"Preserving the steam locomotive legacy..and more..on film"
FRONT PAGE
WSR Mogul 9351, crosses Nethercott Bridge with a Minehead bound train 4.5.10. This loco is a "might have been", having been converted from a 2-6-2 tank.
(C)TIM STANGER LRPS
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CONTENTS
Welcome ... and site news..
West Coast Main Line: the story
Video and photographic highlights
Feature: ON THIS DAY
Lewisham Rail Disaster (1957)
Canada United by Railroad (1885)
ALONG THE TRANS SIBERIAN RAILWAY
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 RAILWAYS: 7: COLOGNE TO VIENNA
The Norfolk Southern Heartland Corridor
Rail Mail: The Final Run and Post RMS
For The Modeller
From Poath Archives "Early Streamliners 1930's & 40's. Historic American Trains & Railways"
Christian Wolmar "Letters From America"
The General (1927) Film featuring Buster Keaton
Christian Wolmar- Newsletter
A View from India..Indian Railways - Longest Running Train !!!!!
From Norway:Bergensbanen railway at full speed after Finse
"The Intemperate Engineer- Isambard Kingdom Brunel in his own words" by Adrian Vaughan
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Welcome...and site news
A warm welcome to all to this month's online magazine.
And Steamtube and On Shed especially welcome the 28 new members who joined this past month, bringing our membership total to 430.
During the past month 115 new videos have been added, bringing the total archive to 1,746 films..and 548 photographs have been added making a total of 7,846.
And last month saw almost 50,000 page views!
Thank you all for your support and for the speed with which you upload images...often on the same day..ah! the wonders of modern technology!!
Speaking of which...you may have noticed a change or two to the home page. The SteamTube train running across the banner...and a Photographer of the Month (POTM)
Recent POTMs have been at our discretion, but we would like you to indicate your preference.....
A New Feature For 2011!
We would like you, our members to vote for suitable candidates for each month's "Photographer Of The Month" throughout 2011. Click here to vote!
The RailFanFilms will be sponsoring this feature...A DVD of steam images specially produced for Steamtube! Thank you, Sean at TRFF.
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You will also have noticed that we now have just the two sites...Steamtube and the Stratford-upon-Avon & Midland Junction Railway sites. These two sites occupy us fully, so that we could not do credit to the other sites that were part of our group..i.e. Dieseltube, ElectricTube and DisusedTube. And so, in the absence of any offers to administer the sites, we have let them go.
However, STN News provides a platform for all other rail news, so please feel free to add blogs/news to this site. And "On Shed" will also endeavour to keep pace with any developments of interest to our members and readership.
We hope that you understand the reasons for our decision, and it does not cause you too much dissappointment.
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Video & Photo Highlights
It is interesting to look back over the last few weeks to see what images are especially popular...
Two videos unearthed on YouTube have been especially well received...MrLesBailey on YouTube must take the credit for 1950s-1960s film of British Steam, and Marylebone.
Steve Szwejkowski's film of Black 5 45305 near Northampton has drawn over 100 views..
..speed seems to be the appeal here...! The reappearance of 70000 Britannia at Crewe has raised expectations..thanks to Mick Lockley for this clip. And CJH uploaded what can only be regarded as "historic", since this was the first public passenger train to Cauldon Lowe in 75 years!
Here they are again.........
Photographs:
Boston & Maine #1455 ALCO Mogul(Jim White)
Down express at Southampton Sep '66(Steve Szwejkowski)
Pair of Halls(4953 Pitchford Hall & 4965 Rood Ashton Hall)tackle the Lickey Bank (John Edkins)
GWR 175 at Didcot (Christopher Cherry)
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West Coast Main Line: the story
(Courtesy: NetworkRailMedia on YouTube)
This short film celebrates our pride in completing the massive improvements to the West Coast Main Line and giving people shorter, faster and more frequent journeys.
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ON THIS DAY
04/12/1957 Accident at Lewisham (90 fatalities. 176 injured)
Source: Wikipedia
The accident occurred in cold and very foggy conditions which were causing severe disruption to all train services in the London area. The fog is thought to have been especially thick in the cutting between New Cross and St Johns station, with the driver of the 5.18 electric train from Charing Cross to Hayes reporting that visibility was down to twenty yards or less in some places.
Due to uncertainty of the signaller in the Parks Bridge junction signal box as to the destination of this train, it was held at a signal shortly after St Johns station and stopped with its last carriage under the flyover carrying the Lewisham to Nunhead branch. It was hit from behind a few minutes later, at 6.20pm, by the delayed 4.56 train from Cannon Street to Ramsgate, which was hauled by Bulleid pacific 34066 ‘Spitfire.’
The driver of this train, W.J. Trew, had failed to see two yellow ‘caution’ signals between New Cross and St Johns. Signal sighting was especially difficult for steam train drivers, since the boiler and sometimes drifting exhaust ahead of the cab gave the driver a limited field of vision and the signals on this stretch of line were mounted on the right, whereas most steam locomotives by that time were left-hand drive. Drivers of steam trains that had passed the site in the hour before the accident had got their firemen to lean out on the right and spot signals, but Trew did not ask fireman C.D. Hoare to do so. It was never clearly established why. Nor was it ever clear exactly what he saw or, if he was aware that he should have seen signals, why he did not slow down. Hoare did lean out as his train entered St Johns and saw the red signal at the far end of the platform, and Trew made an emergency brake application, but it was too late.
The 400-long-ton (410 t) train was travelling too fast to stop and crashed into the back of the Hayes Train at about 35 miles per hour (56 km/h). The ninth and eighth coaches of the ten-coach Hayes Train were telescoped together, with the ninth riding up over the chassis of the eighth and destroying its body completely. Behind, the tender and first coach of the steam train were derailed and struck one of the supports of the Lewisham-Nunhead flyover. This buckled immediately and collapsed onto the first three coaches, crushing two of them almost flat. Further disaster was narrowly averted when the driver of a train about to cross the flyover noticed that it had buckled and managed to stop short. The first coach of this train was tilted over at an angle, but did not fall onto the wreckage below and was quickly evacuated and hauled to safety.
Rescue work went on throughout the evening, since it was difficult and dangerous for the emergency services to reach passengers trapped in the crushed coaches under the flyover. Nevertheless, all survivors had been extracted and despatched to hospital before midnight.
The blame for the accident was placed solely on Driver Trew. He was tried for manslaughter in May 1958 but the jury could not agree on a verdict. A second trial was convened, but by then it was realised that Trew’s mental health had been severely impaired by the accident and its aftermath. No evidence was offered against him and he was discharged.
Despite the verdict of the official enquiry it was widely felt that, although Trew had made some critical errors, some of the blame also lay with British Railways who had made slow progress with the development and installation of Automatic Warning System (AWS), which would almost certainly have prevented the accident. British Rail had been heavily criticised for their slowness in introducing the system after the earlier accident at Harrow, and in the wake of the Lewisham disaster work on AWS was speeded up. It was not, however, made mandatory until after the Southall crash in 1997, some 40 years later.
The collapsed flyover was replaced by a temporary structure of military trestling, to facilitate the restoration of services. This structure proved to be very strong and durable, and as a result has never been replaced. It is still in use.
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Film Courtesy: SouthernRailwayFilms on YouTube
A newsreel depicting the aftermath of the Lewisham rail crash, which occurred on 4th December 1957 just outside St Johns railway station in Lewisham, South London. Ninety people were killed and 173 injured, making it the third worst rail crash in the UK in terms of death toll. The Ministry of Transport report into the disaster can be viewed online at http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docu... ===================================
November 7th 1885
Canadian Pacific and the Government of Canada to commemorate completion of Canada's transcontinental railway
CP Rail-Highlight pack Last Spike History
On November 7, Canadian Pacific and Parks Canada are hosting a public celebration commemorating the 125th anniversary of the driving of the Last Spike and the completion of Canada's first transcontinental railway. This historic event symbolizing national unity will be held at Last Spike Monument in Craigellachie, BC
This is the report on the day's events (Courtesy: Canadian Pacific)
On behalf of the Honourable John Baird, Minister of the Environment and Minister responsible for Parks Canada, Mr. Dean Del Mastro, Member of Parliament for Peterborough and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, and Mr. Fred Green, Canadian Pacific President and CEO, today recognized the 125th anniversary of one the most significant moments in Canadian history, the driving of the Last Spike, which completed the country's first trans-continental railway. Marking this important occasion, Mr. Del Mastro and Mr. Green hammered a symbolic spike at Craigellachie, British Columbia, accompanied by members of the Shuswap Nation, area mayors, local schools, and special guests from Lord Strathcona Horse Regiment (Royal Canadians) and the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery.
"The Last Spike represents the single most important construction project in the history of our country and also the most influential in the development of Canada's national identity. It represents the completion of the railway and the fulfillment of Prime Minister John A. Macdonald's promise to British Columbia to connect the province to the rest of Canada by rail," said Mr. Del Mastro, who also noted that the CP played a critical role in establishing Canada's first national park, Banff, 125 years ago. As Donald Smith, later known as Lord Strathcona, drove home the Last Spike to complete Canada's first transcontinental railway on November 7, 1885, the country ceased to be, in the words of Macdonald, "a mere geographic expression."
Against formidable odds, the ribbon of steel rail united the new province of British Columbia with the more populous centres in the East. "It is with extreme pride that I stand here with Mr. Del Mastro on this very special day," said Mr. Green, CP's 16th President. "This iconic event marked an important chapter in our history, but also signalled the innovation the railway would bring to the country over the ensuing decades. We honour the hundreds of thousands of men and women who have worked so hard over the last 125 years to make CP and Canada what it is today. Our work continues to make history every day – from driving the last spike to driving the digital railway." In 2011 Parks Canada will celebrate the 125th anniversary of both Glacier and Yoho national parks and the 100th anniversary of the national parks service. National parks and national historic sites represent the very best that Canada has to offer.
These special places contribute to Canada's vibrant tourism industry and exceptional reputation around the world. For additional information, please read this 125th Last Spike backgrounder Video from the event is available on CNW's Video On Demand at: http://cnw.pathfireondemand.com/main.action
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ALONG THE TRANS SIBERIAN
Zykovo Village........
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AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 RAILWAYS: 7: COLOGNE TO VIENNA
This leg of our journey takes us from Cologne to Vienna.,a world capital of music, having played host to composers such as Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler and Richard Strauss. InterCityExpress (ICE) operate a twice daily service from Cologne to Vienna Westbahnhof ,taking 9 hours and 25 minutes.
TIMETABLE: Köln Hbf Dep: 2005 Mainz Hbf Dep: 2212 Frankfurt(Main)Hbf Dep: 2321 Linz Hbf Arr: 0646 Wien Hütteldorf Arr: 0855 Wien Westbahnhof Arr: 0904
The overnight sleeper is an experience, but of course you may not get to see too much, although the Rhine by moonlight is a wonderful sight! The Rhine Valley or Middle Rhine (German Mittelrhein) is the most famous section of the Rhine, running between the cities of Bonn and Mainz in Germany and spanning the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate.
The section from Koblenz to Bingen, known as the Rhine Gorge, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the entire valley is often called "The Romantic Rhine". There are not one but two train lines running along this section of the Rhine. The scenic Linke Rheinstrecke ("Left Rhine Line") runs along the left (west) bank of the river from Cologne to Mainz, while the Rechte Rheinstrecke ("Right Rhine Line") runs along the right (east) bank of the river from Cologne to Wiesbaden. The Linke side, generally considered the more scenic of the two, is more heavily trafficked and has InterCity services, while the Rechte side is mostly dedicated to cargo and is limited to regional passenger trains running less than once per hour. Interchanging between the two is possible at Koblenz; the city is on the left, but many trains running on the Rechte start or terminate in there.
Loreley on Rhine (egrosz on Youtube) ...where road, rail and river work together..... Another tempting video clip....
Rhine River Cruise Germany (tvboy61 on Youtube)
These are the accompanying notes from the Youtube uploader: "Video taken on a Rhine River cruise starting at Rudesheim and ending at St. Goar (northwest of Frankfurt). Viewing includes: Burg Rheinstein, Burg Reichenstein, Burg Sooneck, Heimburg, Ruine Nollig, Ruine Furstenberg, Burg Stahleck, Die Pfalz, Ruine Waldeck, Ruine Sauerburg, Burg Gutenfels, Ruine Stahlberg, Schonburg, Burg Katz, Ruine Rheinfels, and the famous Loreley rock.
This relaxing cruise of a couple of hours is condensed into just over 7 minutes. Enjoy! Video shot on HD in 2007. " Thank you tvboy61 A key city en route is Linz. The Linz website (http/www.linzaustria.co.uk/) notes as follows... "Linz has a population of 190.000 inhabitants and the reputation being an industrial city. In the last years Linz tried to get away from that kind of image. The city improved in cultural and touristic attractions, and more and more tourists choose Linz as a destinaton for a short city trip or during their holiday time in Austria." And having reached Vienna, this is what we might observe...
Thanks to ronik24 for this excellent overview of activity in and around Vienna West station
Whilst in Vienna, we could avail ourselves of the many attractions... Wikipedia notes..."Art and culture have a long tradition in Vienna, including theater, opera, classical music and fine arts. The Burgtheater is considered one of the best theaters in the German-speaking world alongside its branch, the Akademietheater. The Volkstheater Wien and the Theater in der Josefstadt also enjoy good reputations. There is also a multitude of smaller theaters, in many cases devoted to less mainstream forms of performing arts, such as modern, experimental plays or cabaret. And the Hofburg is the location of the Schatzkammer (treasury), holding the imperial jewels of the Habsburg dynasty. "
Our 7th leg is complete..on to the 8th of "Around The World in 80 Railways"
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The Norfolk Southern Heartland Corridor
Norfolk Southern Corporation is one of the nation's premier transportation companies. Its Norfolk Southern Railway subsidiary operates approximately 21,000 route miles in 22 states, the District of Columbia and Ontario, Canada, serving every major container port in the eastern United States and providing superior connections to western rail carriers. NS operates the most extensive intermodal network in the East and is North America's largest rail carrier of metals and automotive products.
NorfolkSouthernCorp on YouTube
The Heartland Corridor is a rail freight route connecting the busy Virginia ports and the Midwest. In one of the biggest railroad engineering projects in the past century -- a feat that took three years to complete and is scheduled to open Sept. 9 -- Norfolk Southern modified 28 tunnels to accommodate double-stack containers. The new gateway is 250 miles shorter and saves a day or more of transit time, making it the shortest, fastest double-stack route between the East Coast and the Midwest. It benefits freight customers and doubles Norfolk Southern's capacity to handle the growth in international intermodal shipments. It also provides communities along the corridor with greater access to world markets, reducing highway congestion, fuel use, and emissions, and improving public safety.
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Rail Mail: The Final Run and Post RMS
The demise of the Travelling Post Office (TPO) in the UK is mirrored in the experience of the Rail Mail Service in the USA, as this recent video, featuring archive content and interviews with former RMS employees shows......
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FOR THE MODELLERS
Simon Martin has kindly given "On Shed" permission to make use of some of the excellent films in his series at www.britishrailwayseries.com Here is a second example.......
"Veto a V2!" - Original Air Date, 20th August, 2007. This episode has been remastered with a restored soundtrack, and its original filmed scenes. There are subtle differences between this version and that which aired on Youtube in two parts, three years. This story is about a mixed traffic steam engine named Herbert - who is afraid of cows...upon arrival at the yard, it's up to Herbert shows Sir Ralph what mixed traffic engines can do (and why Sir Ralph shouldn't run hot while running!) You can find more information on the original Episode Two here: http://www.britishrailwayseries.com/e...
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From PoathArchives on YouTube: Early Streamliners 1930's & 40's. Historic American Trains & Railways
Scenes of "Early Streamliners" in the United States filmed during the 1930's and 1940's. Features many classic trains hauled by steam and first generation diesels including: New York Central "20th Century Limited" with Hudson steam engine. Southern Pacific "Daylights" Baltimore & Ohio "Royal Blue" & "Capitol Limited" Chicago & Alton "Abraham Lincoln"
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Christian Wolmar: Letters From America
During the last month CW has been in the USA researching material for his next book. These are the initial thoughts of the intrepid traveller reflecting on his experiences...in Seattle..
"Lessons from Seattle transit system
The Seattle transit system is excellent and there are lessons for the UK. The frequent buses in the city centre all take bikes – on the front which would never be allowed in London because health and safety would beworriedaboutimpaling passengers – and are wheelchair accessible. I saw wheelchair users getting on and off without any helpers because the device, which does not involve the bus kneeling but rather is a lift in the main passenger entrance operated by the driver without having to move. Moreover, people use these facilities.I travelled on half a dozen buses during a weekend and there were three wheelchair users and two cyclists..... Moreover, the bus service is free in the downtown area between 6am and 7pm which encourages people to park their cars on the outskirts and travel round by public transport. The car park charges are high, often $2 per hour or in the case of the car parks next to the sports stadiums, a staggering $30 for the event. That shows the extent to which America’s dependency on cars is a con. The people have been sucked into car dependence and then have been fleeced, but sadly they will probably never realise unless, of course, petrol prices start soaring again."
You can read Christian's other reflections at: http://www.christianwolmar.co.uk/
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An early 20th century example of a film (silent!) featuring the railways..and a steam locomotive...."General"
The General (1927) Directed by: Clyde Bruckman & Buster Keaton Production by: Joseph M. Schenck Productions
Watch this film at: http://www.archive.org/details/TheGeneral
When Union spies steal an engineer's beloved locomotive, he pursues it single handedly and straight through enemy lines. One reviewer of the film (JConnolly) wrote: "The General is one of the greatest films ever made. It's pointless trying to avoid exaggeration on this point. The story is simple: A railway engineer caught up in the civil war makes good, and saves his girl from the enemy. The character is one of the pillars of the film: Buster Keaton is a shy and timid creature, ill at ease in company for example when he accompies his loved one home. The second love of his life is the locomotive he drives. And as a train driver, he is disqualified from active service - And stays behind, accused unjustly of cowardice, as the other men volunteer, and head off to the front in the instroductory sequences. The film shows masterful comic timing all revolving around essentially one man on a train. And without giving the plot away, there are subsequent amazingly choreographed sequences involving trains, bridges, pitched battles, and rescues in dark stormy nights. It's the hilarious, and poignant, and very human take the civil war, love and battle, and trains, that makes this one of the greatest films of all time."
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Christian Wolmar - Newsletter to Subscribers
Dear subscriber
Well, as I predicted, the Comprehensive Spending Review was not as harsh on transport – and especially on the railways – as expected. It is ironic, though, that Philip ‘end the war on the motorist’ Hammond should have cut back so dramatically on roads, and yet left major schemes on the railways untouched. There are still details on the Intercity Express Project (surely doomed and good riddance) and electrification (probably, sadly, doomed or drastically delayed) to come, but Hammond seems to have recognised the realities of not being able to cut the railways easily, and also their value to business. I suspect he has his ear bent very strongly by both the City and Boris on Crossrail, but perhaps it was more surprising that he has not tried to rein back seriously on Network Rail spending. But as I say in a couple of the new pieces on the site, watch this space: Network Rail is in his sights, quite rightly. And the McNulty review hangs over the industry, with Sir Roy now threatening to reduce the size of the network. The politics of that, however, I suspect will not wash – no one wants the mantle of Beeching 2.
Hammond did, however, proceed with the abolition of Cycling England, on whose board I sit and was clearly incensed by the piece I wrote criticising Norman Baker – so incensed, indeed, that he wrote a long rejoinder suggesting I did not understand the need for cuts. I do, but I did not understand why such an effective organisation as Cycling England had to be cut for no good reason other than ideological fervour against quangos. Both my original article and his response, pasted in as a comment, can be found here.
I was in America for the last two weeks of October travelling around the country, and blogged a few times here, and will write a couple of travel pieces about my experiences there which were fascinating, albeit sometimes patchy. Don’t, for example, go to the St Charles guest house in New Orleans, unless you want to view insect life or broken wall fittings at close hand. The journey was to gather material for my new book, a history of US railroads, on which I have now started working.
Travelling by train was, as ever, a pleasurable experience even though Amtrak does not always make things easy, like discouraging you to get off when it is stopped for 20minutes and yet not quite warning you sufficiently when there is supposed to be a ‘smoke stop’ which lasts just enough for two puffs. I did nearly get left in a station where I had taken advantage of the more comfortable rest room facilities, and proceeded to run after the train, belt swinging wildly, but despite tripping over, and my glasses falling on the ballast, I clambered on board.
Now I am whizzing round the country giving talks which always seem to come in batches. For my friends in the North, please sign up to my Northern launch of my new Engines of War book. It is on November 18th, 6 30pm at the Freemasons Hall, Bridge Street, M3 3 BT. Tickets are £15 in aid of the Railway Children, as ever, and that includes refreshments and a reduction on the book price. Please email ironw.booking@railwayoperators.org straight away to reserve your place – you can pay on the night – as we need to know numbers. For those of you in the West Midlands, I am giving the same talk earlier that day at 1pm at the Ellen Terry building, the old Odeon, Jordan Well, in Coventry city centre, admission free.
The book, incidentally, received a very thorough and positive review from Ian Jack in The Guardian. I will also be in Alton in Hampshire on November 25 at 7pm giving the talk to the Mid Hants Railway Society and at the Institute of Civil Engineers, Great George Street just off Parliament Square, at 6pm on December 8th.
There is, too, plenty of new material on the site, which now has close to 900 articles in total. There are all the usuals. For the TSSA Journal I wrote about the upheavals facing the railway industry on almost all fronts a theme I also picked up in one of the articles in Rail magazine. The other new Rail article takes a look at Eurostar facing the new world of competition. In Transport Times I examined the ill-fated Cambridge Busway scheme, to whose launch I was invited well over a year ago but, euh, there is still no sign of it opening and yet the go-ahead has been given to a similar scheme linking Dunstable and Luton
Finally, I wrote two pieces for the Wall Street Journal’s transport supplement in October, covering road pricing and electric cars, both innovations, I suggest, that face an uphill struggle to be more widely accepted. Please keep on clicking on the ad links which pay for maintenance on the site – there’s a wide variety of ads, now, including the old favourite, bemysugardaddy.com but ones that may be more relevant, such as travel ads – and because I mentioned obesity in my blog, publicity for ‘eat all you can’ restaurants, showing someone in Google has a sense of humour.
As for my pre-xmas offer, why not buy the two DVDs on my books – Subterranean Railway and Fire and Steam - for a combined total £20, a reduction of £10 off the normal price and that includes p & p. They are both 90 minutes and contain lots of current footage and archive material. They make a great prezzy for those uncles and fathers in law who love the railways. Just pay by PayPal to xian@pro-net.co.uk or simply email me to get the address to send a cheque. Sorry to mention Xmas so early but compliments of the season anyway… And by the way, QPR are top of the table, so there is something to celebrate. Christian"
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The Tornado Effect- The Story So Far
Steamtube's presence and activity more or less corresponds with the appearance on the mainline of Peppercorn A1 60163 Tornado.
The very presence of this fine locomotive has excited many a young..and old!... enthusiast to venture out and get photographic evidence!
The following is as chronological a list of video clips of Tornado's activity since starting out.
All clips are from Steamtube members, who retain all copyright for their efforts......
...TO BE CONTINUED.......
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A View from India..............
Indian Railways - Longest Running Train !!!!! karthikabbilash
Friday,November 5 2010, 2:35:12 PM ----- GOC WDP3A 15517 with the India's Longest Running Train - 6317 Himsagar Express from Kanniyakumari to Jammu Tawi passes Nagercoil outer on time !
Photo © Vishno
Location : Nagercoil Town
Camera : Sony DSC - HX1
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And from Norway, an unusual view....
Bergensbanen railway at full speed after Finse
Bergensbanen railway just east of Finse, Norway, (eastbound to Oslo), November 5th 2010, around 13:20. Finse is the highest situated station on the line, at 1222 meters above sea level. The train had old cars, which gave me a door with a window at the rear end of the last one. Done with an iPhone 4 held directly onto the window glass. This is my little tribute to the program the norwegian broadcasting television made some time ago. The entire trip, Bergen-Oslo in real time, 7 hours. At some time during my little video the train holds about its highest speed, up to 160 km/h, I've been told.
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"The Intemperate Engineer- Isambard Kingdom Brunel in his own words" by Adrian Vaughan
In 1983 I was commissioned to write a book which would be relevant to the 'GWR 150' of 1985. I decided to write a kind of history of the 110 years of the GWR by trawling through the official records of the Company and finding facts which I could research further and make into historic anecdotes. Thus came about 'Grub Water & Releif' and 'Grime & Glory'. The first thing I wanted was something hitherto unknown about Brunel. So I opened my first edition of L.T.C Rolt's 'definitive' biography quite by chance at page 138 and saw at the top of the page 'No strikes marred the building of the Great Western Railway.' I thought 'That cannot be true, surely there was one strike during the 6 years the railway was under construction and then I thought 'why should a strike necessarily mar the construction'? Maybe the employer was marring the job by causing the men to go on strike. I realised that the whole book has got this rose-tinted spectacled slant and I had something to research. I found from the pages of 'The Times' between January and March 18328 there had been two strike and two riots. So now I had a great story about the navvies digging Sonning cutting and I knew that Mr. Rolt was guilty of fabricating history to please himself. After I'd written these two books I had to set out to write an objective biography, warts and all, of Mr. Brunel. That came out in 1991. I never stopped developing my study of him. Professor of Industrial Archaeology, Angus Buchanan brought out his biography of Brunel in 2002 which may or may not have been an answer to mine - but on page 183 he does concede that 'Adrian Vaughan is probably right in modifying L.T.C. Rolt's rosy picture of Brunel…….' Rolt made things up to suit his purpose and generally 'spun' the narrative to produce his desired effect. Not so 'definitive' after all. On page 16 he states that Brunel had a 'precocious inherited talent' because 'by the time he was six he had mastered Euclidian geometry'. But in 1817 when he was 11 a letter his father, Marc, wrote states that 'he has not yet started Euclid.' I produced my second biography of Brunel in 2006 which contained my developed thoughts up to that time and now in 2010 and I brought out my last offering on the subject. I want to set the record straight and tell the true story of I.K Brunel - mainly, but not entirely, where railways are concerned." (Adrian Vaughan)
The book: ' The Intemperate Engineer: Isambard Kingdom Brunel in His own Words ' costs £20 and can be purchased on-line from ianallanplus.com
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In next month's edition of On Shed, we will take a look at the history of steam locomotion, its refinements, developments and future prospects, post-Tornado.
A further leg in Around The World in 80 Railways and the next stage in our virtual trip along the Trans Siberian Railway.
In the meantime, for further video clips and photographic images, keep looking in on Steamtube...and for up to date rail industry news and high speed train news from around the world, look in daily at http://rtn-news.blogspot.com/
So, until next month...happy steaming!!
Peter S. Lewis (Editor- On Shed)
