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Life on the Old Railways
Take a step back into the world of steam railways, and discover the reality of life and work on Britain's railway system before the Beeching cuts and the introduction of diesel changed it forever. Tom Quinn has sought out a fascinating range of characters who recount their experiences of working on steam trains. From a shedmaster to a fireman, from an engine driver to a signalman, tales of accidents and mishaps, evenings round the fire in the worker's common room and the perils of left luggage in the days when almost anything might - and frequently did - turn up! Remarkable reminiscences about life on the old railways when Britain's railway system was the envy of the world.
- GenresHistory
218 pages, Hardcover
First published October 28, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 23, 2025
fun book for railway lovers or nostalgics. takes you back to the age of steam and the customs of that time. Well written from the perspective of drivers, signalen, station Masters, cleaners,...
September 29, 2021
This is a 2011 book by British author Tom Quinn. I think the book should be more appropriately titled “An oral history of thirteen retired steam train era British railroad workers.” The book is divided into 13 chapters, each chapter covering the life story / memoirs of one retired railroad worker, told from each individual’s point of view. They were from different railroad companies in England and Scotland and occupied different positions, including, driver, fireman, guard, engineer, shedmaster, stationmaster, porter, etc. The author interviewed the 13 people, who each gave him their narrative of their railroad career, including how they got started; what did the job involve; working hours, conditions, and pay; how their career progressed; as well as certain technical aspect of how steam trains work. Most of the 13 people started their career in the 1930s or 1940s and ended their career when steam trains were phased out in the 1960s with diesel trains. It is interesting to see how much work was involved to keep a system of steam trains running.
The focus on the book is exclusively on British steam railway. It is filled with factoids and some technical details as to how old steam train works, as well as the inner workings of railroad companies. One thing I hope Quinn would have done better is to go beyond just writing out what the 13 interviewees told him and incorporate either primary and/or secondary research of his own. Given how train worked in the old days are very different from modern time, it is not easy for modern day readers to understand a lot of the technical terms or even job descriptions the interviewees talked about. For example, a couple of the train workers described the then standard practice of using detonators to protect a train when it was stalled on the track. While old time train workers might be familiar with those terms, Quinn should have done some homework and cited some secondary sources to help readers understand what that means instead of having us google it ourselves. In addition, since each chapter is a narrative of a different person, the quality of the chapter depends to a large extend on the memory and story-telling skill of the person involved. Therefore, there is quite a bit of variety among the quality of the chapters.
The book does contain a lot of interesting British railroad history. For example, Quinn talked about the first British steam train was the Stockton and Darlington Railway, which started running in 1825. He also talked about the development of the rail system in Britain, and how in 19th century there were 250 private railways in Britain. By 1921, they have been grouped into only four regional companies: London Midland and Scottish Railways (LMS), London and North Eastern Railway (LNER), Great Western Railway (GWR) and Southern Railway (SR). By 1947, all the private rail companies were nationalized into British Railways, which became British Rail in 1965. Later, things came full-circle and British Rail was privatized and split into a number of private companies. Also discussed a few times in the book was the famous Beeching cuts in 1960s which dramatically reduced the number of lines and station served by trains in Britain.
The focus on the book is exclusively on British steam railway. It is filled with factoids and some technical details as to how old steam train works, as well as the inner workings of railroad companies. One thing I hope Quinn would have done better is to go beyond just writing out what the 13 interviewees told him and incorporate either primary and/or secondary research of his own. Given how train worked in the old days are very different from modern time, it is not easy for modern day readers to understand a lot of the technical terms or even job descriptions the interviewees talked about. For example, a couple of the train workers described the then standard practice of using detonators to protect a train when it was stalled on the track. While old time train workers might be familiar with those terms, Quinn should have done some homework and cited some secondary sources to help readers understand what that means instead of having us google it ourselves. In addition, since each chapter is a narrative of a different person, the quality of the chapter depends to a large extend on the memory and story-telling skill of the person involved. Therefore, there is quite a bit of variety among the quality of the chapters.
The book does contain a lot of interesting British railroad history. For example, Quinn talked about the first British steam train was the Stockton and Darlington Railway, which started running in 1825. He also talked about the development of the rail system in Britain, and how in 19th century there were 250 private railways in Britain. By 1921, they have been grouped into only four regional companies: London Midland and Scottish Railways (LMS), London and North Eastern Railway (LNER), Great Western Railway (GWR) and Southern Railway (SR). By 1947, all the private rail companies were nationalized into British Railways, which became British Rail in 1965. Later, things came full-circle and British Rail was privatized and split into a number of private companies. Also discussed a few times in the book was the famous Beeching cuts in 1960s which dramatically reduced the number of lines and station served by trains in Britain.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews