Steve Palmer (1) (1942–)

This is a very nice production, laid out with meticulous attention to the niceties of the graphic arts, and with large high-quality photographs and drawings, 12 are side and four are front elevations, but modellers will be disappointed by the omissions of any indications of the scale. The whole book is extremely readable and is full of interest; even those who claim to be tired of Blacpool will find much that is new and stimulating. The authors have finally destroyed the myth that certain Blackpool standard cars were rebuilt from older cars of 1901-02; all were completely new vehicles of 1923-9, and those preserved date from 1924 (144, 147), 1926 (40, 49), 1927 (158, 159), and 1928 (49). There is an unfortunate reference to Walter Luff's preservation of historic cars; this was no 'magpie-like delight of hoarding things' but a deliberate plan to keep one car of each type, and is confirm this to us by letter. Two scoops are an official 1927 drawing of a proposed six-axle articulated version of the 'Pantograph' cars (was this an English Electric proposal, we wonder, or was it a BCT idea, for the Calcutta articulated cars of that period were not so different!) and a plan of the proposed wartime extension from Squires Gate.
The authors have carefully avoided those facets of Blackpool which have been the subjects of articles, such as finances, illuminated cars, the Vambac cars, and the toastrack circular tours. (J.H. Price & W.J. Wyse)… (more)