Eastern Times Issue 2

Eastern Times Issue 2

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Description

In this edition we have more excellent articles from our contributors starting with the elegant ‘R’ (D20) class 4-4-0 designed by Wilson Wordsell of the North Eastern Railway, the class giving service for over 50 years. This is followed by one man’s tale of how steam lingered on well after official withdrawal dates on his local line. We all have our favourite engines for many varied reasons, the elegant lines of A3 Spearmint are recalled and the reasons why it became a favourite explained.

We then move to a more modern era and a signalman’s recollection of his working life at Broxbourne Junction in the late 70s and early 80s accompanied by excellent photographs of the trains he controlled. Then jumping to something completely different we feature Charlie, ‘The Last Shunting Horse’ who was the last of his kind to work on the railways, appropriately at Newmarket.

Moving to the capital there is a feature of how the LNER were a large part of the modernisation of the transport system needed to meet the demands of long-suffering commuters in an ever expanding metropolis before and after the Second World War.

Most of us would have heard of renowned photographer H. C. Casserley, who would take an annual two-week holiday to travel and photograph the railway system, this usually covered a large area of the country. We follow one such trip he made in 1954 accompanied by many of the photographs taken at various locations throughout the trip, there are so many photos that we have had to split this article in two with the conclusion to appear in issue 3. Finally for this issue we head north and have a pictorial feature of West Hartlepool followed by a trip on ‘The Edinburgh Fast’.

Introduction
The Class R 4-4-0s of the North Eastern Railway
Tales of a B17 Spotter
No. 60100 Spearmint
Broxbourne Junction Signal Box
B1 at Banavie
The Last Shunting Horse
The 1935 LNER New Works Scheme
The Man from the Pru – Part 1
West Hartlepool (51C) in pictures
The Edinburgh Flyer
The Headshunt

Preview Pages

DIGITAL VERSION

Additional information

Weight 451 g
Dimensions 27.3 × 21.5 cm
pages

80

illustrations

90+

cover

paperback

dimensions

273 x 215 mm

format

portrait

isbn

9.78191E+12

2 reviews for Eastern Times Issue 2

  1. 5 out of 5

    Karen Hughes

    A lovely format which is covering the Eastern Region of BR through a number of different stories in each issue. The pictures are well chosen and of very good quality and I have thoroughly enjoyed each issue so far.

  2. 4 out of 5

    Graham Stokes

    Rating : 4.0./5.0 (for comparison Issue No1 scores 4.5/5.0 on my personal ratings scale)

    The latest Summer 2023 Issue maintains the high standards of presentation, balance and content set by the first issue (Winter 2023).

    The Balance is achieved by getting the mix of narrative content and image selection right, The articles are informative and well researched, and thus avoid the danger of becoming mere make-weight backup to the wealth of interesting photographs selected to illustrate the text. Similarly the chosen photographs help to maintain the flow of the articles and bring them alive.

    Breadth and depth of content is likewise strong – with a huge variety of subject matter drawn from a wide range of geographic locations across both highways and byways within the former LNER territory. I particularly liked the features on the last Shunting Horse (Newmarket), and the 1935 LNER New Works Scheme. Indeed, so far across the first two issues, the only article that I struggled to engage with was the Issue One article on Feed Water Heaters.

    The text itself is neatly edited, and low density/ uncluttered in its presentation, It flows nicely and the whole layout made for ease of reading; the differentiated fonts chosen for the main body of the text (I’m guessing Bookman Old Style) and photograph captions (Calibri?) work well.

    I will certainly subscribe to this periodical on a regular basis, and I am not at all concerned that this publication may only occur twice yearly; I value the quality of what is offered by Eastern Times more highly than the frequency of new issues and I hope that it will never be compromised in this way.

    Two observations

    1. The content of photographic material is clearly going to be influenced by the content of the articles presented, but I would be a little disappointed if there became a preponderance of modern traction images in the future, unless justified by the location/ setting of the image. My personal view is that Issue Two has quite enough pictorial coverage of modern traction, and much more would become a real turn-off

    2. A major strength of Issue Number One was the inclusion of supporting maps/ diagrams/ tracks plans and gradient profiles, all of which, for me, helped to enrich my appreciation of the subject matter. We had a map of the Mallaig Extension, a gradient profile of the same, a diagram of Temple Mills Marshalling Yard, a map of the Mablethorpe Loop, Louth and Mablethorpe Track Plans, a Lincolnshire Map, and plans of Grimsby and Immingham Docks. I appreciate that these types of illustrative material may not be appropriate for every article and feature, but it is notable that by contrast Issue Number Two included nothing of the kind.

    Wherever possible, it would be nice to see the inclusion of such supporting material being elevated to the same prominence as it enjoyed in Issue One – it would always be helpful for those who, like me, have never resided in, or are unfamiliar with, the areas being described. I do hope that Eastern Times will work towards achieving and sustaining its own high standards of excellence and presentation in that department.

    I would stress that these comments do not detract from my very real appreciation of the arrival of Eastern Times into the quality end of the railway journal market, and I wish all at Transport Treasury and those connected with its production every success in developing the widest possible readership – it certainly deserves it!


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