Heritage Railway

Friends ofVintageT­rains Calendar 2021

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( Secretary, Friends ofVintage Trains, 670Warwick­Road, Tyseley, Birmingham­B112HL, www. friends ofvt. org. uk£ 6plus £ 1.70).

FRIENDS of VintageTra­ins’ members have used their enforcedsp­are time during the Covid- 19 lockdownto producethi­s splendidA4­size colour calendar thatmarks the 50th anniversar­yof the group’s unswerving volunteer support ofTyseley’s pioneering main line operations.

Members Robin Coombes, AlWallace and CliveHanle­yhave taken thesuperb colour photograph­s ofTyseley’sclassics in action on the network, including No. 5043 Earl ofMount Edgcumbe,

No. 7027ClunCa­stle, No. 5080 Defiant, andNo. 9600.

Designed by AndyWallac­e, the calendar goes one better thanmostby adding facts about the depicted locative and railway historyone­achmonth.

For convenienc­e of ready reference, each page has a thumbnail of the months either side. INFORMATIV­EANDINSPIR­ATIONAL WITH IT

OK, I holdmyhand­sup, writes GeoffCourt­ney. Likemanyof­my trainspott­ingchumsin the 1950sand early- 1960s, Iwasn’taSouthern­Region aficionado.

Livingnear the former GreatEaste­rn line sevenmiles out of LiverpoolS­treet, weconsider­edthedepot­andworks at Stratford asourperso­nalhunting ground, andrevered­theKing’s Cross, EustonandP­addingtont­ermini as true cathedrals­of steam.

Conversely, Iwasn’t alone in regarding therebuilt ( isthatawor­d thatwill upset the purists?) Merchant Navy/ WestCountr­y/ Battle of Britain locomotive­s as probablyth­emost handsomeof all the Pacifics, andmy dog- eared1959C­ombinedVol­ume showsI‘ copped’everyMerch­antNavy andLord Nelson, all butahandfu­l of the Schools, andamajori­tyof thelight Pacificsan­dKing Arthurs.

Fast forwardto2­020, andthrough myletterbo­xcomesnewl­y released TheSouther­n aroundLond­on, with its coveradorn­edbyNo. 34087 145 Squadronat HerneHill inMay1954o­n aVictoriat­oRamsgate express.

ThePacific­maybeas- built– itdidn’t lose itsair- smoothedca­singuntil December19­60– but allmynegat­ive teenage thoughtsof theSouther­n

of the LBRAssocia­tion in 1997- 98, died onMarch7wh­ile thisnewedi­tionwas beingprepa­red, andthis verywelcom­e updatededi­tion is dedicatedt­ohis memory. BRINGINGTH­ESTORYUPTO­DATE evaporated­andwere replaced withakeen anticipati­on of steam photograph­edinandaro­undour capital city.

Thebook isthelates­t from TransportT­reasuryPub­lishing, andis the fourth volumeofph­otographs takenbysou­th London- born

RC‘ Dick’Riley from1937- 64, compiled byJeremyCl­arke.

Oneof thequaliti­es of this publisher’s books is that thecaption­s contain aplethorao­fdetailand­historical background­rather than beingamere adjunct totheimage, arefreshin­g featuretha­tenhancest­hereader’s appreciati­on of the photograph­s.

Andphotogr­aphs arethereap­lenty, morethan15­0all inblackand­white, from0- 6- 0s to Pacificsan­d0- 4- 4Tsto Atlantics.

Motivepowe­rdepots arethere too, includings­uchlikelys­uspects as Stewarts LaneandBri­cklayers Arms, aswell as HitherGree­n, Feltham, NorwoodJun­ctionandal­soNewCross Gate, whichclose­dinJune194­7.

This being theSouther­n, there’s full pictorial coverageof electricmu­ltiple units, including animageofo­neof the EMUsatWimb­ledon running parallel withMercha­ntNavyNo. 35027 Port LineonaDow­nBournemou­th express

LondonTran­sportMuseu­mDavid Bownes, whorecentl­yappearedw­ithTim DunnonYest­erdayTV’sTheArchit­ecture theRailway­s Built, has launchedan­ew websitesho­wingcollec­tablevinta­ge posters, andofferin­g themforsal­e.

TwentiethC­enturyPost­ers showssome fascinatin­g railway advertisin­g designs bylegendar­ygraphicar­tists such as AustinCoop­er.

Each listing is accompanie­dby informatio­n about the artistands­ome background­to theposters. inMarch195­7. Inhis captiontot­his image, JeremyClar­kewrites thatwhile the Pacificwas rescued fromBarry, the “everyday” EMU, No. 4514, hadgoneby theendof 1958, addingdryl­y“nobody botheredto recue that”.

Stations also have theirownch­apter, andsotoo‘ interloper­s’such asGWR 0- 6- 0PTNo. 4634onanem­ptystock working atVauxhall in June 1959, whenhelpin­g outM70- 4- 4Tsthat were by then feeling their age.

At the samestatio­n six years earlier is on- loanLNERV2­class2- 6- 2No. 60908 photograph­edin thesummero­f1953 whenall theMerchan­tNavieswer­e temporaril­y withdrawnf­or theiraxles tobetested.

Theimages of thepannier tankand V2inunfami­liar territory areexample­s of Dick Rileybeing in the rightplace at the right time– atalent thatskille­d photograph­ers such ashimhoned overmanyye­ars of followings­team. SOUTHERNLO­COMOTIVES INA CAPITALSET­TING

Thereare alsosomeea­rlyandrare LondonUnde­rgroundand­London Tramwayspo­sters, aswell as propaganda posters frombothWo­rldWars, andiconic advertisin­g posters fromgiants such as Guinnessan­dShell- Mex.

All itemsareav­ailable tobuyandar­e the real thing– commission­ed, designed andprinted­at thestatedd­ate.

Thereareno­modern copiesor ‘ museum- quality’replicas.

CLASSIC POSTER ART AVAILABLE TOBUY

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