p. 533 New Approach: RW, June 1966, 250–53; Jan. 1967, 24–7.
p. 533 Paul Riley: Holland, J., 72–80.
p. 534 Peter Handford: Neil Innes, A Life In Cans, BBC Radio 4, 19 Dec. 2007.
p. 535 ‘A branch line train’: L.N.E.R.: Sounds of the Steam Age, ASV Transacord ATR 7010.
p. 536 W. H. Auden: Spender, 110.
p. 536 the seven-year-old Adrian Vaughan: Vaughan 4, 5.
p. 537 ‘a solid man’: Gasson, 32.
p. 537 driver Albert Young: Ransome-Wallis, 65.
p. 537 Frank McKenna: Obituary, Guardian, 30 Oct. 2013.
p. 537 Starting at Carlisle Kingmoor: McKenna, 1–9, 18–21.
p. 538 Six hundred collectors: Guardian, 6 June 1964.
p. 539 Collectors’ Corner: The Times, 22 Dec. 1969.
p. 539 Michael Palin’s exploration: Great Railway Journeys of the World: Confessions of a Trainspotter, BBC2, 27 Oct. 1980.
p. 539 £3 million per year: RM, Nov. 2001, ii.
p. 540 £12,700 for Paddington: Railways Illustrated, Aug. 2009, 86.
p. 540 Golden Fleece: www.railwayanapage.com/top_50.htm.
p. 540n Two ‘Thunderbird’ nameplates: RM, Feb. 2014, 11.
p. 540 clockwork versions: Ellis, C., 10.
p. 540 ‘no more like the original’: RMM, 97.
p. 541 Sir Arthur Heywood: Smithers, 7–15, 44–6, 56–62.
p. 542 Pendon Parva: Country Life, 25 Nov. 1965, 1422–4.
p. 542 Copenhagen Fields: www.themodelrailwayclub.org/about-us/layouts/28-copenhagen-fields.
p. 543 Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Society: LYR Focus 67 (2008); www.lyrs.org.uk/lyr_resources/pubs-focus.html.
p. 543 George Dow: Obituary, British Railway Journal 16 (1987), 308.
p. 544 celebrated controversy in 1993: Newby.
p. 544 railway autobiographies: Strangleman.
p. 545 ‘a collection of buildings’: Spedding, 72.
p. 545 over 9 million passenger journeys: RM, Apr. 2014, 6.
p. 547 90 per cent of workers: Carter, I. 1, 127.
p. 547 Severn Valley Railway: Shropshire Star, 1 Dec. 2012.
p. 548 The real breakthrough: The Golden Age of Steam Railways, BBC4, 28 May 2013.
p. 549 fifty-year-old Deltic: RM, June 2011, 9.
p. 550 prices paid for locomotive nameplates: www.railwayanapage.com/top_50.htm.
p. 550 ‘a steam engine’: Wells, 4.
PICTURE CREDITS
Every effort has been made to contact all copyright holders. The publishers will be happy to make good in future editions any errors or omissions brought to their attention.
Colour Plates
1. Photo: Daily Herald Archive/Science & Society Picture Library/Getty Images
2, 9, 10, 11, 14, 25, 27, 28, 31. Author’s collection
3, 5, 7, 12, 15, 17, 20, 21, 24, 26. Photos: © NRM/Pictorial Collection/Science & Society Picture Library – All rights reserved
4. Photo: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images
6. Photo: Science & Society Picture Library/Getty Images
8. Photo: Ray Boyd/Bude-past-and-present.org.uk
13. Photo: © NRM/British Transport Films/Science & Society Picture Library
16. Photo by courtesy of Mike Musson, WarwickshireRailways.com
18. Photo: Dave Hewitt
19. Photo: T. B. Owen/Colour-Rail
22. Photo: John Alsop Collection
23. Photo: Greg Norden Collection/Travellingartgallery.com
29. Photo: Colour-Rail.com
30. Photo: © Colin T. Gifford/Science & Society Picture Library – All rights reserved
Text Illustrations
10, 12, 28, 62, 104, 107, 131, 143, 146, 174, 219, 220, 247, 265, 293, 298, 323, 364, 366, 393, 404, 421, 457, 467, 488, 495. Author’s collection
45. Engraving, S. F. A. Caulfeild, The Dictionary of Needlework, ii, 1882
49, 388, 410. Photos: © National Railway Museum/Science & Society Picture Library – All rights reserved
58. Photo: Science & Society Picture Library/Getty Images
82. Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
119. Drawing by S. Begg, Illustrated London News, 1895. Photo: © Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans
153. Photo: © The British Library Board
190. Photo: BFI Stills Dept
203. Drawings by George Dow, Great Central, ii, 1962. Courtesy of the George Dow Collection
216. Photo: PA Photos
233. Photo: © National Media Museum/Science & Society Picture Library – All rights reserved
237. Photo: Suni1060902
243. Photo: © Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans
259. Photo: © Michelin Tyre PLC/I-Spy
269. Drawing: © Paul Garnsworthy
276. Photo: Harry Todd/Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
327. Photo by courtesy of Nigel Rees
330. Photo: Derbyshire Library Service/www.picturethepast.org.uk
353. Photo: Warwickshire County Record Office, ref. PH 1035/A 3078, img: 3078 (3/7296)
371. Photo: Mary Evans Picture Library
377. Photo: Copyright © Historic England
434, 442. Photos, Railway Wonders of the World, ii, 1935
449. Photo: Lens of Sutton Collection
484. Engraving, George S. Measom, The Official Illustrated Guide to the Great Western Railway, 1863
486. Photo: The Montifraulo Collection/Getty Images
501. Photo by courtesy of the Mike Ashworth Collection
505. Photo: Copyright © The Secretary of State for Transport, 1968
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book is dedicated in memory of Peter Carson, editor and friend, whose wise and gentle guidance shaped the early and middle stages of the writing. I hope that the finished version would have pleased him no less. Andrew Franklin and Penny Daniel at Profile steered the book smoothly through to completion, with invaluable contributions from Cecilia Mackay as illustrations researcher, Peter Dyer as designer, and Trevor Horwood as copy editor. Thanks are also due to Claire Beaumont, Diana Broccardo, Anna-Marie Fitzgerald, Cecily Gayford, Drew Jerrison and Niamh Murray at Profile, to my agent Peter Straus, and to my employers, Yale University Press, who kindly granted two priceless months of writing leave.
The text was read in draft by Colin Divall, John Minnis, Paul Russenberger, Robert Thorne and Gavin Watson, all of whom generously suggested corrections and improvements. John Minnis also helped materially with the illustrations, as too did John Alsop, Mike Ashworth, Alyx Elliott, Mike Musson and Nigel Rees. Guidance on particular themes was received from Steven Brindle, Eric Latusek, James Mackay, James McConnachie, Clare Pettitt, Rob Smith, Malcolm Tucker and David Turner. Conversations with Claire Armitstead, Michael Bailey, Nicolas Barker, my father Martin Bradley, Tim Brearley, Richard Butler, Mike Chrimes, David Edgerton, Dave Farmer, Andy Foster, Andrew Grantham, Elain Harwood, Chris Holland, Tristram Hunt, the late Charles McKean, David McKie, Andrew Martin, Charles O’Brien, Hubert Pragnell, Andrew Saint, John Seaton, Gavin Stamp, Peter van Zeller, Sarah Whittingham, Peter Worsley and Andrew Wilson also stimulated the writing, as did exchanges with railwaymen and ex-railwaymen up and down the country.
Final thanks go to my parents for having indulged my adolescent interest in railways, and to my wife Clara Farmer for her supreme patience with the demands of writing the book over so many holidays, evenings and weekends.
INDEX
Page references for illustrations are given in italics
A
ABC of Southern Locomotives, An (Ian Allan) 522
Aberdare 413
Aberdeen 79, 249, 497
Abergele 150
Aberystwyth 11
Abingdon 11
absolute block working 297–300, 298, 310
Accidental Death Indemnity Association 147
accidents 61, 135, 141–51, 161, 179–80, 181–2, 193
Armagh 196–7
Aviemore 198
Clapham Junction 232
Dee bridge 367–8
Hatfield 287–8
Hebden Bridge 100
Huskisson 86
insurance 145–7
and locked doors 178, 179
Nuneaton 448
objects on the track 322, 323
Potters Bar 289
responsibility for 144–5, 390–1, 395–6
Sevenoaks 278
Sonning 60, 355
Staplehurst 151–4, 153, 155–6, 157–8, 178, 197, 286
Strickland 358
Tay Bridge 371–2, 372
trauma 158–61
walking on the line 320, 321
see also fires
accountancy 6, 430–1
Adamson, Robert 491
Adelaide, Queen 29, 149, 241
Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool 480, 481
Adlestrop 43–4, 463, 472, 483
‘Adlestrop’ (Thomas) 43–4, 491
Advanced Passenger Trains 238–9
Adventures of Mr Verdant Green, The (Bede) 108, 112
advertising 6, 497
in carriages 67, 71
by rail companies 121, 496–7, 517
at stations 494–6, 495, 497, 498, 499, 507, 508
agriculture 284–5, 331–2, 339, 340–6, 374–8, 414, 440
Aintree 93
air brakes 198, 199–200, 201, 414
air conditioning 230, 248
air rights 489–90
air travel 140, 222, 249, 251
alarms 193–6, 201
Albert, Prince 29–30, 149
Alfred, Prince 294
All The Year Round (Dickens) 15, 159
Allan, Ian 3, 522, 525, 530, 533
Allen, Ellen 184–5
Allen, W. P. 520
allotments 375
Allport, Sir James 68, 69, 207
Alfonso XIII, King 80
Alstom 239
Altick, Richard 17
Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants (ASRS) 391, 392, 395, 396
American Notes for General Circulation (Dickens) 115–16
American Senator, The (Trollope) 113
Amis, Martin 509
Anderson, W. J. V. 533
Andover 19
Andrews, George Townsend 469, 478, 485
Annual Register 51
Anorak of Fire (Dinsdale) 531
anoraks 531
Anson, Sir John 150
Anstey, Frederick 43, 147
Apperley, Charles James 350
Appleford 455
Arabesque 373
Architectural Review 498
Ardlui 250
Argyll & Sutherland Highlander 3
Arley 367, 534
Armagh disaster 196–7, 199, 297, 299
Armstrong, Tommy 14
Armstrong, William, Lord 443
Army & Navy Stores Catalogue 35, 181
Arnold, Florence 13
Arnold, Matthew 12–14, 35, 101, 124, 127, 130, 468
Arnold, Thomas 13
Arnside 311
Arrol, William 373
Arthur, John 244
Arun Bridge 370
Ascot 93, 169
ASLEF (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen) 399, 520
Atkinson, J. B. 260
Atmospheric Railway 268–71, 269, 426, 443
Atos 453
Auden, W. H. 4, 536
Audley End Tunnel 151
Auer von Welsbach, Carl 36
Austen, Jane 94
automatic brakes 197, 199–201
AVANTIX 453
Aviemore 41, 198
Avonmouth 346
Awdry, Rev. W. 345, 515, 524, 549
Aylmer, Felix 155
Ayrton, Michael 224
B
bacon 346
Baedeker’s Great Britain 45, 73, 114, 344, 492
Bain, Alexander 159
Bainbridge, Beryl 111
Baker, Benjamin 373
Baker, Colonel Valentine 177–8, 187, 195
Baker Street 474
Balcombe Tunnel 173–4, 174
Balcombe Viaduct 361
ballast 277–8
plants 378, 379
tamping 281–2
Ballater 469
Ballifurth Farm Halt 454
Ballochmyle Viaduct 362
Baly, William 150
bananas 346
Bannockburn 459
Barchester Towers (Trollope) 132
Bardon Mill 446
Barlow, Crawford 371
Barlow, William Henry 371, 487
Barlow rail 261
Barmouth Viaduct 366–7
Barnes, Julian 318
Barney, Gerry 504
Barnstaple 507
Barrow-in-Furness 517
Barry 346, 546
Bartlow 535–6
Basingstoke 18, 87, 313
Bass, Michael Thomas 391–2, 395
Bass 341, 344–5, 347, 391
Bath 365, 470
Bath Chronicle 465
Battersea Park 484
Baugh, Benjamin 496
baulk road 260–1, 274
Beardsley, Aubrey 129
Beauchamp, Sir William 365
Beccles 456
Beck, Harry 72
bed-carriages 241
Bede, Cuthbert 108, 112, 157, 492–3
Beeching, Dr Richard 330, 412–14, 437, 453, 503, 510, 527, 528
Beer, Patricia 300
Beerbohm, Max 252, 280, 468, 497
‘Beginning the New Year’ (Bennett) 37
Belah Viaduct 372
Belfast 157
Belgium 194, 235, 251, 376
Bell, William 166, 167
Belloc, Hilaire 105
bells 468
Belton Estate, The (Trollope) 470
Bendigo 90–1
Bennett, Arnold 14, 37, 402, 496
Beresford, James 205
Berlioz, Hector 209
Berners, Lord 104
Bertrams, The (Trollope) 18
Berwick 470
Berwick Castle 135
Bescot 2
Betjeman, Sir John 439, 460
Blake Hall 457
carriage straps 30
Great Western Railway logo 500
Metro-Land 318, 474
‘The Metropolitan Railway’ 318
Nine Elms 443
station advertising 496
station announcements 493
waiting rooms 471
Bibliography of British Railway History (Ottley) 538
Bidder, George Parker 354, 370
Big Four 24, 410, 416, 424
see also Great Western Railway;
London & North Eastern Railway; London, Midland & Scottish Railway; Southern Railway
Billy Liar (Waterhouse) 472
Birkenhead 56
Birch Grove 512
Birmingham 94, 239
Birmingham Curzon Street 443–4
Birmingham New Street 359, 444, 490
Birmingham, Wolverhampton & Dudley Railway 456, 458
biscuits 347
Black, Misha 504
Black’s Picturesque Tourist and Road and Railway Guide Book 370
Blackburn 450
Blackheath Tunnel 106
Blaenau Ffestiniog 240
Blair Atholl 41
Blake Hall 457
block working 297–300, 298, 304, 305, 310, 543
Blue Pullmans 221, 230–1, 503
Bluebell Railway 240, 510–11, 512, 546, 548, 549
Blythswood, Rev. Lord 96–7
Board of Trade 61, 63, 199, 391, 433
block working 299
brakes 197
emergency communication 193, 194–5
footbridges 448
gauge 262
ladies-only compartments 182
lamps 64
light railways 418
locked doors 179, 465
; platforms 447
railway workers’ safety 391, 452
safety measures 392
station advertising 497
viaducts 365
windows 65
boat trains 69, 140, 152, 155
dining cars 219
sleeping cars 245, 247, 249
Bodmin & Wadebridge Railway 28, 29, 90, 515, 517, 525
Bolton & Preston Railway 370
bombs 129
booking halls 438, 463–4, 468
books 120, 121, 122, 123, 125–8, 129, 130, 188–9
bookstalls 122–30
Booth, General 375–6
Border Country (Williams) 308–10, 312
Borrodale Bridge 363
Boteler, William 150
Bouch, Sir Thomas 371, 372, 373, 428
Boucicault, Dion 98
Bourn 445
Bourne 284
Bourne Bridge 91
Bournemouth 228
Box Tunnel 68, 263
box-girder bridges 368–9
BR see British Railways/British Rail
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth 45–6, 109, 126, 150
Bradford 232, 380
Bradlaugh, Charles 127
Bradshaw, George 15
Bradshaw, Robert 333
Bradshaw’s Railway Guide 15–17, 18, 147, 480, 515
Bradshaw’s Railway Manual 199, 518
Braintree and Bocking Advertiser 184
brakes
atmospheric railway 270–1
trains 193, 196–201
wagons 386, 387, 390, 393, 406, 407–8
Brampton 23
Brandt, Bill 533
Brassey, Thomas 335–6, 338
breweries 340–1, 344–5, 347
briars 108
bricks 359, 362
bridges 364
footbridges 449
platforms 447
Brideshead Revisited (Waugh) 26
bridge rail 261
bridge-type stations 451–2
Bridges, Robert 497
bridges 5, 361, 373–4
Clifton Bridge 264
footbridges 331, 448–50, 449
iron 367–73
London 13–14
Saltash Bridge 5, 264, 369
Scotland 11–12
skew bridges 363–5, 364
swing bridges 354
timber 365–7
see also viaducts
Bridget Jones’s Diary (Fielding) 111
Brief Encounter 451, 511
Briggs, Julia 322
Briggs, Thomas 171–3, 175, 176, 193, 194
Brighton 142, 208–9
Brighton Belle 209
Brimsdown 507
Bristol 221, 264, 265, 411, 479
Bristol & Exeter Railway 310–11
Bristol & Gloucester Railway 29, 375
Bristol Temple Meads 411, 451
Britannia Bridge 368–9
British Leyland 2, 233
British Medical Journal 160
The Railways Page 75