Backtrack

Backtrack, Britain's Leading Historical Railway Journal, covers all aspects of railway history from its earliest days through to more recent events up to around ten years before now including, early railway history from the 'pre-Stephenson' era, steam, diesel and electric locomotive history, railway company history, railway carriages and wagons, railway stations, railway ships, hotels & road vehicles, railway economic and social history, railway publicity and advertising. Backtrack's contributors include many of today's leading railway history writers. From the beginning the magazine has maintained a reputation for its production values and each issue contains a wealth of photographs reproduced to the highest standards, including a generous selection of historic colour. Published monthly, Backtrack is THE magazine for all who are interested in British railway history.

Editorial • The Department of Administrative Affairs speaks to the nation…

Backtrack

DURING THE IN-BETWEEN YEARS • By courtesy of Colour-Rail we present the first of a selection of photographs by the American photographer EMERY J. GULASH. Born in Lansing, Michigan, he was a prolific railroad photographer and an early exponent of 35mm colour slides. His career included service with the Army Air Corps from 1944 to 1946 and working for General Motors in Detroit. Mr. Gulash travelled widely and in the 1960s visited Britain where he captured a railway undergoing the transition from steam to diesel and electric motive power.

STEAM-ERA DUTIES ON THE SOUTHERN

RAILWAY ACCIDENTS ON THE CORNWALL LINE 1859-1900

FROM RUGBY TO PETERBOROUGH THE HEYDAY AND DEMISE OF A CROSS-COUNTRY ROUTE PART TWO

THREE LIVERPOOL & MANCHESTER RAILWAY CURIOSITIES

‘LION’ ON THE LOOSE • Various prototype diesel-electric locomotives were built and financed by private manufacturers in the hope that following their demonstration on British Railways further orders would ensue. One such was Lion (numbered D0260) which was completed by the Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Co. in 1962 in response to a BR requirement for a new Co-Co wheel arrangement locomotive in the Type 4 range. A consortium of BRCW, Sulzer Bros. and AEI was behind the design and Lion ran with some degree of success in trials on the Western and Eastern Regions but in the end it wasn’t a design which went any further and the locomotive was withdrawn in early 1964.

DALES RAILS • Recently published by Great Northern Books is Railways and the Dales jointly compiled by our former leader DAVID JOY and frequent colour contributor GAVIN MORRISON. Its title sums it up perfectly and its authors should need no introduction, having written about and photographed the railways of their beloved Yorkshire Dales over many years. Railways and the Dales extends to 128 pages in hardback format of predominantly colour divided into nine ‘Dales’ areas, each with introductory text and detailed captions. The book, priced at £19.99, ISBN 978-1-914227-20-2, is available from Great Northern Books, PO Box 1380, Bradford BD5 5FB. (www.greatnorthernbooks.co.uk) By way of a different type of review, here is a selection of the photographs celebrating railways in one of the finest parts of England (well, Yorkshire anyway!). All photographs are by Gavin Morrison.

GEORGE HUDSON RAILWAY VILLAIN OR RAILWAY VISIONARY? • More than 150 years after his passing, MATTHEW WELLS asks if it is time for the former ‘Railway King’ to be given some slack and be remembered more for his achievements than for his mistakes?

‘RCR’ ON THE EASTERN • That great railway photographer R. C. (DICK) RILEY is particularly associated with the locomotives and lines of the South East and South West and in the West Country, but here is a selection of the motive power he encountered during travels on the Eastern Region.

TEDDY...