Volume 38 No 7 - July 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 Derek G
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Thames-side Workings
Established in 1868, the Northfleet Coal & Ballast Co. acted as agents for sea-borne coal to firms close to the River Thames, sending chalk and clays as return loads. By 1900 their local quarries were nearing exhaustion and in 1902 they bought a patc
Backtrack23 min read
British Railways: The First 18 Months
You've had a revolution.” President Truman told George VI. “Oh no, we don't have those here.” replied the King. Railways might not have been uppermost in the minds of either of these heads of state in July 1945, but the new Government about to be for
Backtrack19 min read
The Bexleyheath Line
Photographs from the Lens of Sutton Collection There can be few places in the south of England with a population still to reach 110,000 that can boast four different rail routes to the capital, though they all eventually come together 4¼ miles out fr
Backtrack16 min read
Protecting The Tube Part Two
We have seen in Part One of this article (June) that prior to the start of World War II there was beginning to be a realisation in official circles of just how vulnerable parts of London's Underground railway network were to the possibility of floodi
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Coronation Class
The London Midland & Scottish Railway ‘Coronation’ Pacifics of William Stanier will need no introduction to most Backtrack readers as the zenith of top link motive power on the West Coast Main Line in the steam era. 38 of them were built between 1937
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The Skye Line Termini Strome Ferry And Kyle Of Lochalsh
In many respects, the early history of Scotland's two scenic mountain routes to the western seaports at Kyle of Lochalsh and Mallaig was similar. By 1894, the West Highland Railway route to Fort William was completed and seven years later the line wa
Backtrack20 min read
Destructive Fires On Britain's Railways 1840-1900
Fire has always been a potential danger on steam-driven railways. Press reports dating from as early as 1840 illustrate the variety of causes, the resulting loss of life and injuries, and the damage to property and rolling stock. All forms of railway
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Reminiscences Of The Wolverhampton Area 1962 To 1967 Change And Decline On Former Lines Of The Great Western Railway
Sixty years or so have passed since fundamental changes took place on British Railways (BR) in the 1960s exemplified by the replacement of steam by diesel and electric traction, but the railway system underwent a much deeper transformation and declin
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Stoke Junction
Stoke Junction was one of the busiest locations on the former North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) – The Knotty. It became a junction on 7th August 1848 when the line from there to Uttoxeter was opened from its connection with the line from Stoke to Nor
Backtrack5 min read
Readers'Forum
Further to the feature ‘Scottish Steam in the 1920s’ in the February issue, my father Ranald Dunbar Stephen was born on 2nd February 1907, the youngest of three brothers. At Christmas 1918 the family bought a camera to photograph warships in the Firt
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BookReviews
Excellent Very Good Good Fair Poor By Jim McBride. Published by the Donegal Railway Museum, softback, 64 pages, €18. ISBN 9 781874 518112. The narrow gauge railways of Ireland are an endless source of fascination and this pictorial volume featuring o

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