NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN
As the definitive history of the Master Neverers Association goes on sale for the second time, JOHN HUNT reveals the story of how this remarkable book has been in the making almost since the end of BR steam.
The story of NELPG’s magnum opus
In 2018, the Master Neverers Association brought out a mighty tome entitled Never Again – The Complete Works. To say it was an ambitious project is an understatement. It was one of the biggest railway books ever published, and came at a hefty price. We faced all the risks associated with publishing it ourselves, designing and laying it out, finding a printer that would deliver quality, then funding and marketing it and – rather importantly – selling it.
The story really starts just after the end of BR steam, in 1969/70, when Ken Hale and Bob Clarke first sat down in Bob’s family home in Wolverhampton. There followed many evenings of putting the project together, usually in the company of Derek Cope, who lived close by. Their first attempt was in a lever arch file with draft layout, text and captions.
The response from MNA members was generally very good. The usual suspects submitted a lot of 10in by 8in prints, but while we thought we had taken content and presentation to quite an advanced level, we were rather ‘green’ when it came to dealing with publishers.
One of several that we tried, Roundhouse, had just been acquired by Ian Allan, and while we had not approached the latter,
the man himself – Ian Allan – wrote to Bob Clarke saying that the company was interested. Bob still has the letter. However, after several exchanges, and being passed on to G. Freeman Allen, and then one Mr Mulvey, Bob sensed that this magnificent idea was not really getting the publisher’s full attention – especially when he was told the title ‘Never Again’ was too negative and had to be changed to include the word ‘Steam’. We all moved on in life, and the idea was put on the back burner and fizzled out.
HISTORIC LETTER
Some years later, probably at one of the August 11 MNA reunions at Ribblehead in the 1980s, Bob recalls walking with Ken Groundwater (and a few others) to the top of Wild Boar Fell and suggesting the idea of ‘Never Again’. The very same discussion was repeated at successive reunions when walking across the moors, but nothing came of it.
However, about 12 or 13 years ago, Bob and John Hunt met in the Station Hotel at Easingwold (now closed) and cogitated upon the idea, which began to gather momentum a couple of years later in a pub in Kirbymoorside, where Bob and John often met on
a Sunday evening to sink a few pints of Timothy Taylors or Black Sheep. They exchanged ideas on how such a publication might be produced, and who should be approached. As a result, Bob wrote to MNA members on July 27 2008. In his defining and historic letter he said:
“I am writing to you with a proposal that I would ask you to think about very seriously. I think that the time is now right to produce a comprehensive book of our own work. A definitive high quality record. If we don’t do it now we probably never shall, as we’re all getting older.
“I see a book that includes not only our master shots but those shots that are personal to us in some way both individually and collectively, stories that lie behind the shots, stories of how we came to do the things we did and some of our exploits generally. It can be new material or stuff that has been published before – our choice. But I think that it would be great if we could pull all of our work together in a single book and what a book it could be!
“All of those previously published shots could now be done so much better under our own direct control. So much in the past was published on poor paper, to the wrong size, badly cropped or overwritten at the whim of a publisher, articles modified and cleaned beyond recognition; in fact generally not doing justice to the contributors’ work at all.
“So not only having the chance to re-present old work, done so much better, but new and unpublished work, all in a single volume, would present a unique and lasting testimony to our times together and the fruits of our efforts. A real legacy and personal record for all of us. Everyone has something that could/should be included. People can submit as little or as much as they like – no pressure there then!
“This is a book, first and foremost, by us and for us. It is not one that we are creating to make money out of (though we probably shall), it is quite simply our personal records, shared with each other, of a time which I guess we all hold quite special; treasured times indeed! From a personal point of view it is something that I would like to have as a permanent record of our times together. So now is the chance to do it properly and to the very highest standards.”
The response was very encouraging but there was potentially a big stumbling block – for a true representation it would be essential to include the pictures of those who, sadly, had passed away – Paul Riley, Ken Groundwater, and John Everitt. Fortunately, Paul Riley’s black and white collection was entrusted to Kidderminster Railway Museum and his colour slides were in the care of Tony ‘Gus’ Bowles; Ken Groundwater’s in his widow’s safe hands; and Tim Stephens had access to John Everitt’s pictures. Sadly, Paul Claxton passed away in 2009, but his pictures were taken into the care of his brother, Mike. But what about those of Chris Weston? After the end of steam, he had ‘hung up his cameras’ and while he attended the early Ribblehead reunions, he had latterly faded from the scene, eventually passing away unknown to the rest of the MNA, and there was real concern about the fate of his collection. Fortunately, Chris had made it clear in his will that his photographs would also be entrusted to Kidderminster Railway Museum.
This connection with KRM was to prove significant: thanks to its curator, David Postle, Kidderminster was the venue for the first meeting on February 5 2011, where Bob asked those present to select and supply their pictures for consideration. When it came to the collections of those no longer with us, David Postle rose to the challenge and over the course of many meetings we went through the entire Riley and Weston collections, picking out those images that qualified for further consideration. It was a long and arduous process, as there was precious little information regarding locations and dates. But it reminded us all of two things: firstly, we went out in all weathers in pursuit of steam and it seemed that most of the time the weather was appalling! Secondly, it revealed some absolutely stunning pictures, the majority of which we had never seen before. Gus did the same with Riley’s colour pictures, and it gave the rest of us a much greater incentive to sort out our own best pictures and get them scanned.
BOOK COMMITTEE
Before long, a committee was formed to oversee, co-ordinate and plan the way forward, comprising Mick York as chairman, Dave Wilkinson, Bob Clarke and Derek Huntriss. Under their guidance, thoughts turned to the design and format of the book: who should print it, how it should be financed and, importantly, who was going to take on the task of preparing the images and design? Having recently completed some four years of learning Photoshop, Derek sheepishly held up his hand. Thinking this would be a single volume of 350 pages, he wasn’t too fazed. However, when it reached completion almost four years later, it consisted of four volumes totalling 1,034 pages and 1,254 images, a number of which had had to be re-scanned while virtually all had been digitally edited to get the very best out of them. Without this new technology, it could not have reached the standard it did. Dave dealt with the finance and Bob endeavoured to get the best deal with a suitable printer. Bob’s role was crucial. He had to ensure we had a printer that could deliver the top quality reproduction that we demanded and, perhaps most important of all, the size of the print run.
We were looking at a large format book, 11in square, mainly black and white but with some colour, the pictures drawn from 32 contributors, though during the course of its compilation three more MNA members – Alan Castle (Cattle), Jim Bodfish and Peter Proud – had passed away. Not surprisingly, such losses helped to concentrate the mind to get the book completed.
Soon it became apparent that the project had grown like Topsy, and the single volume that we had envisaged had grown into four volumes to be presented together in a slip case. This meant that it would be a weighty tome with cost implications, not only in its selling price but ultimately in storage and distribution costs. So what about the size of the print run? This produced some lively debate and some agonising choices. Eventually it was decided to go for a run of 1,000 copies, to be sold for £120 each. This was a milestone decision, since the costs were startlingly high and the risk, some argued, too great to take. Who would pay £120 for a railway book? Would the backers lose their investment? But the majority decision was that we should proceed on this basis.
We had decided at an early stage that we would publish the book ourselves, so that we had complete control over the project and that, if possible, we would fund it ourselves. To this end, it was decided to sell shares to members of the group and the take-up was such that we were able to raise sufficient funds for the project to proceed. During 2017 and early 2018, a concerted
publicity effort resulted in a plethora of advanced orders, which facilitated the final funding of the project.
Picture selection was always going to be a problem with so much top quality material to choose from. This was particularly so with the choice of the front cover: samples were produced and at several Kidderminster meetings a democratic decision was eventually made.
Now the printing process could commence, but it wasn’t plain sailing. We had made it quite clear that the quality had to be the highest and the first proofs were not up to the standard that we had set. It took several more attempts before the committee was entirely satisfied, and the button could be pushed to start the presses rolling. Sadly, these delays meant that the anticipated publication date, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the end of BR steam on August 11 1968, could not realistically be met.
However, we turned this to our advantage through the kind co-operation of David Postle and the Severn Valley Railway, when we promoted the book at the line’s event to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the last day of regular BR steam on August 4. Some of the MNA turned back the clock, donned their
BR overalls and cleaned ‘Black Five’ No. 45110 in the platform at Kidderminster, while a nearby stall advertised the book and took orders.
SOLD OUT
Incredibly, such was the number of orders it was looking increasingly likely that we would sell all 1,000 copies without any potential purchasers even having seen the book! However, this was no doubt in part thanks to Dave Wilkinson, who had set up a superb website, on which regular updates about the progress of the book were published and, importantly, provided a visual sample of its pictures and text. The big day came in early December when the books arrived in the UK, having been printed in Poland. Would they be up to expectations or would we be disappointed? We need not have worried – they were excellent, a view endorsed by the scores of very complimentary comments subsequently received. Now there was the logistical problem of getting the books out to customers in time for Christmas. Thanks to a hard-working team of MNA volunteers, all now in their 70s, and led by Ken Hale, a packing and labelling base was set up in a self storage centre at Bilston, and their concerted efforts resulted in all orders being sent out in time.
It has taken a long time but perseverance and the very hard work of many has manifested itself in the superb tome that was published in December 2018, a lasting legacy of our times together. We suspect it is a unique achievement for a small group of individuals to take on what proved to be such a massive project. The fact that we sold all 1,000 copies is the icing on the cake. Some of us actually contained our avid curiosity and waited to open the book on Christmas Day… what a present!