Backtrack

The powers behind the thrones One thing which has come out of the murk of the political underworld in recent years has been the reluctant emergence into the half light of a range of operators - influences, policy formers, kitchen cabinets, lavender notepaper writers, economic gurus and special advisers (such as on ethics, for heaven’s sake) who, whilst unelected to a man or woman, have the ear of the top tiers of the great and the not so good of the Parliamentary green benches. They have probably been there, unnoticed, for many years until the more investigative journalists of current times revealed and named the string-pullers, dark arts manipulators and those who needed their eyes testing in County Durham market towns during lockdowns. Shady, often unknown and unanswerable to the…

Station roofs were regarded as one of the most important elements in the design of nineteenth century railway stations. In the descriptions of stations, reference is usually made to the style of the roof, the supporting intricate ironwork, the glazing techniques and means of ventilation. Both engineering and artistry were applauded by railway observers, their admiring eyes drawn up to the roof. Take, for example, the description of Manchester Victoria station by the Manchester Courier on the opening day, 1st January 1844: “The station itself is about 800 feet in length, the whole being covered by a light castiron roof, divided into three compartments, and supported by three rows of cast-iron pillars, (27 in each row), and by a stone wall on the farther side. The centre compartment of the…

The Grand National was a national event from its earliest days and doubtless a cause of some of the earliest special race trains. It formed the highlight of the Liverpool Spring Meeting at Aintree, held on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the big race being run on the Friday - it moved to the Saturday from 1940. This horse race dates from 1839 and for the first few years everything that could turn a wheel was used to carry people from Liverpool to Aintree by the Preston road in a procession described as “riot and rout”. But it really came into its own with the arrival of the railways. Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway The ‘Railway Mania’ produced the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, connecting Liverpool with Manchester via Wigan (November 1848) and…

BackTrack Rocket is one of the most famous and recognisable railway locomotives; its victory at Rainhill in October 1829 is seemingly well-known, so too its part in mortally injuring William Huskisson MP on the opening day of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. Its history outside these two epoch-making events is, however, less well known. This article will explore something of its design and history; Part Two will discuss its sisters. ’Rocket’ men The design of Rocket is popularly ascribed to George Stephenson alone, but the idea to build an entry for the Rainhill Trials of October 1829 came not from George or Robert Stephenson but rather from Henry Booth, the Secretary, Treasurer and later General Manager of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. Having made the suggestion to George, Stephenson senior…

Getting the job done Shirebrook depot took pride in being acknowledged as part of the railway which did what it took to get the job done without recourse to disputes or undue interference. Clearly engaging in dangerously unsafe operating practices to achieve that was not in anyone’s interest but it was a fact of life that short cuts were taken for the benefit of the staff which were not strictly in line with the requirements of the Rule Book or methods of working. The main objective was to save time and this could be achieved in a number of ways. At Rufford, for example, it was common practice to fly shunt the brake van into the locomotive shunt neck to avoid the need for a run-round movement with the train…

Of all the British Railways Standard classes introduced in the 1950s the Class 9F 2-10-0 was the most distinctive and many would argue the most successful. The arguments for a 2-10-0 wheel arrangement for a new heavy freight design won out against a 2-8-2 and the ten-coupled type was unlike anything adopted before for this work other than a small class of ‘Austerity’ engines purchased from the Ministry of Supply after the war. After the first 9F in 1954 a total of 251 had been built up to the last in 1960 but with the dash towards dieselisation their careers were to be wastefully short, the final withdrawals being in 1968 shortly before the end of steam. During their time, though, their presence was certainly felt. These photographs of them…