Christmas 2025 Book Reviews and Notes

No. 1 – Colin Judge …

I received a few welcome gifts for Christmas 2025.

Colin Judge; The Locomotives, Railway and History 1916-1919 of the National Filling Factory No. 14, Hereford; Industrial Railway Society, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, 2025, was one of these.

I have an abiding interest in the railways of Hereford and so was delighted to receive Colin Judge’s book as a Christmas present.

Judge’s book focusses on an area to the Southeast of Hereford, surrounding Rotherwas House, which was to become an essential element of the British war effort. Initially, intended to be a reserve filling station, National Filling Factory No. 14 was quickly to become vital when on 1st October 1917, the factory at Morecambe was put out of action by an explosion and a major fire. Later, on 1st July 1918, an explosion at the Filling Factory at Chilwell killed 134 employees, leaving it only able to produce munitions at a much reduced level. No. 14 was critical to the supply of munitions.

The usage of shells during the conflict was frighteningly high, staggering! Judge tells us that during the Battle of the Somme 1,738,000 shells were used, and that at Passchendaele, over 5 million shells were fired. It is difficult to appreciate what those on the battlefield experienced.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2025/12/26/christmas-2025-book-reviews-no-1-colin-judge/

 

No. 2 – Anthony Burton - The Locomotive Pioneers

I received a few welcome gifts for Christmas 2025. This article is the second in a short series about them:

Anthony Burton; The Locomotive Pioneers: Early Steam Locomotive Development – 1801-1851; Pen and Sword, Barnsley, 2017.

Anthony Burton’s book published by Pen & Sword dates from 2017. His book comes out of a series of different initiatives that he was involved in as a television journalist and author.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2025/12/30/christmas-2025-book-reviews-no-2-anthony-burton/

 

Christmas 2025 Book Reviews and Notes No. 3 – Christian Wolmar … The Subterranean Railway

The featured image for the article below captures the Metropolitan Railway locomotive No. 23 during the London Underground centenary celebrations in 1963. The locomotive is an ‘A’ Class 4-4-0T condensing steam engine, built by Beyer Peacock in Manchester in 1866. It was designed specifically for use on the Metropolitan Railway’s Inner Circle line, where it was intended to limit smoke emissions in the tunnels. It was withdrawn from underground use in 1905 after the lines were electrified. Its appearance in 1963 at Neasden was a special event, marking 100 years of the London Underground.

This article is the third in a short series:

Christian Wolmar; The Subterranean Railway: How the London Underground was Built and How it Changed the City Forever (2nd extended Edition); Atlantic Books, 2020. This edition includes a chapter on Crossrail.

Christian Wolmar’s book published by Atlantic is a 2nd extended edition of a book published in 2004, dating from 2020. The chapter about Crossrail is the last chapter of the book on pages p323-342. This article provides a potted history of the London Underground and a quick look at other similar systems around the world, which comes out of reading Wolmar’s excellent book.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2026/01/2...-3-christian-wolmar-the-subterranean-railway/