Innehållsförteckning för May 2025 från Steam World

My latest binge watch has been Masters of the Air, the follow up to the Second World War epic miniseries, Band of Brothers (2001) and The Pacific (2010). Based on historian Donald L. Miller’s book of the same name, complemented by memoirs from airmen, Masters of the Air tells the story of the USAAF’s 100th Bomb Group. It might have lacked the spark of its predecessors but it did share the same high production values and attention to detail. Had it been made even 40 years before, like 1987’s Memphis Belle, it would have probably used real B-17 aircraft. Instead, the producers built two full size B-17 replicas, capable of taxying, plus fuselage sections that could be moved and jiggled about to simulate combat at 30,000ft. The producers also built…

No technological development stands still. Trevithick and the Stephensons took the already established technology of flanged wheels and iron rails and added steam locomotion. Suddenly trains could travel for greater distances and the Stockton & Darlington Railway was born. The concept was soon taken up by others and longer railways were planned, none more ambitious than the linking of London and Bristol by the iron road. The story is, perhaps, too well known to need repeating but the promoters of the Bristol to London railway were mainly based at its western end and there they encountered the young Isambard Kingdom Brunel. He had been in Clifton convalescing after having ingested filthy river water following an accident at his father’s Thames tunnel project. While in Clifton he had entered a competition…

WIN A PRIZE WORTH £70! This month we will be giving away a special prize worth £70! A copy of Steam Photographer by Gavin Morrison along with a copy of An Illustrated History of Her Majeysty’s Railway Inspectorate from 1840 by Ian Prosser& David Keay will be sent to the sender of the first correct answer opened on May 16, 2025. Answers (with your name and address) to SW455 Crossword, Steam World, 4 Milnyard Square, Orton Southgate, Peterborough PE2 6GX. Photocopies welcome, but please do not enclose correspondence. Crossword compiled by Alan Frost. Clues Across 7 Sir George, Admiral of the Fleet, giving name to ‘Jubilee’ No. 45660 (5) 8 Famously busy Junction station approaching London Victoria or Waterloo (7) 10 Native and language of ‘Jubilee’ No. 45577 (7) 11…

Ignored by railway photographers for decades, the docks at Middlesbrough provided a wealth of interesting steam scenes, which passed largely unnoticed and largely unrecorded. The earliest shipping facilities at Middlesbrough were staiths set up on the riverbank in 1830 for loading coal into small cargo vessels but, within the same decade, the Stockton & Darlington Railway decided to lay out a proper dock on the south bank of the river Tees. This facility opened in 1842. Access to the harbour, with its nine acres of water area, was through a lock that was 30ft wide. Draught was between 15ft and 19ft and, in its day, the new dock provided generous accommodation for up to 150 of the small collier brigs then in use. The North Eastern Railway took control of…

I must start by confessing that my experiences during the Second World War were not too dramatic. In fact, I seemed to have lived a charmed life when compared with others who lost their homes or even, tragically, their lives. In September 1942, my fiancée Renee had visited my home in Dartford one Sunday. I was off duty that day but on a very early turn on the Monday morning. To accompany Renee back to Stockwell would mean travelling up to London sometime during the Sunday evening. Renee and I set off around 8pm, walking the 1¼ miles to Dartford station, through the blackout. We boarded the first available electric train to London Bridge. Our plan was to take the Northern Line to Stockwell. I’d see her safely indoors and…

Want to see more? Much of David’s collection is available to view on Flickr: go to www.flickr.com and search for David’s name. There’s plenty to look at!…

send your letters to Steam World, 4 Milnyard Square, Orton South gate, Peterborough PE2 6GX or steamworld@choicemag.co.uk Isle of Wight holidays The April edition of Steam World brought back happy memories of holidays by train to the Isle of Wight in the 1950s. This was occasioned by the picture of the Portsmouth electric unit passing Weybridge and by the picture of Sandown station in ‘Travels with the Brownie 127’. During those days, our family lived in Southport and most years we spent our summer holiday at Sandown, always travelling by train. Dad had a car, but it probably wouldn’t have made it that far! In those days, there were through coaches from Southport Chapel Street to London Euston. These were run through to Liverpool Lime Street and attached to the…

Sir Henry Fowler had his name attached to two classes of tank locomotive built for suburban passenger work in the 1920s although, as with many Fowler designs how much of it can be credited to him personally is doubtful. These new locomotives were obviously related with their raised running plates, curving cab roofs and Fowleresque smokebox doors. But that was where the similarities ended. We explored the life and times of the smaller of the two designs, the 2-6-2T, which was designated Class ‘3’, last issue. The consensus from many commentators was that the design was a poor one and, despite attempts to improve their performance, were one of the least successful locomotives the LMS ever built. The larger Class ‘4’ 2-6-4T was a completely different kettle of fish. There…