Great Western Railway Journal 77

[chrisf]

It has just arrived. A quick flick through reveals the contents:

 

Reading passenge piolots in the early postwar years - Chris Turner describes the working of pilot engines and related procedures. Always thorough Mr Turner has excelled himself this time, including much in the way of minutiae and snippets coverfing such almost forgotten things as detaching vans from the rear of expresses , together with a plan of Reading station to be cherished now that wholesale reconstruction has begun

 

The winter of 1947 - three evocative black and [mostly] white shots showing how the ralway kept going in those days

 

Passenger operations at Paddington station - part 5 of John Copsey's exploration, crammed with detail, takes us to World War II which necesssitated many changes and much improvisation. Particulary evocative are the photos of the Luftwaffe's attempt to redevelop the station

 

No 254, the first gangwayed first - John Lewis looks back at one of the first corridor coaches in the country

 

Thame station - three colour photos

 

Snow at Iver - three colour photos taken in February 1963 when the winter had established a firm grip

 

Finally a photo of a steam crane is accompanied by a plea for information as little if anything is known about it. Form an orderly queue, experts ...

 

This one looks as though it will take a long time to read!

 

Chris

[Rugd1022]

Picked mine up yesterday afternoon but only sat down to have a proper look today - read the Reading and Paddington articles right through in one sitting, soaking up the photos too over a nice cuppa. I always enjoy these kind of articles, especially the one on Reading, coming 'first hand' from those who were on the ground.

 

Looking forward to when the Paddington 'story' reaches the 1960s B)

 

I often feel that GWRJ is worth buying for the colour photos alone, these never fail to satisfy. I was searching through my back issues last week for a particular item and each colour image I came across 'hit the spot'.