William Rixon Bucknall
Born Lisbon 11 March 1894. Died 29 April 1984. Career army officer, served
both world wars. Black Watch, RFC. WW2 commanded 1st Battalion Worcestershire
Regiment, retired from army 6 April 1948.
Interested in railways and ships, spent a lot of time and money in the 1950
designing and having built, what looked like a typical 1930s open sports
car, which concealed chassis, suspension and tripple carb. engine, Al2l specially
supplied by Jaguar. A real wolf in sheeps clothing, with could leave anything
standing at traffic lights! He seems to have had a large collectuin of paintings
of railway and shipping subjects. Family seem to have connections with the
Folkestone area, and his father knew Sir Edward Watkin. Colonel
Ian Allan Driven by steam:
was a half colonel in the Guards, spoke with a very large plum in hrs mouth
and produced a series of books on railways. He was a very amiable chap and
we ultimately acquired his photographic collection and his publishing rights.
My memory fails me and I do not know quite what happened to him but he was
a good friend and supporter. All the records of our negotiations with him
seem to have disappeared, perhaps in one of those Craven House bonfires.
Books.
Boat trains and Channel packets: the English short sea routes.
London: Vincent Stuart, 1957. xi, 218pp. colour frontispiece,
46 plates with 108 illustrations plus maps & diagrams in text.
bibliography
Ottley 724: Stuart Rankim sent KPJ the following note: "I have
a copy of this, which on the basis of two letters slipped in, once belonged
to Cuthbert Grasemann,
John Elliot's successor as PRO
of the southern railway. This was published by a firm new to me, Vincent
Stuart Limited, and is rather a curious design. The half-tone illustrations
are concentrated in an art paper signature, right at the end of the book.
This might be thought of as making them easy to refer to from the text, but
unfortunately the font used in the captions is so minuscule that a magnifyer
is essential. Some of the illustrations are something of a disappointment.
A note in the acknowledgements in a book of this period, expressing thanks
for the loan of blocks sounds a warning! The pictures have appeared in print
at least once before, they may be quite worn, and if they were not properly
cleaned and stored after last use, may be lackiing in definition, The text
itself gives some cause for concern. English Channel packet boats, 1939
by Cuthbert Grasemann and G.W.P. MacLachlan is not nentioned in the bibliography
of "boat trains" but there are whole paragrahs of the latter which read curiuosly
lije paraphrases of sections of the former, There are signs of carelessnes
too, either in not checking "remembered" dates or in proof checking we are
told that Harry Wainwright retired in 1915, and that Maunsell then ordered
new locos from Borsig of Berlin, and that grouping took place in 1925. If
you get hold of a copy of this it needs treating with caution. There are
other better sources.
Our railway history. 2nd edition. 1945.
First published 1944. A series of short historical sketches of pre-1923
main lines. Notes on pre-1914 1iveries. Tabulted statistics. Bibliography.
coloured folding map. 122 illustrations. Rutherford made an extensive quotation
concerning LNWR (reproduced in precis
Backtrack, 10, 622): the two sics may be a warning concerning
liveries!. Have always assumed that Rixon Bucknall captured the spirtit of
the pre-grouping railways. Ottley 5601. See
also
Railway memories with
Tice F. Budden. London: Authors,
1947.
Includes 204 Budden photographs which are marvels
THE VALUE OF A FASCINATION
As a very small boy the writer longed to be an engine driver. His mother
wanted him to be a soldier, but his father sponsored the railway instinct,
for he remarked as Kipling had done before, that 'transport is civilization
'; and then added that it was a useful thing to know how all the wheels of
the world went round. We travelled quite a lot, and the small boy was always
required to know not only where he was going, but also from where the train
had come, together with the name of the railway company and the general direction
of the route. Then, if the journey ended at a terminus there was invariably
a visit to look at the engine, with a final reminder of always to touch one's
cap and say' thank you for a nice run ' to the driver, even if that worthy
did not often notice! Those were spacious days when it did not matter delaying
a growler or an hansom for a few moments; and later on those delays returned
a very good dividend.
One began to perceive as well as to learn. First colour and then shape emerged
with unfolding interest: Claud Hamilton differed from Cardean, even if both
were blue; and Henry Oakley was obviously not the same as Quentin Durward,
[footnote: *In response to a number of queries, this formerly well known
Great Western' Atlantic' was built at Swindon in 1905. Originally, and for
a short time, it bore the name of Magnet] even if both did happen to
be green 'Atlantics '. Soon designers were distinguished with enthusiasm:
Whale varied from Webb, and Drummond from Adams; every company opened out
a new interest and every train a new problem: where had it come from; who,
or what, was it carrying; whither was it going; who had designed the engine;
and where had it been built? Since railways served the ports and since railways
also ran their own steamers, shipping became an allied interest. Then ships
took one to the ports 'on the other side', where there were more railways
and more industries and more interests, each and all of them different from
our own. And so, quite unconsciously, and with a little experience, coupled
with many books and pictures, the small boy found that when he went to school
he knew already his geography; and in spite of the fact that he had never
seen it, he could tell the master quite a lot about the Zambesi Bridge, besides
marking it upon the map. Philadelphia, too, was the natural home of Baldwin's,
and then the greater part of Europe was the sphere of Wagon Lits.
In the fullness of time, design, metallurgy, construction, operation and
traffic control, followed naturally; and on such a background strategical
communications became second nature. Here was the exploitation of romance
to open the door to practical utility, and with such an angle of approach
the pulse of industry was a never ending source of interest. From personal
experience in war and in peace it can be emphasized that' transport is
civilization', while one of the greatest attractions in this modern world
can be the method by which all the wheels of industry rotate.
THE AIM OF TillS BOOK
"Tell me the story of England, but do not be boring" was a request once made
to the writer when sitting by the fire; and the ultimate result of the talk
was a short history of England, ' a brief reminder for when you forget "
a small book which carried you through all the essential phases of our island
story, which missed little, which recalled all that you knew when you were
young, and which left you at the end of an hour, thoroughly refreshed in
memory and entertained withal.
So for the railway enthusiast, here is a similar story: a series of sketches
of the old main lines, taken in the generally accepted order of magnitude
of the original big companies before the grouping, in the days when trains
were clean and engines shone resplendently, when each company was distinct
in its own individuality, and when railways in this country were perhaps
passing through the most interesting phase of their evolution.
In these present days when books about the pre-grouping era are incredibly
expensive as well as hard to find, this rapid survey may suffice as an
entertaining refresher to the informed, besides being a background or framework
of the past for the comparatively new corner to the subject. And again, who
knows but that it may even arouse a new interest in someone who has never
before contemplated either such a subject or such a possibility!
In the railway world as well as in the Services, traditions die hard; and
in these dark days of war we all know that it is almost a miracle that the
railways continue to function as they do. Not the least reason for their
successful combat with their difficulties is this tradition which they cherish
as a legacy of the old days. Here then is a coup d'oeil of those old days,
the essence of which is brevity with clarity: a connected narrative, as opposed
to a mere presentation of data.
Upon the subject of dates historians often differ. The aim in this book has
been to give the final or absolute date, cases in point being an Act, of
Parliament authorizing an amalgamation which might have been ratified by
the shareholders perhaps a year previously, and which again might have been
agreed by the respective boards some months prior even to that: or considering
another more material aspect, the brick lining of the Severn Tunnel was completed
early in 1885, but the bore was not opened for regular passenger traffic
until the end of the following year.
Should more comprehensive information be required, a biblio- graphy which
is by no means complete will be found upon page 7, but it must be added
regretfully that most if not all of these books are now almost
unobtainable.
The gist of some of these chapters appeared in article form during 1941 in
The Railway Observer, the journal of The Railway Correspondence and
Travel Society, with whose kind concurrence they have now been expanded and
reproduced. In presenting this revised and enlarged Second Edition opportunity
has been taken to rectify certain minor mis-statements and to clarify a number
of obscure passages which marred the authenticity of its predecessor.
Acknowledgment for the use of photographs is made under each individual picture,
particular thanks in this respect being due to
Doctor T.F. Budden and Mr.
H. Gordon Tidey. Again, special
thanks are due toMr. J.D. Goffey and Mr.
A.B. MacLeod, as well as to Mr. D.J.W. Brough, Mr. N. Shepherd, and Major
W.L. Sparkes for kindly loaning from their own collections a number of the
photographs for reproduction. Acknowledgment also is due to , Railways' for
the hire of three excellent photographic blocks which have been used in
illustrating the earlier chapters. In selecting the photographs the aim has
been to capture and torevive the atmosphere and the individual characteristics
of the old major companies, in order as far as possible to invigorate and
to amplify the text. In conclusion, the writer deeply regrets how the
difficulties which have been imposed by war conditions have prevented him
from replying individually to the many hundreds of enthusiastic letters which
he has already received. Each one has been thoroughly appreciated; while
in a number of instances he feels gratified by having made new personal friends.
RIXON BUCKNALL
71 Witley Court,
Woburn Place,
London, WC.l. 1945.