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Railways at the zenith of steam, 1920-40

by O. S. Nock

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Part of a beautiful little illustrated series by O S Nock from the seventies, this book is a bit quaint now with its colour plates followed by a text section. That said the illustrations by Clifford and Wendy Meadway are charming and well researched (especially the colour schemes of international locomotives). The artists were also prolific contributors to Ladybird books in the period.
The series is worthwhile in that it provides a sweeping history of world railways, from the idiosyncratic viewpoint of the prolific O S Nock. His opening essay summarises the period well, and it is always interesting to see the carriages, locomotives, wagons and signalling apparatus chosen from around the world. The previous title in this series was "Railways in the Years of Pre-eminance". By the interwar period road vehicles had begun to challenge railways. O S Nock shows how the railways in many parts of the world responded by becoming more competitive through seeking ways of speeding up services. American locomotive design emphasised simplicity and low cost running, while in Britain increasing speed was emphasised, and greater thermal efficiency to save fuel.
The mighty Santa Fe 3771 represent the 'Zenith' of high speed US locomotives designed to haul "The Chief" and "The Fast Mail" long distances with low servicing. Oddly this volume doesn't include the famous A4 Pacific introduced as part of the competition in Britain to provide the fastest passenger service to Scotland, and setting speed records in the process. It does include the "Princess" and "Duchess" classes, of which Nock considers the latter "the finest express passenger locomotive to run in Great Britain.
My own New Zealand is well represented, with the ubiquitous Ab, Wab, K and J classes represented along with the 56" passenger cars only just removed from charter service with Kiwirail. An enjoyable book to browse through. ( )
  bevok | Jul 31, 2017 |
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