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Those Were the Trains by H. Gordon Tidey w dust jacket
Those Were the Trains by H. Gordon Tidey
Hard cover with dust jacket
64 pages
Introduction
THE most unlikely happenings frequently have advantages which are totally unforeseen. In my case, a move of house necessitated a complete turn-out of sundry drawers and cabinets with the result that I unearthed a formidable bundle of my earlier photographs, the existence of which had been completely forgotten!
From about 1900 onwards, I have made a point of giving a week annually to a tour devoted entirely to Railway Photography, on some occasions by car, but, when long distances were involved, by train. For shorter distances, the car is preferable because it enables one to reach spots quickly which are often inaccessible on foot and in addition, it is so much more suitable for carrying heavy luggage about. During these 54 odd years I suppose I must have covered a large part of England and Scotland. I visited many interesting districts on several occasions -with a few years' gap between-and therefore was able to record the changing outline of the locomotives on the important trains. For example, on the L.N.W. train leaving Euston at 10 a.m., I photographed successively the Webb three- and four- cylinder Compounds; the Whale" Precursors"; the " King George V " 4 - 4 - 0s (the superheated version of the " Precursor "); the " Prince of Wales " 4-6-0s; the " Claughtons "; the original " Royal Scots "; and finally the " Big Lizzies " (I understand that all the Stanier Pacifics, whether " Princesses ", " Duchesses " or " Cities " are known as " Big Lizzies "). Similarly, on the " Flying Scotsman " I have records of a Stirling 8 ft. or 7 ft. 6 in. single-wheeler, an Ivatt 4-4-0, large and small Atlantics, Gresley " A3s " and " A4s ", and the later " A 1 s " or " A2s " !
When considering compilation of this book I kept in mind the fact that although there are a large number of railway enthusiasts of more mature years, who remember railways as they were in the days before the grouping, there is at the present time an increasing army of younger enthusiasts, whose experience goes back no further than probably a few years. The vast majority of these boys have seldom seen a clean engine, let alone experienced the thrill of spending a day on (say) Carlisle Citadel Station in the 1900's, when one could see the engines of no less than seven different companies in spick and span condition ; the station was an " open " one in those days and one could wander at will and not be faced with a possibly forgotten expiry of Platform tickets, as is the case now ! The grouping, of course, ended this happy state of affairs, because the services speedily became entirely L.N.E. and L.M.S., resulting in the disappearance of the engines of the three Scottish representatives, the Maryport & Carlisle and finally the North Eastern. Now one can make the journey to Carlisle and see only the same types which are on view at Kings Cross, Euston or St. Pancras, often in a most woebegone condition of filth and neglect. So different from those days.
However, this publication is not intended to appeal so much to the younger generation as to the large number of older enthusiasts who, like myself, remember with regret those happier days. Judging by the heavy correspondence which I receive, they will, I believe, welcome a modest publication featuring so many of the engines and trains which they loved, and of which so many have joined the " great majority ".
It must be very many years ago, though actually it seems quite a short time, since I used to visit Euston and witness the departure of the 2 p.m. " Corridor " hauled daily by the Webb 3-cylinder Compound Jeannie Deans; or walked to Kings Cross, where the 2.20 p.m. Scotsman would be taken out by a " Stirling " 8 ft. or 7 ft. 6 in. single-wheeler. Both these trains often weighed in the neighborhood of 275 and sometimes 300 tons or even more, and the engines in each case started " cold and without the advantage of superheat, or any of the modern front end improvements. Nevertheless, I have many times seen these G.N. singles start away without a vestige of a slip, whereas the present-day Pacifies with loads only perhaps 30 to 40 per cent. heavier and their vastly increased power and adhesive weight, very seldom get away without violent slipping, no matter how carefully driven.
Similarly, on the old Midland one could see quite a number of important trains worked by the graceful Johnson single-wheelers, and though Midland trains were considerably lighter than those of other railways, there were times when these singles were called upon to deal with quite substantial loads and appeared to do so quite comfortably. Owing, probably, to the prevalent light trains, the Midland never built anything larger in the way of locomotives than the Smith 3-cylinder compounds, but they apparently believed in giving their motive power an easy time. It was a frequent sight on this line to observe a train of only 6 or 7 coaches hauled by a single and piloted by a small 4-4-0 of Class 2 or 3, either of which could have comfortably done the job by standards prevailing on other lines.
However, when the grouping took place and the Midland submerged the L.N.W.R., the latter were working all their heavier trains with " Claughtons " or " Princes " and, though obviously under-boilered, both these classes did at times put up some excellent work in the hands of capable drivers. The Midland apparently thought their compounds would be capable of doing this work, with the result that they neglected the L.N.W. engines and were soon hard put to it to find adequate power, even though they had built a large fleet of compounds. These were, of course, quite incapable of the work and frequently had to be used in pairs. Their deficiency was aggravated by the fact that, to get the best out of them, they had to be driven by methods quite foreign to those previously in use by L.N.W. drivers.
A large number were sent to Scotland to replace G. & S.W. and Caledonian engines, of which there had been a wholesale slaughter by the Midland, and here, for a long time, the same difficulty applied. Many trains which had previously been worked by one small McIntosh 4-4-0 needed two compounds, each reputed to be of greater power than the displaced engine. A visit to London Bridge or Victoria brought its reward in the stimulating spectacle of the Stroudley engines in their handsome livery and usually spotless condition. Waterloo was still largely relying on the speedy Adams 4-4-0s, although many trains were in charge of the various classes of Drummond 4-4-0s, of which the earliest and smallest class - the Greyhounds - achieved a very outstanding reputation.
As for Paddington, Mr. Churchward was continually improving and enlarging his various classes of 4-6-0s at Swindon, although there were numbers of 2-4-0, 4-4-0 and a few of the handsome Dean 7 ft. 8 in. singles still doing secondary work.
The S.E. & C.R. had a most miscellaneous collection of 4-4-0s, which appeared to be used quite indiscriminately and were often supplemented by 0-6-0 goods engines, particularly on those trains which were a specialty of this line at the time-the " Cheap Fasts " whose chief characteristics were that they were neither very cheap nor particularly fast! On the L.B.S.C.R., the untimely death of Mr. Stroudley had led to changes on that system for Mr. Lawson Billinton and Mr. Earle Marsh were building handsome 4-4-0s and Atlantics, followed by the celebrated 4-4-2 tanks of Class " I3 " and ultimately the 4-6-2 and 4-6-4 tanks-surely amongst the most handsome engines ever designed.
On the Great Central, Mr. Robinson's 4-6-0s, of several classes, were taking over from the 4-4-0s, but were again supplemented by the " Directors ", which shared with the North Eastern " RI s " the distinction of being the largest 4-4-0s in the country. The North Eastern, which for years had utilized the 4-4-0s of classes " F ", 66 M66 Q " and " R ", turned over to the very efficient 3-cylinder Atlantics and later to the (not so efficient) Pacifies, after introducing their several classes of 4-6-0s, many of which are still in use.
This summary will give some idea of the conditions prevailing at and after the time I first resolved to tackle the problems of Railway Photography seriously, and should, I think, cause much mouth watering amongst the present day enthusiasts who, owing to circumstances beyond their personal control, have been born about 40 years too late!
As regards technical photography, I cannot sufficiently stress the fact that in those days any lens working at an aperture off 6.8 or larger was a luxury beyond the reach of all but the few and too frequently did not cover to the edges, whilst plates of anything over 250 H & D were only just coming into being, and shutters were by no means as efficient as at the present time. This being so, it remains a matter of mystery to me how we obtained the results we did, which I still contend compare very favorably with the efforts of present day operators. They have at their beck and call lenses of perfect efficiency, working at stops from f 2.9, plates of up to (alleged) 2500 H & D and shutters which are the last word in design and as accurate as can be achieved with such high speeds.
The stereotyped view of a train in motion is that taken from platform level, or an embankment, at an angle of about 30 degrees. In order to obtain variety, some modern operators have adopted a viewpoint on the outside of a curve, thereby cutting out all the train with the exception of perhaps half the leading coach. Until quite recently, this was regarded by all editors as a major photographic crime, the invariable rule being that any photograph intended for publication must depict the whole of the train. Whilst I agree that variety of viewpoint is badly needed, I personally should consider it a waste of a plate to expose under such conditions; if compelled to operate from the off side I should (as I frequently do) choose a high viewpoint, such as an overbridge, thus showing the whole train, which often gives a very effective picture, although the exhaust may at times cause complications.
I find I am practically alone amongst photographers in operating so frequently from the side on which the sun is not shining, which to me gives a very pleasing effect; if the plate is carefully developed there need be no loss of detail in the shadows. I am naturally proud of the fact that, of all Railway Photographers, many of whom are turning out such excellent work at the present time, I am the only one who, starting in the 1890's, is still carrying on as actively as ever and I venture to believe that my present day work does not suffer in comparison with that which I achieved as long as 50 years ago!
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