Rich Morris and Narrow Gauge Times

Having been an avid reader of narrow gauge times in my teens I recently came across them again on eBay. Does anyone know how many issues of this and railway times were actually produced?

And what happened to Rich Morris and the rest of the NGT team? They seemed to be leading lights in the preservation scene in the 70's and 80''s

 

I can't answer with certainty the question about Narrow Gauge Times. I believe the end of that story is rather muddled, but there weren't that many issues published. Perhaps someone with more knowledge can tell the complete story.

Rich Morris, of course, was one of the main people behind the narrow gauge railway collection at Gloddfa Ganol. When that enterprise had to be given up, following the purchase of the quarry by McAlpines, Rich stayed on in Blaenau Ffestiniog. He still owns a few items from the Gloddfa Ganol collection, but is now best known for his extensive collection of monorail equipment. You can find out more about this at: Rail Machines Ltd. | Industrial Mono-Rail Equipment

Dan

 

I think there were 12 issues of Narrow Gauge Times and 4 of Standard Gauge Times; they were then merged to produce 4 issues of Railway Times. I remember being a bit miffed that I saved my pocket money for a subscription to NGT only for RT to then appear in its place!

It was an excellent publication and noteworthy for trying to list every loco movement in the country.

Peter Hayward

 

The twelve issues of "Narrow Gauge Times" were numbered 1-12; the four issues of "Standard Gauge Times" were numbered 1-4; and the four issues of "Railway Times" were numbered 17-20 (17 being 12+4+1).

 

Thanks guys anyone know what happened to Pete Nicholson and Mike Jacobs who were part of the set up?

The whole NGT and narrow gauge enterprises set up is a fascinating period of NG history

 

I don't know about the rest of NGT team, but as a close friend to Rich Morris he doing fine. Still living in Blaenau Ffestiniog playing with his monorail collection while moaning about the raining

 

Pete Nicholson writes for The Railway Magazine. I've got a feeling that Mike Jacobs passed away some years ago, possibly even whilst NGT or RT were around, but hope my memory is defective on that.

Peter Hayward

 

I think that Mike Jacob is happily still with us:

https://chasewaterstuff.wordpress.com/tag/wirksworth/

Scroll down and you will see a photo of him with the Secretary of State for Transport. I think that he is heavily involved with the Pioneer Diesel Group.

Cheers

Alan

 

Michael Jacobs was alive and well on the train last week! More pertinently, the narrow gauge world will come to see Rich Morris as one the true heroes of preservation. He was responsible for the preservation of many ex-industry NG locos which would otherwise have gone to scrap. Despite recent ill health, Rich is still involved - his passion now is the monorail systems once common in contract use. He also produced the steam MonoLoco which makes occasional appearances. There is a recent book on these monorails which leans heavily on Rich's knowledge.

 

And a cracking little book it is too Simon, published by Adam Gordon and well worth acquiring.

NGT was one of those magazines that appealed as it covered every aspect that interested me, history, miniature, preservation, ephemera and the amazing records of what went where and when - internationally!

 

Very pleased to hear that my report of Michael Jacobs's demise was exaggerated and apologies to all - I had a vague recollection of an obit for someone in NGT but it must have been about 35 years ago.

The 3 gentlemen were previously involved with editing the magazine of the Narrow Gauge Railway Society and there were a few issues of that society's magazine entitled "Narrow Gauge Times" which are very similar in layout to the later publication.

Peter Hayward

 

"Narrow Gauge Illustrated", surely?

 

That's the one!

 

As I recall Pete was involved with the Somerset and Dorset project as well and I think he still has a few bits in a small collection as well

 

Pete Nicholson contributes to Railway Magazine as already stated. He has worked for Haynes publishing for many years and was responsible for getting that company to publish several Oxford Publishing Co titles before OPC was sold to Ian Allan. Until Haynes re-entered the railway publishing arena recently he edited several IAP/OPC titles on a freelance basis.
Rich Morris was the editor of the Narrow Gauge Railway Society's journal for a year or two, I can't remember the chronology, if it was before or after NG Times etc. He re-styled the NGRS magazine in a similar fashion to the other magazines, bringing it up to date, but the changes were too radical for some members and he was booted out; the NGRS magazine is still a toned-down version of what he introduced, though. He still owes me the subscription that I paid not long before he pulled the plug on his own magazine.
Peter Johnson

 

Rich created Narrow Gauge Times after the split from the NGRS; the style continued, so the copies of the NGRS mag The Narrow Gauge which he edited and the Narrow Gauge Times were virtually indistinguishable. Much of Pete Nicholson's collection is now on display at the Devon Railway Centre; he's another one who contributed hugely to NG preservation.