shawmat
Member
I’ve had an article published in The Railway Observer, the magazine of the Railway Correspondence & Travel Society, for October. It concerns the Society reissuing their landmark history series Locomotives of the LNER. The article has been adapted for this forum so that non-members know more about this interesting initiative. (RCTS members can be excused if they have a sense of deja-vu.) My words as submitted were edited for the RO by someone with a different writing style to me – and needed to be re-edited!
There is a longer article due to appear in the November edition of Back Track magazine. I haven’t seen a proof copy and cannot make promises but am expecting there to be quite a few rare colour photos of LNER locos.
What’s it all about?
The 19-part Locomotives of the L.N.E.R. series is one of the crown jewels of the RCTS back catalogue. The series earned a reputation as being the definitive history of the LNER's fleet, including all engines designed and built by the LNER as well as all the others extant in 1923 and inherited from predecessor companies.
The most popular part - 2A - covering the Pacific classes - sold in the tens of thousands whilst the others sold well, and in several cases run-on reprints were necessary. However, all eventually went out of print because of the poor economics of small repeat runs using the litho printing technology of the time.
Most parts appeared soon after the end of steam whilst the documents and first-hand recollections were still readily available. They were snapped up by preservationists, modellers and by historically interested nostalgic railfans.
Research and writing were an entirely voluntary team effort comprising both topic experts and assorted research assistants, and no-one was paid anything apart from expenses. The 'green guides' authoritative reputation developed throughout the publication period from 1963 to 1994, and was founded upon an ethos of volunteering, teamwork, and attention to detail.
At least two surviving members were involved throughout. Interviewed for the article, both Eric Fry and Maurice Boddy are justly proud of the achievement and the parts they played.
Particular credit is due to Eric Fry for instigating the series and devoting four decades as editor and researcher. The RCTS was already having great success with its Locomotives of the GWR series when Eric spotted an opportunity to launch a similar series covering the LNER. Some early articles by K. Risdon Prentice and Peter Proud had appeared in The Railway Observer and had been turned into a 1941 book - The Locomotives of the L.N.E.R., 1923-1937. By 1954, the book was overdue for an update. Eric Fry's proposal for a more detailed exposition of the locomotive fleet excited the interest of the RCTS Management Committee and he was dispatched to meet K. J. Cooke, Chief Mechanical & Electrical Engineer of the Eastern and North Eastern Regions of B.R., at his Doncaster offices. By good fortune, Ken Cooke was an ex-Swindon man, full of admiration for the GWR series, and ready to throw open every door to the RCTS members undertaking research.
A speculative print run of 4,000 for the first volume - Part 1 The Preliminary Survey in 1963 - quickly sold out (to everyone at the RCTS's relief), and more were ordered. It gave the Publications Committee the confidence to order 7,000 copies of the second book in 1964. These books covered the ten years of expenses thus far and made the project self- sustaining.
A further four books came out between 1966-71 before the standout best-seller emerged in 1973. The records are a little unclear but Part 2A (classes A1 to A10) had an initial print order of 10,000, was reprinted twice and may have sold in the region of 30,000 copies. Part 2B (classes B1 to B19) came out in 1975.
Coverage of all steam classes was completed by 1981, but it had taken 16 parts by then. After a hiatus, parts 10A and 10B were released in 1988 and 1990, providing coverage of other traction and some overall statistics. The project was brought to a close in 1994 with the nineteenth part - a book of errata (Part 11).
With the passage of time individual parts gradually sold out and the perceived limited demand for costly low volume reprints could not be financially justified. With the whole series eventually out of print, interested buyers had to a resort to a fairly active second-hand market.
Reissuing the series
As we approach the Centenary of the Grouping (1923-2023), the Society was keen to find a way of reissuing the series. Printing technology has changed greatly, and readers are gaining familiarity with accessing information digitally. The solution adopted is, in many ways, experimental as it allows researchers to contribute as well as simply consume.
Firstly, the books are available again. Not as 19 parts but as eight, thicker, volumes. The content is released as-is as a facsimile, but with new cover artwork and the errata redistributed across the relevant volumes. Purchases can only be made via Amazon because the books are printed to customer order using Amazon’s remarkable Kindle Direct Publishing service. Books ordered outside the UK are printed locally to the customer. UK prices are £12-24 for the new-size (B5) softbacks.
Secondly, the eight volumes can be purchased as searchable PDF files directly from the RCTS at £6-8 each. https://archive.rcts.org.uk.
Thirdly, people can register to read all the content online free-of-charge – same link. The 3,323 images now have a search tool attached and can be displayed much larger than the originals – though still with limited resolution. Each of the 170 locomotive classes has a separate chapter to read.
Finally, the experimental part. Online readers can add supplementary information, which is credited to them because of their prior registration. It is hoped this will help develop the information over the long term.
Part of the RCTS archive page
The image search screen
Conclusion
Fingers-crossed it all works out. One volunteer has helped with some stats on the loco fleet that I’ll write about in another post. Please register and give it a go. If it works, I’ll tackle more books. Any takers for stock books from the 1930s onwards i.e. pre Ian Allan? Or the GWR and Southern series? The RCTS owns the copyright and all proceeds from books and downloads goes towards the archiving work. I’m a volunteer too, continuing the RCTS ethos.
archive.rcts.org.uk
There is a longer article due to appear in the November edition of Back Track magazine. I haven’t seen a proof copy and cannot make promises but am expecting there to be quite a few rare colour photos of LNER locos.
What’s it all about?
The 19-part Locomotives of the L.N.E.R. series is one of the crown jewels of the RCTS back catalogue. The series earned a reputation as being the definitive history of the LNER's fleet, including all engines designed and built by the LNER as well as all the others extant in 1923 and inherited from predecessor companies.
The most popular part - 2A - covering the Pacific classes - sold in the tens of thousands whilst the others sold well, and in several cases run-on reprints were necessary. However, all eventually went out of print because of the poor economics of small repeat runs using the litho printing technology of the time.
Most parts appeared soon after the end of steam whilst the documents and first-hand recollections were still readily available. They were snapped up by preservationists, modellers and by historically interested nostalgic railfans.
Research and writing were an entirely voluntary team effort comprising both topic experts and assorted research assistants, and no-one was paid anything apart from expenses. The 'green guides' authoritative reputation developed throughout the publication period from 1963 to 1994, and was founded upon an ethos of volunteering, teamwork, and attention to detail.
At least two surviving members were involved throughout. Interviewed for the article, both Eric Fry and Maurice Boddy are justly proud of the achievement and the parts they played.
Particular credit is due to Eric Fry for instigating the series and devoting four decades as editor and researcher. The RCTS was already having great success with its Locomotives of the GWR series when Eric spotted an opportunity to launch a similar series covering the LNER. Some early articles by K. Risdon Prentice and Peter Proud had appeared in The Railway Observer and had been turned into a 1941 book - The Locomotives of the L.N.E.R., 1923-1937. By 1954, the book was overdue for an update. Eric Fry's proposal for a more detailed exposition of the locomotive fleet excited the interest of the RCTS Management Committee and he was dispatched to meet K. J. Cooke, Chief Mechanical & Electrical Engineer of the Eastern and North Eastern Regions of B.R., at his Doncaster offices. By good fortune, Ken Cooke was an ex-Swindon man, full of admiration for the GWR series, and ready to throw open every door to the RCTS members undertaking research.
A speculative print run of 4,000 for the first volume - Part 1 The Preliminary Survey in 1963 - quickly sold out (to everyone at the RCTS's relief), and more were ordered. It gave the Publications Committee the confidence to order 7,000 copies of the second book in 1964. These books covered the ten years of expenses thus far and made the project self- sustaining.
A further four books came out between 1966-71 before the standout best-seller emerged in 1973. The records are a little unclear but Part 2A (classes A1 to A10) had an initial print order of 10,000, was reprinted twice and may have sold in the region of 30,000 copies. Part 2B (classes B1 to B19) came out in 1975.
Coverage of all steam classes was completed by 1981, but it had taken 16 parts by then. After a hiatus, parts 10A and 10B were released in 1988 and 1990, providing coverage of other traction and some overall statistics. The project was brought to a close in 1994 with the nineteenth part - a book of errata (Part 11).
With the passage of time individual parts gradually sold out and the perceived limited demand for costly low volume reprints could not be financially justified. With the whole series eventually out of print, interested buyers had to a resort to a fairly active second-hand market.
Reissuing the series
As we approach the Centenary of the Grouping (1923-2023), the Society was keen to find a way of reissuing the series. Printing technology has changed greatly, and readers are gaining familiarity with accessing information digitally. The solution adopted is, in many ways, experimental as it allows researchers to contribute as well as simply consume.
Firstly, the books are available again. Not as 19 parts but as eight, thicker, volumes. The content is released as-is as a facsimile, but with new cover artwork and the errata redistributed across the relevant volumes. Purchases can only be made via Amazon because the books are printed to customer order using Amazon’s remarkable Kindle Direct Publishing service. Books ordered outside the UK are printed locally to the customer. UK prices are £12-24 for the new-size (B5) softbacks.
Secondly, the eight volumes can be purchased as searchable PDF files directly from the RCTS at £6-8 each. https://archive.rcts.org.uk.
Thirdly, people can register to read all the content online free-of-charge – same link. The 3,323 images now have a search tool attached and can be displayed much larger than the originals – though still with limited resolution. Each of the 170 locomotive classes has a separate chapter to read.
Finally, the experimental part. Online readers can add supplementary information, which is credited to them because of their prior registration. It is hoped this will help develop the information over the long term.
Part of the RCTS archive page
The image search screen
Conclusion
Fingers-crossed it all works out. One volunteer has helped with some stats on the loco fleet that I’ll write about in another post. Please register and give it a go. If it works, I’ll tackle more books. Any takers for stock books from the 1930s onwards i.e. pre Ian Allan? Or the GWR and Southern series? The RCTS owns the copyright and all proceeds from books and downloads goes towards the archiving work. I’m a volunteer too, continuing the RCTS ethos.
Registration – RCTS Digital Archive
archive.rcts.org.uk
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