some of the original parts publshed as Loco Profiles are in his possession). All information, including that relating to British locomotive development is reproduced herein. The original part series were produced by Profile Publications who also produced series on aircraft, weapons, warships and classic cars. To quote their own criteria they were intended to be "objective in style; clinical in presentation; accurate in detail..." From the outset, the publisher intended the series also to be available as annual hard-back editions. Some of the fascicules are available through abebooks.com at absurd prices. The numbers and exact titles of the parts in Volume 4 are uncertain, but from an examination of abebooks the titles may vary from those quoted below.
REED, B. Locomotives in profile; general editor, Brian Reed, with
illustrations by David Warner, Peter Warner, Arthur Wolstenholme. Windsor:
Profile Publications. 4 vols.
Volume 1, 1971. pp. 292, with 428 illus (54 col.), 60 drawings, 117 tables,
diagrams, maps & graphs.
This is a far more important series than might appear to be so from
external appearances. Contents:
1. LNER non-streamlined Pacifics. Brian Reed
24pp: 5 tables. centre colour spread drawn by A. Wolstenholme shows
A1 4472 Flying Scotsman as exhibited at British Empire Exhibition
in 1924 and A3 2501 Colombo of final series.
2. New York Central Hudsons Brian Reed
3. Great Western 4-cylinder 4-6-0s. Brian Reed.
pp.49-72: centre coloured artwork drawn by David Warner (restricted
to King & Castle types).
4. American Type 4-4-0 . Brian Reed
5. British Single-drivers. Brian Reed. pp. 97-124
Pays considerable attention to the Jenny Lind type
6. The Mallets. Brian Reed
7. The Rocket. Brian Reed
8. Royal Scots. Brian Reed
9. Camels and Camelbacks. Brian Reed
10. The Met Tanks. Brian Reed
11. Norris Locomotives. Brian Reed
12. BR Britannias. Brian Haresnape.
Volume 2, 1972. pp. 288, with 434 illus (42 col.), 120 tables, diagrams,
maps & graphs.
Contents:
13. Nord Pacifies. Brian Reed
14. Pennsylvania Pacifics. Brian Reed
15. The Crewe Type. D.H. Stuart and Brian Reed.
A very important fascicule in this series as the extent of Allan's
involvement in this type is brought into question.
Commended by
Rutherford
16. Union Pacific 4-12-2s. Brian Reed
17. Jones Goods & Indian L. Brian Reed
18. German Austerity 2-10-0. Brian Reed
19. Gresley A4s. Ron Scott and Brian Reed
20. The American 4-8-4. Brian Reed
21. ROD. 2-8-0s. Brian Reed.
Pp 193-216 (February 1972): centre spread (col. drawing: s & f
els). 9 tables. illus. selected to be informative rather than decorative.
Densely packed informative text.
22. Merchant Navy Pacifies. Brian Reed
23. Darjeeling Tanks Brian Reed
24. Pennsylvania Duplexii. Brian Reed
Volume 3, 1974. pp. 148, with frontis & 106 illus (22 col.), 44
tables, drawings, maps, graphs & gradient profiles.
Contents:
25. Locomotion. Brian Reed. pp. 1-24
See
below
26. The Hiawathas. Brian Reed
27. Tilbury Tanks. Kenneth H. Leech. pp. 49-72
Table VII gives LTSR headcodes.
28. S.P. Cab-in-Fronts. Brian Recd
29. Austrian 2-8-4s. Dr.-Ing.Fr. Altmano and B. Reed
30. G.N. Large Atlantics. Ron Scott. 125-48.
Volume 4, 1974. pp. 288, with triple frontis, 221 illus (24 col.),
46 tables, diagrams, maps & graphs.
Contents:
31. Lima Super-Power. C.P. Atkins and Brian Reed
32. The Brighton Gladstones. Brian Reed
33. BR Class 9F 2-10-0. Brian Reed
34. Caledonian 4-4-0s. Alan G. Dunbar and Brian Reed
35. Canadian Pacific Selkirks. C.P. Atkins
36. South African 4-8-2s. Brian Reed
37. LMS Pacifics. J.W.P. Rowledge
This is part of the opening page (it more than meets the publisher's
criteria!):
Early English writers all passed over the first five or six engines
of the S. & D. Nicholas Wood said nothing of the design of any of them
in any one of the three editions (1825, 1831 and 1838) of his Treatise
on Railroads, though in the 1838 edition he commented on their work during
the 1830s. Perhaps the omission was due to his first edition being 'censored'
in 1825 shortly before Locomotion was completed.
De Pambour (1835) gave some S. & D. working results, but did not cover
design. Lecount (1835) passed them by. Tredgold did not describe them in
any of his variations. Whishaw (1840) said little of early designs. D.K.
Clark (1855) omitted them; and Zerah Colburn, with a predilection for Hackworth,
wrote not a thing, though he made incorrect statements about Wood's alterations
to early Killingworth engines, and generally was not too reliable on the
very early locomotives. Deghilage did not deal with them in his Origines
de la Locomotive (1883) though he described the slightly later six-wheeler
Royal George.
Of later authors, W.W. Tomlinson in his highly accurate The North Eastern
Railway; Its Rise and Development (1914) gave some particulars, but was
in technical error in stating that Locomotion had two eccentrics—it
had only one. In this he seems to have followed Joseph Tomlinson, who in
his Presidential address to the 'Mechanicals' in 1890 gave 'memories' of
some of the older S. & D. engines. The other four of the first five S.
& D. engines did have two eccentrics, but not on the axles.
J.G.H. Warren, in A Century of Locomotive Building (1923), apart from
reproducing the pre-1825 'project' drawing, accepted the Prussian engineers'
account of 1827, as the remaining records of Robt. Stephenson & Co. were
so scanty, and he did not enter into conjectures. Dendy Marshall (A History
of Railway Locomotives Down to the Year 1831, published in 1953) followed
the methods of Warren, but had the advantage of the Stephenson first
ledger.
Biography provided by Phil Atkins
BRIAN REED (1904-1982)
A quietly spoken Geordie, Brian Reed was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1904.(information supplied by Andrew Reed, (son) One of his earliest memories, through family connections, was of the controversial Dickman Murder, whereby a colliery cashier was shot dead and robbed on an NER train between Newcastle and Almouth in March 1910. Brian's father had served an apprenticeship with R Stephenson & Co. in Newcastle before that enterprise moved to Darlington c.1901, but then went to sea. Brian commenced an apprenticeship with R & W Hawthorn Leslie & Co in 1920 (which for years had been Stephenson's next door neighbours and later took over the former RS works in order to expand on a notoriously cramped site on a steep slope above the River Tyne. Towards the end of his life BR wrote a detailed account of life as an apprentice at HL, which could only have been written from first hand experience. Attempts to get this published as a book in its own right by the late Michael Harris regrettably failed and the account was eventually published posthumously in serial form in the SLS Journal during 1989.
BR was particularly proud of the fact that he had turned the handrail pillars for the 1921 batch of Highland Railway 'Clan' 4-6-0s, a design which he greatly admired. He always retained a particular interest in North Eastern and Highland locomotives, and was amazed when the present writer (i.e. Phil Atkins) told him, as a result of recent research, that F G Smith, of H R 'River' notoriety, had lived in retirement in Newcastle in Nuns Moor Road, which turned out to be the same road and at the same time as BR's father! Both had died in the later 1950s.
Brian Reed left HL c.1925 for the North British Loco Co in Glasgow, and was there when the LMS 'Royal Scots' were built, but was not involved with that contract. He then went into (seemingly freelance) railway journalism, but was particularly connected with the Railway Gazette. He had developed a particular interest in diesel traction, possibly realising that was where the long term future lay, and he instigated the Diesel Railway Traction Supplement of the RG in 1933, which ran for some 30 years. During the 1930s he had contacts with the leading CMEs of the period, and was personally acquainted with George Lomonosoff, the Russian steam locomotive designer and diesel pioneer (who was then resident in Hampstead, and who, although he died in Montreal in 1952, his remarkable archive is held by the University of Leeds).
Brian Reed was also in involved in diesel loco development, supervising the road trials on a prototype Hunslet 0-8-0 between Leeds and Lancaster in 1951 (which was the last time the NER dynamometer car was used). He was appointed the editor of the new Loco Profile series in 1970, which in addition to British loco types, also covered American, French, German and Austrian classes. The author of several books, these included some of the first historical studies of British diesels, eg the WR Diesel Hydaulics, on which account he was sometimes confused with the author Brian Webb. Sadly he died in the summer of 1982, shortly before the publication of one of his finest, a history of Crewe works and its men.
It may be noted that Phil Atkins was involved in writing some of the Loco Profiles (KPJ)
Reed, B. An apprentice at Hawthorn, Leslie & Co. Ltd, 1921-1925. J. Stephenson Loc. Soc., 1989, 65, 5-12; 46-62; 84-92; 125-33; 165-9.
2008-05-22 (corrected date of birth)