Railway History Books: Suggested Reading

Have we had all of the above, plus one of our correspondents mention that the Leader was big chufferitis, and unnecessarily expensive?

 

Coming back to books, and Bulleid in particular.

You have already mentioned Winkworth. It's a while since I've read it, but I recall it as being somewhat critical.

Bulleid's Pacific, D.W.Winkworth (1974) George Allen and Unwin

A few other recommendations.

Firstly, two books by H.A.V. Bulleid. Now, straightaway Bulleid fils can hardly be seen as a disinterested commentator on Bulleid père. However, he is worth reading and in particular, in "Bulleid of the Southern", he gives what I think is the best account of the genesis of the Merchant Navies and Leader, i.e. going through the design iterations that eventually led to those designs. (A 2-6-4T version of a Q1, anyone?) With the Leader, if only the drawing office had got duplication of the controls on the Q1 worked out so it could be driven as easily backwards as forwards, nothing more need have been done!

Master Builders of Steam is a collection of biographical essays on notable CMEs, including Bulleid.

Bulleid of the Southern, H.A.V. Bulleid (1977), Ian Allan
Master Builders of Steam, H.A.V. Bulleid (1963), Ian Allan

I think another source worth seeking out is Sean Day-Lewis' biography of Bulleid, which was written with OVSB's co-operation. I think this is the only source that mentions the loss of Bulleid's son while at school in 1938, just as he was taking up the reins on the SR.

Bulleid, last giant of steam S. Day-Lewis (1964) Allen & Unwin

I'd mention the RCTS volumes by D.L. Bradley. There is one strange feature of these by Bradley's normal standards, which is that he cannot hide his animus against the Bulleid pacifics as originally built. Most of his work is fairly neutral in tone, and inasmuch as you work out which are great or poor locos, he lets relevant statistics speak for themselves. However, it is clear he really disliked the pacifics as originally built. That is particularly suprising for books that were written or researched in the 1960s - it is one thing to dismiss Crampton's locos for the LCDR in the 1850s as being disasters; quite another when talking about locos that has been built only a couple of decades before and where many of the people involved were still active in railway employment. Perhaps even more suprising is that his view is 180 degrees reversed for the rebuilt locos, which he considers amongst the finest pacifics ever built. Again, quite unlike his normal style, he gives a "top 10" of British passenger locos on what are very subjective grounds, in which he rates the Merchant Navies very highly: the interest is in his reasoning which, while subjective, goes beyond the normal top trumps school of locomotive appreciation. The books are worth having in that they cover a lot of the minutiae of construction and variations between locos.

Locomotives of the Southern Railway, D.L. Bradley (1975) RCTS (2 volumes)

As far as Bulleid is concerned, volume 1 includes the Q1; volume 2 the other Bulleid locomotives. Bulleid's enhancements to Maunsell's locos (for example, redraughting the Lord Nelsons etc). is covered in the respective histories of those types: the RCTS book is arranged to look at the history of each class in turn through time, rather than being a history of all the activity under a given CME.

Finally, there is a really detailed bibliography about OVSB on Steamindex, including a list of his papers and patents. https://steamindex.com/people/bulleid.htm

Tom

 

So far the conversation has been extremely locomotive-focused. I would like to talk about two two-volume histories focused on other matters, one which I strongly recommend and one which I do not exactly recommend.

The strong recommendation is, of course, for Terry Gourvish's two-volume history of BR:

British Railways, 1948-73: A Business History, T. R. Gourvish (1986), Cambridge University Press
British Rail, 1974-97: From Integration to Privatisation, Terry Gourvish (2002), Oxford University Press

Gourvish provides a detailed look at BR's entire history. While described as a "business history" it covers all aspects of BR as an organisation, though necessarily it can't get too detailed because of its scope. Gourvish is fair-minded and avoids stating his personal views - there are no heroes or villains in his story (though the reader of course can make their own minds up on that topic), and generally the views of the different parties involved in BR's history all get their fair airing. While dry at times it provides the necessary broader context for discussing BR's history no matter which specific element of it you wish to discuss.

I would also like to discuss a two-volume history I do not exactly recommend as such, but feel is worth bringing up.

The Railwaymen: Volume 1: The History of the National Union of Railwaymen, Philip S. Bagwell (1963), Allen & Unwin
The Railwaymen: Volume 2: The Beeching Era and After The History of the National Union of Railwaymen, Philip S. Bagwell (1982), Allen & Unwin

Philip Bagwell's two-volume history of the NUR, the first volume published in 1963 and the second in 1982, is probably the most cited work on British railway labour history in academia. Frankly, they do not deserve this position, even within the extremely small field of British railway labour history. Being commissioned by the NUR, they are definitely the history of the NUR as the NUR would like it to be seen, and so opinions on matters like management, new technology, and ASLEF firmly reflect the NUR's official position with little dissent or analysis brooked. They are proudly biased and anyone hoping to find fair representation of those who disagreed with the NUR will be disappointed - they firmly take the position that whatever the NUR did was the right thing to do. Despite this, due to the paucity of histories focused on British railway workers they can provide some information not present in other books, though a heavy dollop of salt should be taken in regards to their presentation (in fairness this applies to labour history in general - it tends to be proud of its leftist viewpoints, so views on labour issues from other political perspectives should be sought out from non-labour specific histories). This extremely cautious recommendation primarily applies to the second volume, which contains useful statistics on matters such as accidents - the first one is very much an old-fashioned trade union history focused on the minutia of union politics.

On a separate note, it is very much worth noting that a large amount of railway-related books are available to loan from the Internet Archive's digital library, including such definitive works already mentioned such as Gourvish's history of BR and Ottley's bibliography.

 

Just to add to @eldomtom2's post, I have recently opened a parcel containing the 3rd volume of Gourvish's history, which I shall read when I've re-read the first two volumes:
Britain's Railways, 1997-2005: Labour's Strategic Experiment, Terry Gourvish (2008), Oxford University Press

I also think highly of Simon Bradley's general history of the railways:

The Railways: Nation, Network & People, Simon Bradley (2015), Profile Books

Both Gourvish and Bradley are good on the development of the railways, and hence how that fed through to motive power policy.

 

I found Bradley rather poorly organised and tending to flit between subjects in a stream-of-consciousness style without spending much attention on them, but other people's opinions may differ.

 

I agree. Gourvish is the best in that area and the second hand prices reflect that! Compare say Bonavia who makes it all as dull as ditchwater yet somehow Prof G contrives to bring it all to life. Of course Gourvish and Bradley are not trying to do quite the same thing -- Bradley is more in the Jack Simmons tradition.

Terry Coleman's The Railway Navvies is still a good read.

Wot, no Wolmar?!

 

Good easy reading but not reliable on facts or interpretation, IMHO


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Just published, so too early for a review:
William Adams, His Life & Locomotives. By John Woodhams. Pub: Pen & Sword. 174pp, plus Appendices.
Pat

 

With my apologies, I will update the first post to include the latest suggestions ASAP.

 

Bit of an odd one, but Sussex Engineman and the follow up Sussex Motorman I found interesting. Essentially a write up of a chap's diary, it shows that life wasn't all express trains and glamorous locos, for those based at small sheds and with low seniority it was often drudgery and the nagging risk of being put back to firing with the loss of pay that would entail. The Motorman volume is interesting in that there aren't many other books covering that period.

 

You haven't updated any of the SR section yet

Tom

 

I know, I’ve been lax. In my defence finding time to sit and go through has been difficult.

 

Locomotive Engineers of the LMS, Denis Griffiths (1991), Patrick Stephens Limited. Much of what is in the text has been covered elsewhere but the footnote references are comprehensive and include many papers read at the Institutions of Mechanical, Civil and Locomotive Engineers.

The Hunslet Engine Works, Over a Century and a Half of Locomotive Building, D H Townsley (1998), Plateway Press

Matthew Murray 1765 - 1826 and the firm of Fenton, Murray and Co 1795 - 1844. Paul Murray Thompson (2015), Paul Murray Thompson. Chapters 9 and 17 deal with locomotives

 

https://ner.org.uk/product/north-eastern-locomotives-a-draughtsmans-life-ebook-new/
Very interesting

 

Just a heads up, I have updated the S.R. and L.M.S. sections, added two sections on British Railways (post nationalisation and post privatisation) and a section for Industrial Railways and Locomotive Builders.

All great suggestions for reading, I have a few of my own to add shortly!

 

Question for the forum: I spent a lot of time analysing and going through mileages/availability data. Has anything similar to the Use of Engine Power document for the LNER in the public domain for the LMS, SR or GWR?

I would be content with a source which gives maybe averages for annual mileages, or any data which gives days in work/out of work, etc, for steam locomotive classes.

 

Anything on the Great Eastern? A fascinating railway in terms of locomotives. Many of the Locomotive Superintendents are better known from elsewhere (Sinclair, Adams, Johnson, Worsdell).

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I have purchased a few books on GWR developments of late and will be adding them. @Jimc , any you think should be added? I have long considered your locomotive tome on GWR matters to be one of the “must reads”, and will add that shortly.

 

Well thank you.
I did review the list I posted, and I haven't anything to add to it. There have been a lot of specialist monographs and classes and groups of classes lately I haven't explored though.

 

I’ve added a few more volumes today to the GWR and LNER sections.

Yesterday was something of a red letter day for me, my latest history book going live for pre-order, and on the same day I received my offer letter from the University of Southampton to study a PhD at their excellent business school, specialising in management of railway engineering.

It is going to be a long slog towards the doctorate but I am excited and delighted to have been given the opportunity to do more serious research on railway history. I am also grateful for the many people here and elsewhere who have contributed in different ways towards helping me realise my dreams.

On reflection of a few posts yesterday, I have begun putting together some words towards this thread, giving my thoughts on why primary evidence to support or discount secondary evidence is so important.

I hope that this thread can continue to support other railway enthusiasts and historians in the years to come. I certainly will continue to update the original post with new sources of information as I go.