Edward Thompson: Wartime C.M.E. Discussion

You are right. I've changed it. Neither the HR nor NBR scream 'well run forward looking businesses'.

I thought it was the NER (but this is rivet counting).

All the more reason for @S.A.C. Martin to unpack the rest of the LNER, how many years are we since Bonavia?

 

That's cost, but what would be interesting to know about would be budget - i.e. whose budget paid for "new" locos; what was capital, what was renewal etc. Cook goes into some detail about that side of things for the GWR, but I haven't seen comparable accounts for other companies.

Tom

 

The whole issue surrounding railway book keeping is long overdue a book of it's own! Pity oir @Bean-counter jumped ship. What a project against which to pit his skills!

 

A really good question Tom, and one I hope I can answer with my research. Certainly seems the answer can be found in the board minutes, as a matter of fact. I need to check a few things but it seems possible with the evidence I have to provide a definitive answer.

 

The description of the book on amazon makes interesting reading...

'A completely new selection of high quality photographs chosen to compliment all of the previous volumes detailing the Southern Region's fleet of EMUs, combined with detailed captions from David Brown the renowned author on all matters Southern Electric. We have trawled the archives to bring you a fantastic further collection of views to bring back the halcyon days of a wide variety of units from the earliest days of nationalisation until the final days of the Brighton Belle.'

Sent from my SM-A125F using Tapatalk

 

A facet of Thompson’s work of which most people were unaware.

 

I will make Kevin aware!

 

Yes - I didn't come across that in my research!

 

Well, at least its better than all that DaVinci code stuff he normally writes about... oh *David* Brown... as you were...
Got my copy of the book through btw. Very nice. Not enough on EMUs, but there you go...

 

I do think - and I don't think this is a particularly provocative view, given it has been said by a great number of railway historians over the years - the fact there were only two V4s and the LNER ended up having built 410 Thompson B1s for use across the whole of the system IS probably an indication that the LNER required a simple, 2-cylinder 4-6-0 like - well - everywhere else in the world...

 

All part of the rich tapestry of life.

 

I have found that you have to make such really obvious by adding appropriate smilies.

 

Perhaps if you didn't put down people who put forward ideas that didn't agree with your own then peace and harmony would prevail.

 

Received the book today - looks fantastic. You must be proud of it Mr. Martin.

I'm not going to rush into it - I'll read it through properly and maybe note down some observations for here - dipping into it I already found some interesting points on the L1's and the K5.

 

Wasn’t this thread at 276 pages?

 

Thank you for your kind comments. Yes, the K5 stats are an eye opener! I have managed from other sources to piece together more of its life history and have been genuinely astounded at its overall high mileages and availability.

 

It mutated - there’s now an omicron variant here: https://www.national-preservation.c...ey-his-work-and-what-might-have-been.1420421/

Tom