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Books Fi - G
FIFTY YEARS OF THE WEST SUSSEX FIRE BRIGADE 1948-1998
by S. Jordan |
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The Fire Brigade in West Sussex has a long and
meritorious history. Until the Watching and Lighting Act was passed in
1835 there was no legal requirement for towns and villages to provide a
fire service; this did not, however, stop many towns in West Sussex
providing their own 'parish pumps' or small manual fire engines which
would be rushed to the scene of a fire by a team of willing volunteers.
The Towns Police Clauses Act of 1847 gave provisions for the purchase of
fire appliances, fire stations and the payment for firemen to crew them,
all to be provided for out of the Poor Rates. By the turn of the 20th
century there were town Brigades in Arundel, Bognor, Burgess Hill,
Crawley, East Grinstead, Hassocks, Haywards Heath, Henfield,
Hurstpierpoint, Littlehampton, Midhurst, Steyning and Worthing. |
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Up until the mid-1930s the town Brigades continued to give sterling
service, but the looming clouds of war caused the Government to create the
Auxiliary Fire Service in 1937. On 1st September, 1941 the National Fire
Service was born, and West Sussex became part of Region 12. However, the
Government promised that this was only a wartime situation and that
control of the Brigades would be returned to local councils once the war
was over.
At war's end the town councils agitated for the
return of their Fire Brigades. The Government, however, had seen the
advantage of a large well organised fire service and was reluctant to
return to the pre-war situation. As a compromise it was decided in 1946
that the control of Fire Brigades would become a County Council
responsibility. The date chosen for the formation of West Sussex Fire
Brigade was the 1st April, 1948.
So here is the story of the last
50 years which includes
Fire Control
The Brigade Training Centre
Brigade Workshops
Special Services
Station-by-Station guide
Diary of the last 50 years
Appliances, HPs and Specials
1998 Fleet List
The book is to A5 format and
consists of 120 pages and is printed on art paper throughout, it is
illustrated with around 140 photographs and has a full colour laminated
card cover with a square-backed spine. |
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X66 |
ISBN 0 85361 549 7
ISBN 978 0 85361 549 1 |
£ 8.95 |
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FLEXICHAS - A Way to Build a Fully Compensated Chassis
by M. Sharman |
36 pages. A5, two-colour, stapled cover. A must for the railway modeller
particularly if you are a scratch-builder. French language version also
available.
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MS2
MS2a (Fr.)
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ISBN 0 86093 072 6
ISBN 0 85361 501 2
ISBN 978 0 85361 501 9 |
£ 3.95
£ 4.95
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SIR
HENRY FOWLER, A Versatile Life
by J. E. Chacksfield
LAST FEW COPIES AVAILABLE - Order now to avoid disappointment |
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Much has been written about Henry Fowler and the small
engine policy which was, for so long, a Derby trait. Unfortunately many of
those writings have delved into the background of managerial decisions
rather than how Fowler dealt with the immediate task of providing motive
power as specified by those in power.
As the Midland Railway was absorbed into the large London, Midland and
Scottish Railway at Grouping, Derby was able to retain its ascendancy in the
locomotive sphere despite the appointment of George Hughes of the Lancashire
and Yorkshire Railway as Chief Mechanical Engineer.
By the end of the 1920s, it was clear to the top management, that a clean
sweep of design matters was needed, with the emphasis placed on replacing
many of the by now outdated locomotives. The few years attributed to Fowler
as CME (1925-1931) of the LMS were years in which thousands of new
locomotives were built.
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Some may not realise that Fowler was recognised as a competent organiser and
delegator who was called in to Government service during World War I with
the Ministry of Munitions, which eventually sent him to oversee the Royal
Aircraft Factory at Farnborough followed by time as Deputy Director-General
of Aircraft Production in 1918. This part of his career is covered in some
detail owing to the important part it played in equipping the RFC with new
fighters. It also produced the well-deserved knighthood. Versatility was one
of his many attributes, there was not much, in an engineering context, that
he could not put his hand to. Here then, is the story of how Henry Fowler
reached the top of his profession and left his mark upon the locomotive
side of a major British railway and many engineering institutions.
The book is to A5 format with 168 pages of art
paper with over 140 illustrations. The book has a laminated colour card
cover with square-backed spine.
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OL110 |
ISBN 0 85361 550 0
ISBN 978 0 85361 550 7 |
£ 11.95 |
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THE
FRAMLINGHAM BRANCH
by Peter Paye |
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In Suffolk the cultivation of
the land had for generations been the main industry, but agriculture was
dependent on good transport to get produce to market. The advent of the
railways in East Anglia brought drastic improvements and after initial
scepticism there was the urgent desire for towns to be served by the new
lines. East Suffolk initially benefited with the building of the Halesworth,
Beccles and Haddiscoe Railway. Its original focus was a link with the
Norwich to Lowestoft line, connecting it directly with Norwich and Great
Yarmouth, but no sooner was the original plan nearing completion than there
was clamour for a southwards extension towards Ipswich. An Act of Parliament
in 1854 gave authorization to build a line from Halesworth to Woodbridge, to
connect with the Eastern Union Railway onto Ipswich. To engender further
trade and traffic, the Act also authorized the building of a number of
branches including one to the ancient market town of Framlingham. The main
line and branches were ultimately opened for traffic in 1859. |
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Framlingham served as the
railhead for a considerable area of rural East and Central Suffolk. The
branch continued to serve the locality for almost half a century before the
opening of the Mid Suffolk Light Railway in 1904 for goods traffic, and 1908
for passengers. Even then the loss of traffic was minimal and the
Framlingham branch continued under the London & North Eastern Railway from
1923 and finally British Railways from 1948. The 1930s were lean years and
after World War II much traffic transferred to the road. Passenger traffic
was especially poor so that such services were withdrawn on 1st November,
1952. Thereafter farmers and growers quickly transferred their custom to
road transport and freight facilities were withdrawn from the branch on and
from 19th April, 1965 and the line closed completely. This then is the
fascinating story of the Framlingham branch from conception to closure.
The book is to A5 format, it
consists of 248 pages, with 255 illustrations and it has a perfect-bound
colour cover. |
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LP233 |
ISBN 978
0 85361 678 8 |
£ 15.95 |
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The Freshwater,
Yarmouth & Newport Railway
by R.J. Maycock & R. Silsbury |
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This is the third book in the history
of the railways of the Isle of Wight by the authors, in what is building
into the definitive history of the railways of the Island. It might be
thought that there was little to say about a 12 mile single line railway
that was worked for most of its life by another company. However, the
history of the Isle of Wight railways has often been not what it seemed
and the Freshwater, Yarmouth & Newport Railway was no exception.
Railways were late in coming to West Wight as it was not until 1880 that
the Freshwater company was formed and another nine years before its
railway opened to passenger traffic. By then the company's finances were
in a parlous state, thoughts of extensions were given up and it was only a
matter of time before a receiver was appointed. The poor state of the
railway matched the company's finances and the Board of Trade had to
intervene before improvements were made. |
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Soon afterwards the promoters of the
abortive Solent Tunnel scheme purchased the undertaking. Relations with
the Isle of Wight Central Railway, which worked the Freshwater line, were
never good and there was constant friction between the two companies. The
well-publicised break took place in 1913 when the Freshwater company took
over the operation of its railway albeit in the hands of a Receiver for a
second time. In this form the railway survived until its purchase by the
Southern Railway in 1923.
As in previous books in this series,
the history of the company has been described in detail. Maps and the few
surviving drawings have been reproduced accompanied by a series of
photographs of the railway prior to 1923.
The book is casebound with a
gold-blocked spine, A5 format, printed on art paper, 176 pages with more
than 110 photographs, maps and plans etc., printed end papers and a
laminated dust jacket. |
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OL125 |
ISBN 0 85361 601 9
ISBN 978 0 85361 601 6 |
£ 14.95
(Hardback) |
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FROM STEAM TO STONE: A BR life -
Engine Cleaner to Stone Projects Manager. Volume One: The Footplate Years
by David Butcher |
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This volume is the first of two that together
describe a career with British Railways from 1951 to 1968. It is a memoir of
recollections that divide naturally into three phases covering,
respectively, the footplate, office, and management years. It describes a
career that was considered most unusual related to the times in which it
occurred. Never, in the few fanciful dreams occasionally indulged in as it
progressed, was it ever remotely imagined it would ultimately take the
course that occurred.
Early
years were spent at ex-Great Eastern sheds at Southend and Cambridge.
Redundant, the author was moved to Kings Cross where he experienced the
antipathy so often directed against ‘foreigners’ since the Grouping in 1923
when there was an influx of ex-GCR men on promotion. Booked with a certain
difficult ex-GN driver, David triumphantly overcame this virulent
ill-feeling in the only way open to him, a sign of things to come.
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By
1958, when the diesels had arrived, David felt the job would lose the
challenge of steam work that he treasured: so he decided to leave the
footplate and, having had a good general education, had no difficulty in
passing the clerical examination to seek fresh challenges in an era of rapid
change. . . the full story continues in Volume Two.
The
book is to A5 format, 240 pages with 130 illustrations and a full colour
perfect-bound jacket.
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RS12 |
ISBN 0 85361 623 X
ISBN 978 0 85361 623 8 |
£ 14.95 |
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FROM STEAM TO STONE: A
BR life - Engine Cleaner to Stone Projects Manager. Volume Two: Onwards
Into Management
by David Butler |
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This book completes the story of a career
with British Railways from 1951 to 1968. Volume Two covers the period from
1958 to 1968. It opens with the author's final months working on the East
Coast route out of King's Cross to Newcastle, to give the background
behind the entirely unintended decision to exchange the firing shovel for
the ball-point pen.
The
final decade of main line steam on our nationalised railway system had
begun to unfold and with it the increasing rundown of the steam fleet,
completed in 1968. Dieselisation introduced fresh challenges to staff of
all grades. The fundamental changes created a major upheaval in how the
industry was managed and operated. The early development of the new 25kv
ac traction was to introduce even greater changes, commencing in 1960 with
the north-east London electrification scheme which modernised the
intensive steam suburban services working out of London (Liverpool Street)
station. |
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The
decade covered by this volume proved to be one of dramatic re-thinking by
BR, following the announcement of the 1955 modernisation plan. The author
feels extremely fortunate to have been directly involved with the early
dieselisation and electrification schemes introduced by the Eastern
Region. It was an absorbing and fascinating period. Railway staff had to
accept and adapt to totally new working methods. David Butcher experienced
at first hand so many of the upheavals that were forced upon railwaymen at
the time, and became part of the planning processes that drove it forward,
before becoming a manager required to implement the new thinking. David
reaIised he had become a sort of 'poacher turned gamekeeper', something
that was not deliberately intended, but nevertheless happened.
Promotion to Westbury on the Western Region revealed a less than
satisfactory situation had been inherited. It required early action to
resolve, to achieve the benefits of effective cost management. Steam age
attitudes still prevailed even with full dieselisation almost completed.
The subsequent commercial developments arising from this challenge were an
unexpected, but welcome situation, but one that eventually became one
difficulty too many.
The
latter years of David's BR career placed him in a strong position when he
joined Foster Yeoman and became responsible for creating the Foster Yeoman
rail system, where he developed their railborne stone traffic for the next
six years. This, and subsequent developments, is covered in the book's
Epilogue.
The
book is to A5 format, 232 pages with 125 illustrations and a full colour
perfect-bound jacket. |
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RS13 |
ISBN 0 85361 624 8
ISBN 978 0 85361 624 5 |
£ 14.95 |
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