Volume 38 No 3 - March 2024

Backtrack

Britain's Leading Historical Railway Journal

Backtrack1 min read
‘Saints’ And ‘Stars’
The Great Western Railway's much lauded ‘Castles’ and ‘Kings’ have rightly had a generous share of colour features in Backtrack over the years in representing the highest points of the company's express motive power. But we should not overlook their
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 D
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Editorial
All our interests in railways were sparked simewhere and somehow, most probably at an early age – and we are likely to remember where that was and how it came about. In a guest editorial this month JEFFREY WELLS – our longest-serving contributor, wit
Backtrack18 min read
Lincolnshire's Railways
Lincolnshire was thoroughly ‘Beechinged’. Looking at a map of the county today we have the line from Cleethorpes and Grimsby just below the Humber in the north, which reaches Barnetby (Wrawby Junction) then heads off in three different directions lik
Backtrack18 min read
Langley Green Post-steam Era Freight Operations At This West Midlands Location Part One
Although not a railway modeller myself, though I suspect a good percentage of the Backtrack readership may well be, there are several railway locations in my native Black Country region of the West Midlands that I have often thought would not only ma
Backtrack15 min read
A Tale Of Four Tunnels
The study of the construction of tunnels and the reaction to them by the nineteenthcentury public is an interesting subject. From the advent of railways, the need for expensive tunnels, offering short and direct routes that avoided awkward gradients,
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The ‘Northern Belle’
For seven summers from 1933-1939 the London & North Eastern Railway operated what must surely rank as the most ambitious luxury touring service by rail that this country has ever seen, ‘The Northern Belle’. Its inspiration possibly stemmed from the e
Backtrack17 min read
A Right Royal Scandal The Closure Of The Deeside Line Part Two
A week before the TUCC public hearing in Aberdeen on 23rd September 1964, British Railways produced its customary internal ‘Brief for Liaison Officer’.1 This clarified that while there had been 314 objections, 280 of these had been received “on a ste
Backtrack19 min read
The Belfast Central Line 1874-2023
On 4th August 2024 the four miles of railway line in Belfast commonly known as the ‘Central Line’ will be celebrating its 150th anniversary. The fact that it's still a functioning line, and an integral part of the railway infrastructure in Belfast to
Backtrack1 min read
From One Side To The Other
One of a number of railway routes linking the Red and White Rose counties was the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway line between Todmorden and Burnley. Passing through rugged Pennine country, its course through the Cliviger gorge necessited some challen
Backtrack1 min read
Finds From The Cambrian Era
FROM THE PENDRAGON ARCHIVES
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Lake's Chief Mechanical Engineers Part One F. W. Webb – As Seen Through The Eyes Of Charles S. Lake And Others
In the dark and desperate days of World War II, it is hard to envisage some aspects of life continuing with a semblance of normality. Our experience of living through the recent lockdowns perhaps enables us to have some understanding. The venerable i
Backtrack7 min read
Readers'Forum
The photograph on the front cover was incorrectly credited. The photographer was David Mitchell, to whom go apologies for this error. Ed. Alas, the top photograph on p44 of the January issue has been printed back to front! Apologies to the photograph

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