Farewell to North East industrials expert and author Colin Mountford
TRIBUTES have been paid to renowned industrial railway author Colin Mountford, who died on May 16 at the age of 78.
Born in Worcester, where he attended the city grammar school, Colin had strong family links with Swindon, where members of both sides of his family had been employed 'inside' in the GWR works.
One of his cousins was Justin Hayward, a member of the rock band the Moody Blues, and he not only attended their concerts, but occasionally visited Justin at his home in Monaco.
His uncle, Eric Mountford, was also a noted railway historian who wrote several books about Swindon and South Wales, notably the history of Caerphilly Works published in 1975.
Colin spent much time at Swindon station when he was young and later became a member of the Great Western Society.
At Durham University, the thesis for his MA degree was The History of John Bowes & Partners up to 1914. He became one of the founding members and later chairman of the
Bowes Railway. The Birmingham Locomotive Club published a history of the railway in 1966 and an enlarged revised edition in 1976, a copy of which he presented to the Queen Mother, whose family the Bowes- Lyons had a connection with the line, when she visited the railway that year to launch the preservation scheme on its
150th anniversary.
Colin became a history teacher and a deputy headmaster, and after he retired, a schools inspector. At one stage he served as chairman of the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers.
His interest in industrial railways led to him helping to compile Industrial Railway Society handbooks for Durham and Northumberland and in 2004 his The Private Railways of County Durham was published. He also served on the Industrial Locomotive Society committee for eight years.
Colin was diagnosed with terminal cancer in March and was admitted to hospital, where he died. A memorial service at Newcastle Cathedral is planned for 2021.
IRS member Rusell Wear said:" He has made a huge contribution to industrial history and railways, particularly in County Durham, and his work will remain as a memorial into the future:'