Vic Mitchell (1)
Author of Branch Lines Around Portmadoc, 1923-46
For other authors named Vic Mitchell, see the disambiguation page.
Vic Mitchell (1) has been aliased into Victor Mitchell.
Series
Works by Vic Mitchell
Works have been aliased into Victor Mitchell.
Romney Rail: A Journey Through Time on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway (Narrow Gauge) (1999) 10 copies
Branch Lines to Tunbridge Wells from Oxted, Lewes and Polgate. Includes the Cuckoo Line (1986) 6 copies
London Suburban Railways : Holborn Viaduct to Lewisham : including the Greenwich Park branch (1990) 5 copies
Narrow Guage Branch Lines - Two-foot Guage Survivors: A Tour of Historic 60cm Passenger Railways of the English… (1998) 4 copies
Dartford to Sittingbourne: Featuring Chatham Dockyard and Many Industries (Country Railway Routes) (1994) 3 copies
Branch Line Around Hertford and Hatfield: to Broxbourne, St Albans and Buntington (Branch Lines) (2009) 3 copies
Branch Lines to Clevedon and Portishead: Including the WCPR and the Bristol Harbour Lines (2003) 3 copies
Exeter to Barnstaple: the Latter Junction Being Shown in Detail (Southern Main Line) (1993) 3 copies
Bromley South to Rochester: Including the Gravesend West Branch (Southern Main Line) (1993) 3 copies
Aberystwyth to Carmarthen: Including Aberayron & Newcastle Emlyn Branches (Western Main Line) (2011) 2 copies
Ashford from Steam to Eurostar: from Rural to International Junction (Great Railway Eras) (1996) 2 copies
Walsall Routes: From Rugeley, Lichfield and Dudley Including Priestfield to West Bromwich (Country Railway Routes) (2013) 2 copies
North of Birmingham: To Bescot and Litchfield Including the Chasewater Railway. (Midland Main Lines) (2014) 2 copies
Leicester to Burton (cover title: Midland Main Lines, Leicester to Burton; including the Swadlincote branch) (2016) 2 copies
Harrow to Watford: Including the Branches to St Albans Abbey. Croxley Green, Rickmansworth and Stanmore Village… (2003) 2 copies
Branch Lines Around Ascot: From Ash Vale, Weybridge, Staines and Wokingham (Branch Lines) (1989) 2 copies
Shrewsbury to Newtown: Including Minsterley, Snailbeach and Kerry (Western Main Line) (2008) 2 copies
Salisbury to Westbury: Features Several Long Closed Stations (Country Railway Routes) (1994) 2 copies
Branch Lines Around Effingham Junction: Including Hampton Court Branch (Branch Line Albums) (1990) 1 copy
Lines Around Stamford: Including Peterborough, Sleaford, Spalding & Market Harborough (Country Railway Routes) (2016) 1 copy
Worcester to Hereford: Including the Branches to Leominster & Gloucester (Western Main Line) (2004) 1 copy
Shrewsbury to Ludlow: Including the Bishop's Castle and Clee Hill Branches (Western Main Line) (2008) 1 copy
Wellingborough to Leicester: And its Routes to Northampton and Rugby (Midland Mainline) (2015) 1 copy
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- male
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- Works
- 245
- Members
- 681
- Popularity
- #37,121
- Rating
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- 5
- ISBNs
- 301
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- 2
But there are severe issues with the captions. These range from the helpful to the banal and the inaccurate. Some of them make no sense whatsoever. In a number of them, it becomes clear that the writer(s) do not have any idea what they are actually looking at. Some captions are just plain wrong, such as that for map X which says that the map "...does not include the Hopton goods loop..." when it plainly does. The caption to picture 65, showing a train on the High Peak plateau going around a sharp curve, refers to the curve's "considerable superelevation", when there is no superelevation visible (nor would any be necessary on a line where train speeds would be unlikely to exceed 30 mph). In this case, the word "superelevation" does not mean what the writer thinks it means; the term refers to the raising of one rail higher than the other on curves to allow for greater stability at high speeds on curves. It does not mean "excessive height above sea level".
In picture 84, a quarry grading machine is referred to as "equipment for loading the tipper wagons". And picture 95's caption explains in words of one syllable the term "wicket gate" in relation to level crossings, a term that surely no purchaser of a specialist book of railway photographs will need explaining to them.
Perhaps the worst instance is photograph 91 in the section referring to Harpur Hill. This was the location of an RAF ammunition dump during World War 2, but no mention of this is made anywhere in the book (and the provided map dates from 1939). Photograph 91 shows a narrow gauge locomotive with a train of munitions, but we are not told why it is in the book at all. In fact, the locomotive is shown at RAF Fauld, near Tutbury, location of a disastrous explosion in November 1944; and the ammunition dump at Harpur Hill, whilst having a narrow gauge line on site, was itself only served by standard-gauge sidings. Anyone not familiar with the story of ammunition logistics in World War 2 would have no context for this photograph at all.
The book is nonetheless useful for the photographs, but caveat lector has to be the order of the day. Anyone seriously interested in this railway should seek out Alan Rimmer's 1967 book on the subject in the Oakwood Press Locomotion Papers series, which was revised and reprinted as recently as 1995.… (more)