Railway Memories

Described by Alan C Butcher (softback, Transport Treasury Publishing, 112pp, ISBN 978-1-913251-13-0, £14.50 + £3 p&p. Cheques payable to: Transport Treasury Publishing, 16 Highworth Close, High Wycombe HP13 7PJ ).

THIS book’s subtitle identifies the location of these memories – ‘The travels of a Yorkshire newspaper photographer.’ In fact, the back of the book’s cover, writes Geoff Courtney, says they were taken by professional press photographers, while the introduction says they originally formed part of a newspaper archive by an unknown member of staff or a freelancer who was evidently an enthusiast, as not all were ‘newsworthy.’

Whether one photographer or more, freelancer or staff, newsworthy or otherwise, the pictures form a medley of images offering an insight into the county’s railways, from the early postwar years until the end of steam.

It is understandable why Alan Butcher believes not all the images are ‘newsworthy,’ but a number of them are, and that adds appeal to the publication as there is a reason for many of the images that goes beyond merely satisfying enthusiasts’ appetites for photographs of steam traction.

That tone is set early on in the book, for one of the photographs is of a group of about 25 lady members of the South East Leeds Conservative Party on a platform at the city’s station, looking forward to a day trip. They are posing in front of a Gresley 1935-designed former ‘Coronation’ express beavertail observation car that was in use as a general passenger carriage from 1948, but one senses that the car was not the reason for the photograph, even if its presence makes it relevant to a railway publication.

Rather, it is likely the image was taken by a local newspaper press photographer to record the ladies’ day out, and standing out of shot would be a journalist colleague waiting to interview the women for a story to accompany the image. Ah, memories, memories for yours truly, who was a news journalist in Leeds in the mid-1960s.

News photographs punctuate the book: the opening ceremony of the third Woodhead tunnel in June 1954 starring, in no particular order, transport minister Alan Lennox-Boyd, the now preserved EM1 electric locomotive No. 26020, and a television crew; the old train shed at Leeds City station in the throes of demolition; and a selection of railway accidents, including A3 Pacific No. 60089 Felstead at Ardsley in October 1959.

The chapter on stations covers a wide area, as is to be expected for such a large county, with its many locations being listed in alphabetical order. Often there is no train in sight but sometimes crowds of people, two examples being a lengthy queue at Leeds City, perhaps drawn to the station by an overhead poster advertising excursions to Whitby for a fare of 12s.6d (62½p), and Market Weighton, where a platform is thronging with young and old alike, despite it being a cold and snowy day.

Steam and early DMU enthusiasts need not fret, however, for their interests are well served, including Royal Scots, Jubilees, and A4s, as well as humbler former LMS and LNER fayre, while lesser-known lines also get a decent look-in, including the Derwent Valley Light Railway and Easingwold Railway. RAILWAY VARIETY IN UK’S LARGEST COUNTY AND FOND MEMORIES RECALLED OF DAYS GONE BY