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

Backtrack

THE GREEN, GREEN GRASS OF HOME • South Wales colliery steam photographed by DAVID IDLE with notes by JOHN SCHOLES of the Industrial Railway Society.

DIFFICULTIES ON THE LAUDER LIGHT RAILWAY • ALISTAIR F. NISBET describes the fraught times of a branch in the Lowlands south east of Edinburgh which remained independent until the grouping in 1923.

THE RAILWAYS OF GRAVESEND AND GRAIN PART ONE

PRESTON STATION IN THE NEWS 1860-1896

THE IMPACT OF THE GREAT WAR ON THE RAILWAYS OF GELLIGAER PARISH AND ADJOINING AREAS PART TWO

THE LINES TO WHITBY • The Yorkshire fishing port of Whitby remains as popular as ever, but you have to be determined to reach it by train: the service on its only remaining route, the Esk Valley branch from Middlesbrough, is minimal to put it charitably. However, Whitby’s original railway came in from Pickering (thence to Malton and Whitby); later from the north there was a highly scenic route along the coast from Middlesbrough, Saltburn and Staithes, and from the south another spectacular route from Scarborough, while the town had two stations.

TAKING TO THE HILLS • The story of the Settle to Carlisle line is well enough known not to require dwelling upon – its controversial construction, its emergence as part of an Anglo-Scottish through route, its long-threatened closure and its hard-won survival. So let’s enjoy the spectacle of steam at work in the wonderful Pennine hills – and rejoice that we still can!

A LONDON & NORTH EASTERN RAILWAY 4-6-0 SUCCESSION • From the North Eastern Railway the LNER inherited 38 three-cylinder mixed traffic Class S3 4-6-0s, originating under Sir Vincent Raven in 1919, to which it added another 32 after the grouping. Classed B16 on the LNER, they were competent performers on the East Coast Main Line and over routes relating to it, with seven rebuilt by Sir Nigel Gresley with Walschaerts derived valve gear from 1937 and seventeen more by Edward Thompson with three sets of valve gear after 1944. The two-cylinder B1 4-6-0s, introduced in 1942, were Thompson’s modern mixed traffic locomotives and excellent they proved to be – 410 of them in total. These photographs of them are by GAVIN MORRISON.

THE INVESTMENT DIFFICULTIES OF THE LNER 1923-1938

THE INTRODUCTION OF MULTIPLE UNIT DIESEL RAILCARS BY BRITISH RAILWAYS BACKGROUND, PROCESS AND OUTCOMES

THE IRISH GOODS • By the late 1950s/early 1960s the steam age in the island of Ireland was drawing rapidly to a close but there were still some gems, certainly in the matter of freight haulage, to be photographed. These scenes are from the COLOUR-RAIL COLLECTION with caption notes by DAVID MOSLEY.

AN ISLAND ODYSSEY • JOHN CHAPMAN recalls crossings to the Isle of Wight.

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