Table of contents for Vol 36 No 9 - September 2022 in Backtrack

Speak to an inhabitant of Preston, or the owner of a car in the 1950s, and they will tell you of the road congestion in Preston, especially on Bank Holidays, and during summer weekends and the Wakes holiday season. Many drivers have been caught in a traffic jam in the centre of Preston on a Sunday morning and evening. Preston was a bottleneck caused by the focus of roads and the volume of traffic that frequently converged on the town in an attempt to pass through. The traffic problem was slightly alleviated thanks to the opening of the eight-mile long Preston Bypass in 1958, which today forms a very short section of the M6. Preston was also a railway bottleneck. Located roughly half way between the Metropolis and Glasgow (actually…

Development of railcars in Britain In October 1952 authority was given for the construction of the first lightweight, bogie diesel multiple units. All were two-car sets to be assembled at Derby Carriage and Wagon Works. Eight were destined for local workings between Bradford, Leeds and Harrogate, thirteen to follow for Cumberland timetables radiating from Carlisle. When introduced into traffic from June 1954 they were the first delivery of a British Railways order. Yet the superiority of railcars to provide many secondary level services was already obvious. Operating costs turned out at about 50% of comparable steam provision while diesel engines were four times more efficient. Importantly they also supplanted drawbacks of steam working like cleanliness, air pollution, rolling stock utilisation and quotas, speed of journeys and, especially in the 1950s,…

When we read accounts of rail journeys, and especially steam footplate trips whether officially sanctioned or otherwise, there is a tendency to assume that both driver and fireman are used to working with each other and are comfortable in each other’s company. Why this should be so more than in any other job is not obvious although each is dependent on the other in matters of safety and proper performance of their duties. Some drivers were noted for passing on knowledge to their mate and letting him ‘have a go’ while the driver took the shovel. That this was not always the case, however, has become more evident in certain former enginemen’s reminiscences where they have related how on occasion, as a fireman, they had been paired with a surly…

The impact of the war 3) Coal, the Admiralty and railways A recent book hypothesised that the First World War was not won on the Western Front, but by the Royal Navy’s blockade of Continental Europe, ensuring Germany’s weakened state, consequently its politicians sued for peace before social revolution embroiled the country.71 If this could be proved, then could it similarly suggest that the GWR, which initiated the movement of coal upon which the RN depended, might justify a claim for a share of this? As early as the 1840s the Royal Navy, experimenting with steamships, designated South Wales Dry Steam Coal as the favoured fuel for its ships72. Despite politicking by other coalfield interests, the RN was resolute in favouring steam coal from the Rhondda and Cynon Valleys for…

Today we take for granted the ability to access all the latest news immediately, 24 hours per day, and to be able to research even the most arcane of subjects simply by operating a computer keyboard. Back in the 1960s things were very different and it was far from easy to keep abreast of events and developments. The newspapers told you what they wanted you to hear, the wireless and television tended to report primarily on national issues and specialist magazines, which could help with raising awareness of forthcoming events, were quite expensive for youngsters with limited pocket money. For railway enthusiasts there was, apart from magazines, a grapevine which, although frequently inaccurate, was sometimes helpful in providing useful tips and information. Some school friends and I had heard that…

Gravesend in Kent is not a town we think of as a holiday resort, but such it was for Londoners who made the boat trip down river, at least until the development of the rail network made more distant sandy beaches easily accessible. Day trippers alighting at Gravesend’s pier could stroll along the promenade towards the fort built by Henry VIII on the last bit of high land before the Thames estuary rapidly became wider and flanked on both sides by marshland and creeks. More energetic visitors could walk up Windmill Hill. Tea shops offered refreshment and at the top of the hill there was a park with a maze and the spectacle of a bear and a lion to provide distraction. The park is still there, but the maze…

This article looks at the limitations on London & North Eastern Railway investment and why it struggled with financial stringency throughout its existence. The railways in the inter-war years found it difficult to finance capital expenditure in the conventional way. As a result of the deficit on capital account and poor trend of earnings, the LNER could not raise significant fresh capital on the stock market. As a consequence, railway companies resorted to sources other than the capital market to finance investment. These included loans from Government bodies such as the Railway Finance Corporation Ltd., land sales, the realisation of non-railway investments and the use of liquid surpluses in superannuation funds. The LNER chiefly used return on investment to assess proposals for capital projects based on anticipated savings in working…