Not in the Premier League
Many are tempted to write about railways, Some books get reviewed in the national press, some may get reviewed in the specialist "railway press", and some are chanced upon in public libraries where their populist character appeals to technologically illiterate library managers who have little interest in more specialist literature. It is hoped that given time the character of this type of book should become self-evident. It must be stressed that some of them are very good, but they are a long way behind the standard set by George Dow, although they may approach the quality achieved by Hamilton Ellis.
Steel wheels: the evolution of the railways and how they stimulated and excited engineers, architects, artists, musicians and travellers. Waldenbury (Sussex): Cannwood Press, 2005.
The Isle of Arran has no railway system, but does "enjoy" a boat train service which sometimes connects with the ferries and provides a reasonably fast service to Glasgow Central with links to the rest of the Notwork. On a recent visit to the Island the local public library had two books on railways: John Thomas's The Skye Railway (an inspired choice) and A.F. Garnett's Steel wheels. The latter is an "appreciation of railways" written by someone who loves them and believes that they (and this includes tramway systems) have a future. The author's experience of railways is relatively extensive and included routine use.
There is no index, and sources are not quoted (whilst reading the tome I had hoped that the publisher's website might have given additional information, but it doesn't. In many respects the book is more like an anthology, although early railway history is considered at some length. In spite of this the book remains anthology-like: in Chapter 9 there is an extensive account of how Basil Zaharoff had observed Dom Francisco, an important member of the Spanish Royal family attempt to murder his bride Maria whilst en route by train from Paris to Vienna to spend their honeymoon with Emperor Franz Joseph and how Dom Francisco was incarcerated as a lunatic and Zaharoff married Maria following the death of Dom Francisco, giving her the Casino in Monte Carlo as a wedding present. The same chapter contains further information on European royal trains and the private cars used by the very rich in the USA.
There is a section on segregated travel in the USA and the fight to end it. German connivance in conveying Lenin and the Bolsheviks from Switzerland to Russia is also observed.
A chapter on words and song does include Reich's Different Trains; Adlestrop, Night Mail, Larkin, long extracts from William McGonagall, and Alfred Williams of Swindon. Platform 9¾ at King's Cross.
Eleven minutes late by Matthew Engel
Eleven minutes late: a train journey to the soul of Britain. London: Macmillan, 2009. 324pp.
Engel is a professional journalist, who wrote for the Guardian for many years and is now with the Financial Times. He suffered the unbearable loss of a son to cancer when he was only thirteen and with his wife have established the Teenager Cancer Trust. The book is intended to be amusing, but is really rather sad in that it demonstrates what was lost through Beeching and the utter failure to make any reparation. There are sad comments about electrifiaction (that is the lack of it), the cultural poverty of the train operating companies, the dismal "third world" nature of Voyagers and Pacers, and the utter lack of any spur to improve journey times or frequencies. He blames warm beer John Major (who granted him an interview) for privatisation and its lack of initiative. The book was partly the product of a fortnight's exploration of the network with a rover ticket. The approach is very different in that many of the most profound glimpses into the stagnant nature of British railways is stated to firmly lie in the profoundly awful nature of British politicians and their failure to be able to see beyond their fancy houses for their ducks on their moats, or put simply to live the life of a lord, As an investigative journalist he has used this skill to pry into the dark and evil world of political decision making.
Two of the alien faces (that is to the world of railway enthusiam) introduced by Engel are Mark Casson and Sir Christopher Foster. Both are economists and at this point it is worth pointing out that KPJ came from a background of pure science where economists were considered to be meddlers who lacked any form of formal discipline. Casson appears to be the more harmless: someone who likes to play with trains by designing counterfactual railway networks for Britain based on something akin to the Belgian model: that is centrally conceived and using heuristics. Foster is a more sinister figure who assisted with the ghastly rail privatization. Judging by his address and that of his club transport is for other people and is akin to transportation (as to Australia).. .
The Conservative Party was not thinking of potential traffic problems in the twenty-first century; it was concentratinlg on getting through the distinctly unpromising 1964 election. It wanted to show the electorate that it was dynamic, unstuffy, forward thinking and possibly even cool, with-it and groovy by grasping the problems of the railways. But there was next to no liaison between the transport and housing ministries about how the plans might link with another government policy of moving people out of London. In 1962 it was decided to triple the population of Haverhill in Suffolk; in 1963 Haverhill station was listed for closure.
The initial enthusiasm for Beeching quickly faded as Tory backbenchers contemplated the possible consequences for their own majorities. The reshaping of the railways was a popular policy; the closure of a local station was not. So the government started making political decisions about which lines would go
Engel's observations on Beeching are so astute that this has led to the creation of a Beeching "page" which incorporates some these comments. The dust jacket is very strange as it shows a train which appears to be on the wrong track: or is a deliberate take?.
Robert Hendry's picture or pictures
The changing face of Britain's railways, 1938-1953: the railway companies bow out. Stamford: Dalrymple & Verdun, 2006. 192pp.
This is slightly more than a picture book and is unusual in considering mainland Britain and Ireland on an almost equal footing. There is even a chapter on Wales, and Scotland is not quite forgotten: the Far East (of England) is ignored, however. The writer is the son of a GP, of the old-fashioned sort who used to visit patients, whenever they were in need at day or in the night and the author makes sharp comments upon the nine to five attitudes of current medical practitioners. Nevertheless, he had the time and financial resources to apply himself to his hobbies of model railways and to recording the railway scene. In a way the book is almost a memorial to his father. These pictures are supplemented by others, mainly those taken by H.J. Streeton-Ward and by R.E. Tustin.
The author's father practiced in Rugby and the doctor developed excellent contacts with local railwaymen. Thus there are some good pictures of the Rugby Locomotive Testing Station and of the "new" power signalling box at Euston opened in 1952, but already looking out-of-date. The reviewer has a general fear that text is gradually being eroded by visual material and to a great extent this is the case with this book: the pictures appear to have dictated the overall pattern. The extended captions and the brief commentaries which open the chapters are well written, and have been well thought out, but...
The period covered was dominated by a major event which in terms of pictorial content is sanitised beyond belief: a few pictures of Austerity (British and American) 2-8-0s. The reviewer may have been spared some of the worst personal images of the Second World War: he did not see the actual destruction of Charlton station, but he can still remember the shock of seeing a station which had disappeared under the impact of a rocket attack. Furthermore, the odour of War was still present in the great piles of rubble which dominated South East London in the immediate Post-War period. Before enjoying a period of relative tranquility in Edinburgh he had seen houses being destroyed, felt hot shrapnel, watched the lurid glow from Thameshaven as it burned... Robert was born too late for any of that. But in retrospect one of the most remarkable aspects of immediate Post-War Britain is that the lifts and escalators on the London Underground worked, the Southern Electric may have been over-crowded, yet trains ran to time. It took the magic of John Major and his wee pal MacGregor to disrupt that aspect of Englishness Only on the LMS did trains run hours late, but much of that was due to Stamp's parsimony which eventually reaped its rewards in Lancashire where tunnels collapsed and bridges carrying football crowds fell apart. These were Stamp's "Hatfields" and Ladbroke Groves.
There are some charming pictures of Ireland, North and South and some engaging chat about them, notably about George Howden and Frank Pope. The section about Howden is excellent: the reviewer still has a childhood scrapbook showing the marvellous modern Irish DMUs with their brilliant livery, so different from the dull dark green eventually used in mainland Britain. Pope remains a shadowy figure in spite of Hendry's advocacy, although he does illustrate the "Ulster dimension" in the affairs of the LMS, which culminated with the appointment of William Valentine Wood as President (Hendry presents a sharp verbal portrait).
So all in all a disappointing book: even the pictures often disappoint. They certainly do not present a balanced picture. And 1938 was a very strange starting point. Mel Holley paints a different picture of this work in Steam World No. 234.
Jordan's guide to British steam locomotives by Owen Jordan
A letter sent to steamindex requested KPJ's opinion of this strange book: here it is. Firstly most of the graphics are poor in terms of clarity, perspective and detail: most look as if something nasty has happened during reproduction. The text suffers in a similar way. There is a lack of coherence and in consequence there are errors which may not have been intended. Thus a streamlined observation car appears to have been attached to the Silver Jubilee train (page 149) and later on the same page the achievement of ths speed record by Mallard concentrates upon the failure of the middle big end, rather than the speed where the streamlining (mostly the subject of derogatory comment elsewhere) is not mentioned in a positive context. On page 300 Jordan again rushes into trouble with the Coronation Scot train where we are told that the livery was red with gold 'go faster' stripes and in a blue and white striped livery. Sadly the red comes before the blue. The design itself is considered on page 156. There is no index and only refernces of the "to be considered later" sort. Thus coherence is essential, but lacking..
Christopher Stead's The birth of the steam locomotive
Christopher Stead's The birth of the steam locomotive – a new history was found on the shelf at Cromer Branch Library . The title appeared to be highly pertinent: the only surprise was that although published in 2002 KPJ had not been alerted to it through a review. Certainly, the period covered (namely that prior to 1850) is rarely approached, although there has been a procession of books about the Stephensons and about Trevithick. Furthermore, the development of the Steamindex webpage on early locomotives has been haphazard: is it possible that Stead's little book might provide some stimulus? In one respect KPJ is in agreement with Stead in that 1850 definitely marks the end of "the early period". Stead is also relatively unusual for current authors of locomotive history in looking backwards from Trevithick towards the general development of steam technology, and especially the significance of Newcomen and Watt.
Nevertheless, it is not possible to give this work a euphoric welcome as the bibliography fails to list Dendy Marshall in any shape or form and Stead does not give a reason for this glaring omission. The author is an academic of considerable standing in ancient philosophy and Christian doctrine and must be aware of the requirement to make reference to earlier work. This omission is compounded by the citation of Ahrons (who only covered post-1825) and Warren, and even Nicholas Wood which KPJ has never seen. In addition room is found for Clement Stretton without any indication of his lack of veracity. His inclusion of Snell's Early railways is a glaring inclusion as it is decorative rather than informative..
In spite of an excellently written introduction it is not really clear whether this is a cautionary tale for existing railway enthusiasts, or is a book aimed at the general reader, possibly one set the task of "write a brief history of how and where the steam locomotive developed". To a great extent the book does answer the second question, and as there are chapters on how the technology spread from Britain to North America and to Continental Europe this question is capable of being answered outside Britain. The book is at its most disappointing in its final chapter when the author makes the mistake of introducing the British 4-4-0 which is well outside the intended period, and there is a rushed account which extends even to City of Truro's rapid entry into Somerset. Similarly, there is a rather too rapid consideration of Brunel's broad gauge and once again: the broad gauge may have acted as a stimulus towards higher speeds on the standard gauge, but the proponents of railways between York and Newcastle were well aware that this would become a high speed railway, and did not need to look elsewhere for inspiration.
Kevin P. Jones
03-08-2009