OBITUARIES
John Yonge
JOHN Yonge, proprietor of the Quail Map Company, died in a nursing home in January aged 89.
Born in Chester, John was the son of Wing Commander John Yonge, a Second World
War pilot, and led a somewhat disrupted childhood because of his father’s various RAF postings in the UK and overseas.
After leaving boarding school, which he hated, John worked for London Transport. In his spare time he qualified as a cartographer and during an extended stay in New Zealand set up the Quail Map Company. He took on the ambitious task of mapping railway systems throughout the world and very successfully sold many of these by mail order.
Knowing his brother Mark was about to visit Russia on a business trip, John asked him to take some large, detailed railway maps of the Soviet Union to drum up sales. A visit to a leading map shop in Moscow generated much praise and interest but, unsurprisingly, no orders. The shop manager was given several free maps, with the message to pass these on to the relevant authorities. On his return to the UK, Mark advised John ‘that he shouldn’t hold his breath’. Astonishingly, after several months a huge purchase order arrived, which forced John to produce Soviet maps on an almost industrial scale.
John spent his later life in Exeter where he produced, among many others, his wellknown Regional Track Plans for the UK and Ireland. They were all drawn by hand and so detailed that one of his largest customers was Network Rail.
These maps are still produced in John’s style but these days, with his approval, computer generated.
Dedicated to the use of public transport and his trusted bicycle, John had a deep loathing of cars and was regularly seen around the cycle lanes of his home city. He is survived by siblings Elizabeth, Jane and Mark.
Mark Yonge
Marina Linke
MARINA Linke, managing director of Golden Eagle Luxury Trains, passed away suddenly on January 4 at the age of 53.
Well known to Golden Eagle’s many regular customers on railbased trips across the world, Marina was instrumental in the growth and development of the business from its early days almost 30 years ago.
Golden Eagle founder and president Tim Littler said: “Marina’s passion for travel was unbridled and infectious. Her knowledge of the many places we visited and routes we travelled was unsurpassed.
“Her desire to provide unique travel experiences for the thousands of our guests was always at the forefront of her mind.”
Marina took over as managing director from Mr Littler in March 2020 after 26 years with the luxury travel company, and had ambitious plans for the business as it recovers from the disruption to the travel industry in 2020/21.
Mr Littler added: “It’s a tragedy. Her passing has left a massive void in the company but I am confident that can be filled by the Golden Eagle ‘family’ pulling together in her memory.”
A Book of Condolence is now open at www. goldeneagleluxurytrains.com, enabling customers and friends to share their memories of Marina.
John Clemmens 19342021
JOHN Clemmens, a well-known photographer of British steam and, particularly, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, has passed away after short period in hospital which was not Covidrelated.
Born in London, John’s first contact with railways was visiting an aunt in Margate during the Second World War under cover of a special permit by train from Victoria during the school holidays.
His railway photography began in 1946, using early Kodak Box Brownies, followed by the brilliant Voiglander Bessa models.
Later John adopted a Hasselblad camera from the mid-1970s and continued to use them in a digital age.
In 1951, John was selected for an indentured apprenticeship with the de Havilland Engine Company and became involved with the gas turbine engines and for more than 50 years was a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
After retiring in 1989,
John embarked on an exclusive handwritten book of remarkable quality covering half a century of photographing the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, an area of India he knew intimately.
His images of the railway adorn the walls of his favourite hotel in the mountain town.
In 2015, his local station at North Queensferry became for one weekend ‘Darjeeling’ to mark the Forth Bridge having joined the DHR in securing UNESCO World Heritage status.
Well known by older members of the railway photographic fraternity, John was a contributing member and supporter of the Rail Camera Club, and helped with its travelling exhibition some years ago.
Horace Gamble - 19222021
HORACE Gamble, the founder of the Leicester Railway
Society in 1939 and latterly its honorary vice president, died on February 8. He was 98.
As a boy in the 1930s, Horace discovered the joy of watching trains from the north end of Leicester Midland station. It was at this time that he met up with others with the same passion, which led the formation of the Leicester Railway Society in May 1939.
A keen photographer, he took his first railway photograph in 1938 on a borrowed camera, but went on to own a Zeiss Nettar folding camera on which he recorded every aspect of our railways all over the UK and was still taking modern images on a digital pocket camera in 2019.
A local historian of some note, he produced articles for magazines and was a regular contributor to the ‘Mr Leicester’ page of the Leicester Mercury.
His book, Railways Around Leicester, was published in 1989 and lavishly illustrated.
Other self-taught skills included poetry and art, and an example of his work is on display in the ButlerHenderson refreshment room at Quorn & Woodhouse station.
Horace leaves a daughter and grandchildren.