Trains Illustrated Magazine, Issue 51

RAILWAY HERITAGE as a title is all very well, but perhaps it is a grandiose description for much of railway history and operations. What else can one say? Heritage there certainly is for the present observer to enjoy, in the shape of fine stations and civil engineering, preserved locomotives and rolling stock, and the lore and history of British railways.

Locomotives have dominated so much of the interests of railway observers over the years, often in a curiously selective and unimaginative way. What is one to make of collections of railway photographs assembled by respected railwayists 75% of which consist of locomotive three-quarter view 'mug-shots', identified neither by date nor locality? What a pity that such details were considered as incidental. For at least it would have helped to pinpoint allocations and working. In some cases, commercial postcards taken from glass plates were printed, or cropped, so as to 'take-out' the background to the locomotive. This sort of attitude has effectively restricted our ability to make use of much of the surviving evidence of times past. Above all, we have little to hand of the daily operations of railways and train working. So to Trains Illustrated 51 which attempts to place on record something of the atmosphere and detail of train working. This is of course drawn from the more recent past: the West Coast main line in the late 1940s, the East Coast immediately before dieselisation, but not forgetting a fascinating insight into Worcester in late Victorian days. Such feats of operating are indeed an integral part of railway heritage. So, too, is D. L. Franks' fascinating account of 'Lanky' geopolitics at the turn of the century, and a first-hand account of a journey to Newcastle and back on the 'Silver Jubilee'. To-round off, our two photographic interludes provide insight into railway developments of the past.