Author: John E. ChackesfieldPublisher:
ISBN: 9780853615767
Category : Railroad engineers
Languages : en
Pages : 168
Book Description
Author: Oswald Stevens Nock
Author: O S. Nock
Author: Paul HurleyThe Turbomotive: Stanier's Advanced Pacific
Author: Tim Hillier-GravesPublisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1473885760
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 605
Book Description
Turbomotive was unique in Britain's railway history, and an experimental engine that proved successful but came too late to effect the direction of steam development or deflect the onset of diesel and electric locomotives. It was the brainchild of two of the most influential engineers of the twentieth century William Stanier of the LMS and Henry Guy of Metropolitan Vickers. They hoped that turbine power, which had already revolutionized ships propulsion and power stations, would do the same for the railways.When Turbomotive appeared in 1935, she became a PR phenomenon at a time when commercial rivalry between the LMS and the LNER was reaching its height. Its launch at Euston in June was accompanied by a great fanfare and much publicity. Such was the interest in this 'revolutionary' idea that the engine would attract attention all her life.Although producing good but not remarkable performances, she remained in service, plying her trade between London and Liverpool for longer than anyone predicted. Most expected a quick rebuild to conventional form, but the coming of war and lack of resources meant that she carried on until 1950 in turbine form.Inevitably, change came when maintenance costs seemed likely to escalate and rebuilding seemed unavoidable. She reappeared in August 1952, part Princess and part Coronation, but her new life was cut short by the disaster at Harrow in October. Although many thought her repairable, she was scrapped to make way for another 'experimental' steam engine.This book presents the compulsive and fascinating story of this remarkable locomotive, drawn from a wide variety of sources, many previously untapped and unpublished, including memories of the designers, the crew who drove her, accountants and hardheaded business men, PR teams, the press, the passengers and many more.
Author: O. S. NockLONDON MIDLAND & SCOTTISH
Author: Bill HorsfallPublisher: Author House
ISBN: 1496981782
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 409
Book Description
The London Midland & Scottish Railway, the LMS, Great Britain's largest from 1923-1947, has been extensively chronicled, but an update is long overdue. This unique work achieves it - and much more, combining detailed information scattered over books and magazines through decades, into a concise overview of what the company was about, and how it worked. Its analyses of locomotive-stock provide a further insight into methods of operation. The LMS pioneering work in both steam and diesel traction, plus that in other fields, put it ahead of Britain's other three railways, and for this it is here accorded the recognition it deserves. Fascinating, amusing, anecdotes give an insight into the staff's work-ethic and into contemporary social conditions. Key decisions by the LMS Executive to overcome the rivalry of its two largest constituents resulted in the appointment of an engineer who would create, not only modern, efficient locomotives and rolling-stock, but also an effective and unified design-team which would actually outlive the company and provide the spine of the four nationalized railways from 1948. The technical details, such as wheel notation (4-4-0 etc), boiler-pressures and valve-gears, are well within the ambit of railfans and complete the picture of this, Britain's greatest railway.
Gresley's Silver Link
Author: Tim Hillier-GravesPublisher: Pen and Sword Transport
ISBN: 1399073427
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 242
Book Description
Gresley’s A4 Pacifics are arguably the most famous locomotives ever built, a status cemented by Mallard’s record breaking run on the 3rd July ‘38. And yet only a year later the glamorous ‘streaks’ seemed likely to be cast into obscurity by the coming of another world war. So, for only four exhilarating years they were allowed to flourish as their creator had intended and in that time captured the imagination of railwaymen and public alike. With the help of previously unpublished material the author analyses the complex evolution of the A4s - a project that began in 1911 when Gresley was appointed as Locomotive Superintendent of the Great Northern Railway. It is a story with many strands to consider – war, peace and war again, engineering and art, politics and business, recession and social change, the growth of the media and consumerism, the struggle for professional reputations and a growing, deeply damaging international rivalry. All these elements are captured in the story of the A4s in the heady days before conflict ended their brief golden age and Gresley’s life came to an end.
Loco Spotter’s Guide
Author: Stuart BlackPublisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472820509
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 130
Book Description
A pocket guide to 60 of the most iconic British locomotives of the last two centuries, which will have wide appeal as a handy yet detailed reference book on British locomotives. Since the 1800s locomotives have steamed, chugged and sparked their way into the nation's affections. These powerful engines were the drivers of the Industrial Revolution, and to the present day carry passengers and freight to every corner of Britain. But do you know your Locomotion from your Rocket, or your Gresley Class A4 from your Princess Coronation Class? How heavy is the Flying Scotsman? And who designed the Britannia Class? The Loco Spotter's Guide answers all of these questions, with first-class illustrations portraying more than 60 of the most important steam, diesel and electric designs, including all-important specifications and technical details to aid any would-be loco spotter.
Warfare State
Author: David EdgertonPublisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781139448741
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 392
Book Description
A challenge to the central theme of the existing histories of twentieth-century Britain, that the British state was a welfare state, this book argues that it was also a warfare state, which supported a powerful armaments industry. This insight implies major revisions to our understanding of twentieth-century British history, from appeasement, to wartime industrial and economic policy, and the place of science and technology in government. David Edgerton also shows how British intellectuals came to think of the state in terms of welfare and decline, and includes a devastating analysis of C. P. Snow's two cultures. This groundbreaking book offers a new, post-welfarist and post-declinist, account of Britain, and an original analysis of the relations of science, technology, industry and the military. It will be essential reading for those working on the history and historiography of twentieth-century Britain, the historical sociology of war and the history of science and technology.
