Welcome to a special publication drawn from the archives of The Railway Magazine.
Issue 4
A very warm welcome to issue 3 of Railway Times. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to send feedback and comment on stories – a selection of your emails are printed on page 23. We welcome suggestions for future editions, so please get in touch – [email protected] Our front cover features a story from 1925 – ‘New rolling-stock for LMSR main line services’ – the fastest post World War I service from Bradford to London (4 hours 15 minutes). We have a 1984 article on page 4, looking at proposals for a Birmingham tram service, plans which would come to fruition fieen years later. Page 5 features a couple of nice images of King’s Cross from 1978 showing how a roof replacement was achieved without disrupting services. On pages 6-9 we have reproduced a detailed article from 1915 looking at Leeds and its railways. Front covers of The Railway Magazine from the 1970s have always been a particular favourite of mine, and all 120 are printed on page 10, along with a selection of Editorial comments from that decade – including a reduction of ‘Steam Specials’, and free coee top-ups on the London Midland Region. In 1986 The Railway Magazine looked at the railway developments in Greater Manchester which have fallen short of bridging the gap between North and South. On page 16 there is a gallery of images from 1935 including Dorchester Station, Paddington snack bar and locomotive development on the Brill branch. On page 18, from 1990 – The bold move to replace an important part of the Festiniog Railway’s history by building a single Fairlie locomotive. There’s much more inside – we hope you enjoy it!
If you want a printed version of Issue 4, pick up The Railway Magazine, August 2019, here!
Issue 4
Issue 3
I am writing this in the middle of what will surely go down in history as one of the hottest summers on record. It’s 31ºC outside (that’s approaching 90ºF in old money), and not much cooler indoors. Luckily, The Railway Magazine Archive has a very effective climate control system, so it has been an absolute pleasure spending time in there, picking out the gems for issue 3 of Railway Times.
On the front page we have a beautiful image of Malden Manor station – reprinted from the July 1938 issue of The Railway Magazine – on Sunday, May 29, the first section of a new line between Motspur Park and Leatherhead on the Southern Railway was opened to traffic. The new stations “are of striking and attractive appearance, with spacious booking halls and the usual offices. One of the most characteristic features is the Chisarc type of cantilevered reinforced concrete platform roofing”.
On page 4 you can read Scott Damant’s overview of Liverpool Street Station from November 1899. Turn to page 8 for the ‘Hogwarts Express’ story – an exclusive, behind-the-scenes report by James Shuttleworth, first published in January 2002.
City of Truro: The Final Answer? Yorkshire man John Heaton FCILT blows the lid off one of the railway world’s greatest ‘did or didn’t it’ mysteries on page 10 – first published in The Railway Magazine in 2015.
The death of Sir Nigel Gresley on April 5, 1941 deprived the railway mechanical engineering profession of one of its most distinguished personalities, and one whose career has no parallel in the locomotive history of this country. Read The Railway Magazine’s obituary, originally published in June 1941.
As a special treat on page 15, we have reprinted the first ever Railway magazine crossword from August 1995, along with more fiendishly difficult puzzles. Have a go before turning to page 23 for the answers!
If you missed issues 1 and 2 of Railway Times, you can read them online here: www.railwaymagazine.co.uk/railwaytimes.
To access all these stories, articles and features, plus thousands more, subscribe to our archive – it’s quick and easy to do. Turn to the back page for more details.
Issue 2
MANY thanks to everyone who took the time to send in feedback on the first issue of Railway Times. We launched at the Barrow Hill Grand Reopening Gala which was a fabulous event – congratulations to Mervyn Allcock and the whole team there.
We have spent the winter months in the archive, picking out more gems to present to you in this issue.
The dramatic front page comes from 1984. British Railways and the Central Electricity Generating Board deliberately destroy a train to prove the safety of nuclear fuel flasks.
On page 4 we tell the story of British-funded ‘ambulance’ trains, in use on the continent during the First World War, originally published September and October 1915 editions of The Railway Magazine.
For fans of modern diesels, we take a look at the prototype ‘150’ from 1984 on page 9 – British Railways’ ageing fleet of diesel multiple-units were to be replaced by modern vehicles.
Originally promoted as a canal, the railway to West Croydon has had five different methods of traction. The article by Edward Treby on page 10 was first published in October 1967.
Pages 12 and 13 feature archive images from Birmingham New Street station in 1915, including the central carriage drive, the famous footbridge and a holiday crowd waiting for a Llandudno train on No. 3 platform.
Turn to page 14 for the fascinating story of the failure of Bricklayers Arms as a passenger station by Canon Reginald B Fellows. The station, on the world’s first line to be controlled by a signal box, was built partly the relieve congestion at London Bridge Station but was never popular with the public. Originally published in two parts in the July/August and September/October 1944 issues of The Railway Magazine.
We have another piece of Victorian railway fiction on page 17, from the February 1898 edition of The Railway Magazine: ‘Told in a first-class smoker – The Adventures of Plantagenet Smith’ written by T F Ridgwell, and illustrated by Scott Damant.
If you missed issue 1 of Railway Times, you can read it online here: www.railwaymagazine.co.uk/railwaytimes.
To access all these stories, articles and features, plus thousands more, subscribe to our archive – it’s quick and easy to do. Turn to page 24 of this special supplement.
As always, we welcome feedback and comments as well as suggestions for future editions – [email protected].
Issue 1
In this issue of Railway Times, we have a five-page history of the Stockton and Darlington Railway – the first public railway on which locomotive traction was employed, and intended to carry both passengers and goods. In the 1850s horse dandies were still employed – these were attached at the end of a train of wagons, and the horses were trained to jump in on the down gradients, and ride as passengers until their services were again required to head the load!
On page 10, there’s a fascinating history of train indicators at Waterloo, written in 1898 and on page 12, a look at how The Railway Magazine covered World War II.
Cannon Street Station 1866 to 1966 is featured on page 20 – originally published in two parts, in the August and September 1966 issues of The Railway Magazine.
We welcome comments and suggestions for possible future editions, please email: [email protected].
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