Wright writes.....

[MJI]

Usual build Vs rtr, I beat rtr to an end result.

 

12 LMS hoppers, 3D printed, Rapido just announced, produced a MR 2P from a body, comet chassis, LRM tender, Rapido announced one.

 

Not swapping

[Old Gringo]

7 hours ago, Keith Turbutt said:

......... and now for something very different but hopefully also interesting.

 

Has anyone seen anything like this before?

 

I should explain the background to this.

In my last year at primary school 1959/60

there was a class project to create a town diorama with lots of papier mache and to include a railway.

 

As part of the project, the class wrote to British Railways for information about our railways. I can't remember exactly what came back with their reply but it included this publicity (?) document. It is printed back to back and is just over 3 feet long. At the bottom of the last page on the freight train side it states "Published by the British Transport Commission. Printed by Great Britain by Waterlow & Sons Limited" and is undated.

 

Several questions arise. The opening paragraph refers to the changeover from steam to diesel and electric locomotives. However the locomotives displayed pre date the pilot scheme locos which were part of the modernisation programme. Secondly the passenger train shows the coaches in maroon livery, introduced from 1957(?) rather than blood and custard. The Woodhead DC scheme was originally intended to be the future for electrification of our railways but this was eventually abandoned in favour of the AC scheme.

The freight train includes an early (?) Pallvan. The date of publication is therefore a question. Why was it printed and was it part of a bigger publicity project to promote railway modernisation.

 

When the diorama was dismantled I managed to ' rescue ' this document which had been displayed as a freeze above it. So it is now more than 60 years old and quite fragile. Does it have any historical value I wonder?

 

You may need to zoom in on the images to fully appreciate the detail. I can provide photos of individual pages if necessary.

 

Your comments will be welcome.

 

Keith

 

 

 

 

Hi Keith,

 

This is a part of the 'British Railways Facts for Teachers' pack, published in 1959, and distributed by the regional Public Relations and Publicity Officer, from one of the six regional offices, London NW1, SE1, EC2, W2, Glasgow and York.

 

The Wallet contains the following items:

 

1. A 32-page booklet (7.5" x 10") titled "All Long the Line", complete with in the rear pocket, " a map of British Railways (24" x 15") and some copies of some of the pictures in the book, which may be useful for projects, display and scrapbooks, etc."  On the back cover are some of the Facts and Figures, for Passengers, Freight, Locomotives, Track & Structures and Staff, 573, 499 (including 33,842 ladies!).

 

2. The 'Know your Trains' double-sided picture strip (42"x 5") of a passenger express and a freight train, that you have illustrated in the previous post.

 

3. A 40-page booklet (6.5"x 4") titled 'Facts and Figures about British Railways', 1958 edition - Book of statistics, with graphs.  This booklet was published annually from 1930 and later by the British Transport Commission from 1948 until at least 1968.

 

4.  A Wall Chart Poster (29" x 19") of  a 'Diesel-Electric Main-Line Locomotive'. A cut-away illustration by P.J. Ashmore (published by the B.T.C. as No. 1679), it is in the style of the illustrations in the 'Eagle' comic that were produced by Leslie Ashwell-Wood.  The subject is D5500, with 16 items highlighted, including the crew's oven and hotplate and the exciter, no less!

 

5. A leaflet entitled 'Yours for the Asking', a list of "Films, fimstrips, publications and other information", including Railway works on view and Party travel - all available through the regional departments.

 

An official note, complete with new Lion holding wheel emblem, is inserted into the front of the wallet and says, "In presenting this wallet, containing material about the transport of people (please note - not customers) and freight by rail and short-sea shipping services, British Railways hope that it will be of some assistance to those engaged in the teaching profession."

 

It's a really nice little pack and a reminder of when the railways were proud to provide a complete service, back in 1959.  Whilst across on the other side of the planet, the Japanese had begun building the 320 mile long Tokaido high-speed line, which opened 60 years ago this month, ready for the Olympic Games of 1964.

 

Hope this helps to bring back some memories,

All the very best,

John

 

Edit: I hope that Clive can tell us lots more about D5500 than I can.

[Keith Turbutt]

1 hour ago, Old Gringo said:

 

Hi Keith,

 

This is a part of the 'British Railways Facts for Teachers' pack, published in 1959, and distributed by the regional Public Relations and Publicity Officer, from one of the six regional offices, London NW1, SE1, EC2, W2, Glasgow and York.

Hi John,

Very many thanks for your very informative reply to my enquiry. I had hoped that someone might know the background to this publication.

 

I have no recollection of the other items that you listed but it was such a long time ago. Perhaps someone somewhere still has a complete set of the items that were contained in the pack.

 

It always amazes me the wealth of information that is shared through this thread.

 

Thanks again

Keith