Volume 38 No 1 - January 2024

Backtrack

Britain's Leading Historical Railway Journal

Backtrack1 min read
Backtrack
Publisher and Editor MICHAEL BLAKEMORE • E-Mail pendragonpublishing@btinternet.com • Tel 01347 824397 [Mon.-Fri. 9.00am-5.00pm] Trade Account Manager Ann Williams Design + Repro Barnabus Design in Print • Typesetting Melinda Trevivian • IT Consultant
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Editorial
Welcome to 2024 and the first issue of Volume 38 of Backtrack. We’ll do our best to ensure another twelve months of varied railway history in the style and of the quality you’ve hopefully come to expect. Excluding the world at large which is in its u
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The 125th Anniversary Of The Direct Railway Line From Aviemore To Inverness
On 1st November 125 years ago in 1898, the first scheduled train to use the completed direct line from Aviemore to Inverness steamed into Inverness Station. The line had been a long time in the making as Parliament had first approved it in 1884. Due
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Steam In Good Portions Part One the Story Of The 12.17 Or 1j42
In an attempt by British Railways to boost its flagging patronage, the up morning express from Glasgow known as ‘The Caledonian’, 08.30 SX, was from 18th June 1962 amended and decelerated to make stops at Preston and Stafford. At the same time, two c
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THE LONDON & BRIGHTON RAILWAY'S FIRST LINE
Proposals to join London to Brighton by rail had been floating about in various forms since 1823, though the London & Brighton Railway was not finally authorised until 1837, essentially the line surveyed by John Rennie. It was one of several routes o
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Great Central Part Two 1958 -1970: A Chronolgy of Decline
Like other lines, the former Great Central Railway network saw closures during the first waves of railway retrenchment from the 1920s to the 1950s. The North Lindsey Light Railway lost its sparse passenger service from 13th July 1925. Other early pas
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Celebrating 'Jubilees'
The London Midland & Scottish Railway’s 5XP three-cylinder express 4-6-0s made their debut in 1934, with a total of 191 being constructed over the next two years. With the Silver Jubilee of King George V being marked in 1935, the LMS took the opportu
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In The Line Of Duty
In writing this prologue, the author wishes to acknowledge the wealth of details contained in Chapter 10 of Jeffrey Richards and John M. MacKenzie’s book The Railway Station. The ideas and quotations found in this prologue spring from Chapter 10, whi
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Turnberry War Memorial
It is extremely unlikely that Rails to Turnberry and Heads of Ayr by David McConnell and Stuart Rankin (Oakwood Press, 2010) will either be surpassed or updated by any future railway historians. However, recent research has uncovered the following sh
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Closure Of The First Part Of The east Coast Main Line
During the past few years Edward Gibbins has related the events surrounding the closure of some railway lines, notably those on the Isle of Wight and over Stainmore Summit, where they were so obviously candidates for withdrawal of their passenger ser
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Thomas Elliot Harrison's 'early Freaks'
The earliest locomotives of Isambard Kingdom Brunel Junior’s broad gauge Great Western Railway were described by E. L. Ahrons as “an extraordinary collection of freak locomotives” and none looked quite as freakish as those constructed by North East r
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Readers'Forum
I refer to the above article (November) and wish to make several comments. The photographic view from Dundee West (p698) is not from a central island platform, this being one of two lengthy platforms with four faces accordingly numbered 1 to 4. Nos.1
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Swainsley Tunnel In The Manifold Valley
The 2ft 6in gauge Leek & Manifold Valley Light Railway (LMVLR) had but one tunnel but it was rather special as it was built to accommodate standard gauge wagons and vans on narrow gauge transporter cars. Moreover, it is still in use today but for a t
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BookReviews
Excellent Very Good Good Fair Poor by Robert Phipps, published by Ormiston Publishing, softback. 288 pages.£25, ISBN 978-1-3999-4637-7 This is a fascinating book which takes, behind its pugnacious title, a detailed look at a very unusual – and widely

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