Ernest F Carter

[Andy Kirkham]

In a charity shop I picked up a copy of Railway Liveries 1923-1947 by Brian Harsnape. Haresnape mentions a book Britain's Railway Liveries by Ernest F Carter (commending it particularly for its colour chart). I had vaguely heard of Ernest F Carter and idly looked him up in Abe Books; there transpired a remarkable tally of publications, as well as the fact that he had founded the Model Railway Constructor in 1934. In his day he must have loomed like a collossus over the hobby, and had as great an influence as C J Freezer did for later generations.

 

Carter's last books seem to date from 1963

 

PROTOTYPE RAILWAYS

British Steam Locomotives

The Observer's Book of Railway Locomotives of Britain (The 1966 edition was revised by H C Casserley, so Carter had probably retired or died by then)

Britain's Railway Liveries : colours, crests and Linings, 1825-1948

The Railway Encyclopaedia

An Historical Geography Of The Railways Of The British Isles

Unusual Locomotives

The true book about railways

The Boy's Book of World Railways

Famous Trains of the World

Famous Railway Stations of the World

Railways in War Times / Les chemins de fer en guerre

Let's Look at Trains

 

MODEL RAILWAYS

Model Railways for Beginners Parts 1-3

The Observer's Book Of Model Railway Locomotives Of Britain 

Railway Modelling - An Introduction to Scale Railway Modelling

Tackle Model Railways This Way

Cardboard Modelcraft

Practical "Two Rail" Electrification

Model Railway Electrification

Make Your Own 'O' Gauge Motor

Stud Contact Electrification

Electrical Control of Clockwork Railways

Model Railway Signals - Their Construction, Installation and Operation

Model Railway Illumination. Night Operation

Trix, Twin Railway Year Book 1955

The Boy's Book of Model Railways

The Model Railway Encyclopedia

00 Gauge Layout and Design

Locomotive Body Construction

Designing and Building Loco Bodies

Designing & Building "OO" Trackwork

Building Passenger Rolling Stock

Wagon and Van Construction

 

NON-RAILWAY

Trams and Tramways

The Boy's Book of Buses of the World

The Boy's Book of Veteran Cars

Edwardian Cars - a Reverie of Adventurous Motoring.

Famous Motor-Coaches and Coachways of the World

Veteran Cars

The Mechanical Age Library : Hydro-Electric Power

Tackle Car Maintenance this Way

Veteran Car Owners Manual

Cycles and Motor Cycles

Things To Do About the Home (with David Shaw)

 

Edited March 1, 2022 by Andy Kirkham

[Nearholmer]

 A man who did a huge amount for our hobby, and produced some seriously useful books. I don’t think that list is complete, BTW. There was a professional biography of him in a TCS journal a few years back, and I seem to remember that he lost an arm in WW1.

 

His livery book is a good one, although lots of modern research has superseded some of the content, and the colour chips given at the back are possibly no longer totally trustworthy after all these years.

 

Ot looks to have been compiled by a combination of his personal memory plus snippets culled from magazines contemporary with the liveries, so it describes “how people saw it at the time”, with all the attendant subjectivity of colour descriptions. The one I always think of is LNWR coach “plum”, which was quite often referred to as “chocolate”, and when you think about it, it is pretty much the colour of Cadbury’s Bourneville plain chocolate, which is hugely different from GWR “chocolate”.

 

I learned how to create timetable graphs, and schedule trains, including the rudiments of loco and stock diagramming, from one of his little books when I was about 10yo, for which I’ve always been grateful to him.

[john new]

Although a lot is obsolete as the proprietary products are no longer available, especially in electrics matters, I still refer occasionally to the books of his I have, useful diagrams etc. A good idea is a good idea whatever the era, and much can be adapted to current alternatives

 

Very influential writer back in the era in which I was growing up.

[Andy Kirkham]

10 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

 I don’t think that list is complete, BTW.

These are just the titles I found currently available on Abe Books

[Free At Last]

Found two on my shelf...

 

 

[kevinlms]

I found my copy of 'Designing & Building OO Trackwork', which I had inexplicably attributed to Edward Beal in my index - now fixed.

 

Upon opening it, it is rather dated and rather hard to read.

 

However I  found a Hamblings catalogue inside, which I didn't know I had. It has 12 small pages and lists coach, wagon & loco parts. Also litho sheets and track parts.

Also is a fold out sheet on Hamblings Type 'A' insulated 2-rail track and another on Shenphone rectifier power units, which from the text was an industrial grade range of power supplies AC & DC.

 

I also have a front cover less 'Electric Model Railways'.

[Nearholmer]

I’ve got a copy of the first edition of MRC, but it’s buried somewhere in the cupboard, so I can’t show you the introductory editorial, but Andy might find the wonderful paint chips in the livery book interesting.

 

Must have cost a fortune to produce these, because they are genuinely paint samples, made to be as close to the original colours as research and technology permitted at the time, rather than ink approximations of paint.

 

 

 

In the introduction to the book, EFC is very careful to state the limitations both of the research and the reproduction methods, and he discusses variability of finish, the changes wrought by weathering etc. Overall, he makes certain that he can’t be fairly accused of overstating his case …… very balanced stuff!

Edited March 2, 2022 by Nearholmer

[Old Gringo]

On 01/03/2022 at 19:45, Andy Kirkham said:

In a charity shop I picked up a copy of Railway Liveries 1923-1947 by Brian Harsnape. Haresnape mentions a book Britain's Railway Liveries by Ernest F Carter (commending it particularly for its colour chart). I had vaguely heard of Ernest F Carter and idly looked him up in Abe Books; there transpired a remarkable tally of publications, as well as the fact that he had founded the Model Railway Constructor in 1934. In his day he must have loomed like a collossus over the hobby, and had as great an influence as C J Freezer did for later generations.

 

Carter's last books seem to date from 1963

 

PROTOTYPE RAILWAYS

British Steam Locomotives

The Observer's Book of Railway Locomotives of Britain (The 1966 edition was revised by H C Casserley, so Carter had probably retired or died by then)

Britain's Railway Liveries : colours, crests and Linings, 1825-1948

The Railway Encyclopaedia

An Historical Geography Of The Railways Of The British Isles

Unusual Locomotives

The true book about railways

The Boy's Book of World Railways

Famous Trains of the World

Famous Railway Stations of the World

Railways in War Times / Les chemins de fer en guerre

Let's Look at Trains

 

MODEL RAILWAYS

Model Railways for Beginners Parts 1-3

The Observer's Book Of Model Railway Locomotives Of Britain 

Railway Modelling - An Introduction to Scale Railway Modelling

Tackle Model Railways This Way

Cardboard Modelcraft

Practical "Two Rail" Electrification

Model Railway Electrification

Make Your Own 'O' Gauge Motor

Stud Contact Electrification

Electrical Control of Clockwork Railways

Model Railway Signals - Their Construction, Installation and Operation

Model Railway Illumination. Night Operation

Trix, Twin Railway Year Book 1955

The Boy's Book of Model Railways

The Model Railway Encyclopedia

00 Gauge Layout and Design

Locomotive Body Construction

Designing and Building Loco Bodies

Designing & Building "OO" Trackwork

Building Passenger Rolling Stock

Wagon and Van Construction

 

NON-RAILWAY

Trams and Tramways

The Boy's Book of Buses of the World

The Boy's Book of Veteran Cars

Edwardian Cars - a Reverie of Adventurous Motoring.

Famous Motor-Coaches and Coachways of the World

Veteran Cars

The Mechanical Age Library : Hydro-Electric Power

Tackle Car Maintenance this Way

Veteran Car Owners Manual

Cycles and Motor Cycles

Things To Do About the Home (with David Shaw)

 

 

One of my first railway books was 'The Observer's Book of Railway Locomotives of Britain' by Ernest F. Carter; which "Describes the steam locomotives of Britain, with 8 colour plates and over 200 photographs" and was first published in 1955 by Frederick Warne.

 

The book was probably bought by my Dad sometime in maybe 1957 and was the first 'all locomotives' book in our house, until the purchase of an Ian Allan abc spotters' booklet around 1959.  As a train-mad kid, this  little 3.5" x 5.5", 282 page book had some harsh treatment and it would be over forty years later before I found another copy of Observer's Book number 23, complete with a smart dust-jacket with the picture of Britannia Class No. 70009 'Alfred the Great' .

 

And until taking this photo for the topic, I had never realised that the dust-jacket cover artwork was in fact one of those eight colour plate illustrations, all by Kenneth E. Carter (Ernest's son).  From the 1957 edition, Henry Casserley (1903 - 1991) took over the compilation of the Observer's book and carried on until at least the 1975 edition.

 

I think I might have a few more of Ernest F.Carter's books on my bookshelves.

All the very best,

John

 

[melmoth]

I've got this on the shelves of my shop at the moment. Electric Model Railways in this context seems to mean 3-rail, O gauge. But the adverts are interesting.

[micknich2003]

Ernest, wrote an account of himself in a mid to late '30's Model Railway Constructor, he refs to the loss of his to an industrial accident. He also refferred to a young son, and who if still around will probably be ninety or more.

[Old Gringo]

Until Andy Kirkham posted the list of titles he had discovered on the internet, I hadn't realised just how many books Ernest Frank Carter (1899 - 1964?) had written.  It also came as a surprise to find how many of the hard-backed prototype volumes I had tucked away on the book shelves - and also how many of them had illustrations produced by his son, Kenneth E. Carter (1931 - 2004).

 

Ernest Frank Carter probably ranks alongside some of the most popular railway writers of the 1950s and 1960s, which includes other well-known names such as: Cuthbert Hamilton Ellis, author and well known artist; Thomas Caswell Rolt, author and pioneer in the preservation movements of canals and railways; Henry Casserley, famous photographer and author and Oswald Stevens Nock, prolific railway author and also watercolour artist.

 

According to the brief note about Ernest Carter in the front of Model Railway Encyclopaedia:

 

"His interest in model railways dates back to 1914, and it is significant that a year later he had anticipated the modern pastime of "train-spotting" and was busy collecting engine numbers.   A great admirer of true-scale modelling in all its fields, he champions the cause of the enthusiastic railway modeller who prefers to build and make as much as possible himself."  A staunch believer in the truism - "Do as the real railways do it and you will not go far wrong". 

 

The Model Railway Encyclopaedia was first published in 1950, by Burke Publishing Co. Ltd., 496 pages, 461 diagrams and 128 photographs and even over 70 years on is still a useful reference book.

Here's a picture of my well-used copy!

 

[Enterprisingwestern]

1 hour ago, micknich2003 said:

Ernest, wrote an account of himself in a mid to late '30's Model Railway Constructor, he refs to the loss of his to an industrial accident. He also refferred to a young son, and who if still around will probably be ninety or more.

 

I'm worried and intrigued as to what he lost! Could you elucidate?

 

Mike.

[Old Gringo]

13 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

I'm worried and intrigued as to what he lost! Could you elucidate?

 

Mike.

 

His left arm, Mike.

 

Kevin (post 2) thought it was in WW1, however, Mick (post 10) says it was in an industrial accident.

 

edit: There's a picture of EFC in the frontispiece of Model Railway Encyclopaedia confirming that it was his left arm.

[Oldddudders]

Be it noted that BR had a Chairman who had lost most of his right arm - Bob Reid MkII. He had come from Shell. It is no surprise that the subject of this thread did not let his misfortune scupper the rest of his career, but may be an object lesson in leading life to the full. 

[DavidLong]

Jack Nelson was another writer and modeller who had lost an arm, in a motorcycle accident if I recall correctly. His seminal work 'LNWR Portrayed'  is being reprinted by Peco. 

 

David

[The Stationmaster]

'Old Gringo's  mention of LTC Rolt reminds me of a chap who lived round the corner from us.  His surname was Rolt-Hammond, an engineer, and he knew Tom Rolt quite well.  Apparently they used to wonder if they were in fact related because both of them - according to Rolt-Hammond - had been adopted at an early age and they shared similar interests apart from the similarity in surnames.  This was of course back before the days when it became much easier for adopted folk to trace back to their natural parents.

 

I actually met and spoke to Hamilton Ellis - on Norwich station platform when taking a day trip on a 'GE Progress Chasers' special excursion.  Give him his due he was more than happy to talk to a spotty teenager and as I had (and still have) a number of his books I found it very interesting to talk to him.  One thing perhaps not often realised is that various of his pictures were used at one time by BR for the pictures included in some compartment stock.

[Dava]

38 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

 One thing perhaps not often realised is that various of his pictures were used at one time by BR for the pictures included in some compartment stock.

 

These are available via railwayana sales, as are the NRM reprints more cheaply, they frame up nicely. The Emporium at GCR Loughborough usually has some and lots of books - Winter Steam Gala next weekend.

 

Dava

[AY Mod]

18 hours ago, Old Gringo said:

It also came as a surprise to find how many of the hard-backed prototype volumes I had tucked away on the book shelves

 

It may have been a surprise to you. But...

[Old Gringo]

On the afternoon of the day that the most Victoria Crosses were won in a single action (at Rorkes' Drift in 1879), I thought I'd not watch that epic film, 'Zulu', for the umpteenth time, but instead post a bit more about E.F.C's books.

 

As Andy's list in the OP shows, there's a lot more publications by Ernest Carter on model railways published after he left the editor's position of Model Railway Constructor (1939) and before compiling The Model Railway Encyclopedia (1950).  Many of the extensive list of modelling publications are paperbacks like that illustrated by Jon (Melmoth) in an earlier post.  

 

Although many of the modelling publications produced by EFC were printed in paperback, 'The Boys Book of Model Railways' was a quality hardback.  Again published by Burke in 1958 (and reprinted twice in 1959) this book features plenty of Hornby Dublo models in the illustrations.  Of course, at that time those were the best value RTR 00 gauge models that most boys could aspire to own and Hornby Dublo started so many of us older RMWebbers off with a lifelong hobby.

 

 

[Nearholmer]

Great book that, and the cover photo still informs/inspires my layout building now, my general drift being to create something that could plausibly be attributed to BL in the 1950s!

[Old Gringo]

In posts 2 and 7 of the topic, Kevin (Nearholmer) mentioned Ernest F. Carter's probably most well-known book on the prototype railways - 'Britain's Railway Liveries'; 352 pages, by Burke Publishing Ltd. in 1952.  IMO, this is still the ultimate reference book regarding railway liveries.  Worth it alone for the preface and four page introduction, plus the superb fold-out colour chart at the back of the book.  The 50 colour samples were provided by Thomas Parsons & Sons Limited: a firm which the advert says "already had over 35 years experience of making paints and varnishes for the coaching trade, when the railways were new" and (by 1952) had "150 years of manufacture and patient research and a high reputation for quality". 

 

My copy of BRL, (bought at Bristol MREX a long time ago) has been well thumbed and doesn't have the attractive dust-jacket that the book was produced with over seventy years ago!  I keep hoping that a really well cared for copy will turn up one day, on the second-hand shelves at Kidderminster Railway Museum, fingers crossed.

 

It seems that there's was bit of a gap before E.F.C. had another hardback published.  The Observer's book No. 23 (pictured in the earlier post) by Frederick Warne & Co. was in 1955 and I wonder if 'The Observer's Book of Model Locomotives' (apparently published in 1958) was next?  However, I've never seen a copy of this book.  Has anybody else seen one ?

 

However, Ernest had been busy, as 'The Boys Book of Model Railways' (described in my previous post) and 'Famous Railway Stations of the World', were also published in 1958.  The latter book, again with illustrations by his son, Kenneth, is probably his next published work about the prototype railways.

 

'Famous Railway Stations of the World' is one of the 'Globe Books' series, published by Frederick Muller Ltd., and was followed by 'Famous Trains of the World' by E.F.C. in 1959.  Both these books took the railway theme on from other books in the series - Hamilton Ellis's 'Famous Locomotives of the World' (1957), then H. Wilson & J.R. Day's (Famous) 'Railways of the World', A.J. Wrottesley's (Famous) 'Underground Railways of the World' and F. Dean's (Famous) 'Cableways of the World'.

 

By 1959 there were twenty books in the 'Globe' series by Muller Publishing - "A series of informative books for young people, written by experts and dealing authoritatively with every aspect of transport and communications". All were prefixed 'Famous' and tag-lined 'of the World'.  Ernest had completed five of the series, the two mentioned in the previous paragraph and one each on; 'Roads', 'Motor Coaches and Coachways', and 'Telecommunications'.

 

 

[Nearholmer]

2 hours ago, Old Gringo said:

The Observer's Book of Model Locomotives' (apparently published in 1958)

I thought I had a worryingly comprehensive knowledge of old railway books, but that I’ve never heard of, let alone seen. My interest is piqued!

 

PS: it doesn’t appear on lists of published Observer’s books, so I conclude that it wasn’t. http://www.collectingbooksandmagazines.com/observer.html

Edited January 22, 2023 by Nearholmer

[Old Gringo]

On 22/01/2023 at 17:53, Nearholmer said:

I thought I had a worryingly comprehensive knowledge of old railway books, but that I’ve never heard of, let alone seen. My interest is piqued!

 

PS: it doesn’t appear on lists of published Observer’s books, so I conclude that it wasn’t. http://www.collectingbooksandmagazines.com/observer.html

 

Hi Kevin,

 

Thanks for posting the Observers' link.  I'm glad I don't collect them.

 

I had the title from the second entry on Andy's (OP) list of Model Railway publications. 

Back in March 2022, I must have surfed the web and arrived at that 'possible' publishing date.  However, unfortunately, I didn't follow it up, or make a reference!  Maybe it was a paperback, or just an idea that was never produced?

 

All the very best,

John

[RichardT]

On 01/03/2022 at 21:26, Nearholmer said:

and the colour chips given at the back are possibly no longer totally trustworthy after all these years.

Coming late to this party, but pace Old Gringo above, if the book has largely been kept closed, not laid out for long periods in bright sunlight, and kept in relatively cool (UK) temperatures the paint samples will be as good today as the day they were painted onto the page.  Simple anno domini doesn’t fade paint or cause varnish to yellow - it’s primarily direct exposure to UV light that does the damage.
 

Indirectly UV light and high humidity, working on the substrate and causing high lignin paper to go brown through acid action, may eventually affect the shade of the paint chips (less so than if they were printers ink) as high lignin paper does slowly deteriorate on its own over time,  but storage in cool, dry and dark conditions will greatly slow down the deterioration.  

 

RichardT

Edited January 22, 2023 by RichardT
Greater detail added to clarify that the underlying paper may be affected through simple aging even if the paint isn’t.

[St Enodoc]

On 22/01/2023 at 04:44, Old Gringo said:

Until Andy Kirkham posted the list of titles he had discovered on the internet, I hadn't realised just how many books Ernest Frank Carter (1899 - 1964?) had written.  It also came as a surprise to find how many of the hard-backed prototype volumes I had tucked away on the book shelves - and also how many of them had illustrations produced by his son, Kenneth E. Carter (1931 - 2004).

 

Ernest Frank Carter probably ranks alongside some of the most popular railway writers of the 1950s and 1960s, which includes other well-known names such as: Cuthbert Hamilton Ellis, author and well known artist; Thomas Caswell Rolt, author and pioneer in the preservation movements of canals and railways; Henry Casserley, famous photographer and author and Oswald Stevens Nock, prolific railway author and also watercolour artist.

 

According to the brief note about Ernest Carter in the front of Model Railway Encyclopaedia:

 

"His interest in model railways dates back to 1914, and it is significant that a year later he had anticipated the modern pastime of "train-spotting" and was busy collecting engine numbers.   A great admirer of true-scale modelling in all its fields, he champions the cause of the enthusiastic railway modeller who prefers to build and make as much as possible himself."  A staunch believer in the truism - "Do as the real railways do it and you will not go far wrong". 

 

The Model Railway Encyclopaedia was first published in 1950, by Burke Publishing Co. Ltd., 496 pages, 461 diagrams and 128 photographs and even over 70 years on is still a useful reference book.

Here's a picture of my well-used copy!

 

Don't forget the fold-out loco blueprints!