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ON RAILWAYS at home and abroad P. Ransome-Wallis w/ dust jacket
ON RAILWAYS at home and abroad By P. Ransome-Wallis - 299 pages - Published 1951, by Batchworth Press Ltd.
Introduction - In this book, I have tried to describe some of the outstanding events and experiences during thirty years as a railwayist. Whenever possible I have written from a personal angle and in doing so I have tried to select, from a large number of notes and memories, those experiences which I think will have the most interest and appeal.
I have been lucky in being able to travel a good deal over seas, and to see many foreign locomotives. World War II gave me exceptional opportunities for seeing the railways of South Africa and of North America, as well as several smaller systems. To those railwayists, and they are many, who take an interest only in British locomotives I would say - you are missing the best part of the game, for our own practice appears in its true perspective only when it is compared with what is done in other countries. A study of foreign railways and locomotives can be made in your own homes from the many excellent books on the subject. You may then get the urge to travel, perhaps only just across the Channel, to make a closer study of the wealth of railway interest which is within such easy reach.
My first and greatest love is the steam locomotive, and this book deals mainly with that aspect of the railways. However, while in search of engines, one is bound to see many other facets of railway operation, and where these differ from British practice and are of sufficient interest, I have described what I saw of them - stations, yards, signals, methods of operating, and so on.
The more experience I gain as a medical man, the more I am convinced of the need of every man to have a hobby. And not merely a recreation, but a hobby in which it is possible to become so interested and absorbed that the cares and frustrations of the times in which we live can be completely forgotten. Then the daily task can be resumed with such fresh vigor, both mental and physical, as to render the doing of it a pleasure. I am sure I am a much better doctor as a result of the few hours I get each week chasing puffer trains - as my daughter so irreverently describes it. For this reason alone I am glad that locomotive engineering never became my profession, for then my work and my hobby would have been synonymous, and in my opinion this is a bad thing
There is one proviso which must be made, if a railwayist is to get the best from his hobby - he must have a wife who is both understanding and generous, one who does not object when queer-looking folk turn up at odd times to monopolize her husband for hours on end, talking of things of which she has no ken. She must be tolerant of her man when he comes home, hours late, tired, dirty and delighted, demands food, and then disappears again - this time into the dark room to develop the photographs of the days bag. For if he does not secure such a paragon, then he will cease to be a railwayist, unless he is strong-minded enough to forgo the love of a woman for the love of an engine!
I am well aware of my own good fortune. P. R-W.
Over 100 pictures!
Contents
Part I - In Britain - Rail way enthusiasts, the Why and the wherefore, The close of an Era, The early years of grouping, Getting into their stride, The great years - and after, Tank engine development, the quest for Efficiency, Off the four Main Lines: East Kent Swan Song, Pwllyrhebog, By train up Snowdon, Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch, A day on the Lickey Incline, -- Some modern Locomotive work in Great Britain: The southern Light Pacifics - The last L.M.S. Pacific - a class 5 on freight - rebuilt Royal Scot
Part II - Travels in Europe
Part III Further abroad- Africa and Beyond
Part Four - Island Miscellany - Part % North America - Trains and Locomotives in the USA - Americanisms: The Hudsons of the New York Central - Terminal Company - Shops, yards and stations - Mr Flagler and Key West -Two Great Canadian Railroads - Wheel Notation.
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