The Railway Magazine is a monthly Britishrailwaymagazine, aimed at the railway enthusiast market, that has been published in London since July 1897. As of 2010[update] it was, for three years running, the railway magazine with the largest circulation in the United Kingdom, having a monthly average sale during 2009 of 34,715[2] (the figure for 2007 being 34,661).[3] It was published by IPC Media until October 2010, with ISSN0033-8923, and in 2007 won IPC's 'Magazine of the Year' award. Since November 2010, The Railway Magazine has been published by Mortons of Horncastle.
The Railway Magazine was launched by Joseph Lawrence and ex-railwayman Frank E. Cornwall of Railway Publishing Ltd, who thought there would be an amateur enthusiast market for some of the material they were then publishing in a railway staff magazine, the Railway Herald. They appointed as its first editor a former auctioneer, George Augustus Nokes (1867–1948), who wrote under the pseudonym "G. A. Sekon". He quickly built the magazine circulation to around 25,000. From the start it was produced in Linotype on good-quality paper and well illustrated with photographichalftone and occasional colour lithographic plates.
In 1910, following a dispute with the proprietors, Nokes resigned and started a rival, very similar, magazine, Railway and Travel Monthly. Both this and The Railway Magazine in 1916 were purchased by John Aiton Kay (1883–1949), proprietor of the Railway Gazette, and Nokes's title was renamed Transport and Travel Monthly in 1920 before being amalgamated with The Railway Magazine from January 1923. Apart from this episode, The Railway Magazine had no serious commercial rival in its field until the 1940s. Kay himself served as editor after his predecessor had left for service in World War II. For many years the magazine shared editorial direction with the Railway Gazette, and for periods had officially no editor of its own. From May 1942 to the end of 1949, paper shortages compelled bi-monthly publication; in January 1942 there had been a reduction of the page size by a half-inch in both dimensions down to 9 by 6 inches (23 by 15 centimetres) (which lasted until October 1963), though it continued to use art paper for a centre section of photographs, which had begun in January 1934.[4]
The magazine claims a record for the longest unbroken published series, begun under the title "British locomotive practice and performance" in 1901, characterised by detailed logs giving the timings of notable trips, recorded by observers with a stopwatch[5] (the September 1930 column was 'pulled' by the editor as being too critical of Nigel Gresley's London and North Eastern Railwaysteam locomotives).[6] Its first writer was the New Zealand-born Charles Rous-Marten (1844–1908). One of those who shared authorship of the series after his death was the Great Eastern Railway engineer Cecil J. Allen (1886–1973) who became sole author from 1911 until succeeded by Oswald Nock in 1958, when Cecil J. Allen moved his performance column to Trains Illustrated (later renamed Modern Railways), edited by his son, G. Freeman Allen. From 1981 to 2004 the performance series was written by Peter Semmens (1927-2007), who also served as chief correspondent from 1990, notably reporting on the Channel Tunnel construction.[7] Authorship of the series, now called just "Practice & performance", has subsequently been shared by Keith Farr and John Heaton.
The editor originated a series of "Illustrated Interviews" with senior railway officials, the first being Joseph Wilkinson, general manager of the Great Western Railway; another early manager to feature was John Sylvester Hughes of the Festiniog Railway.[8] Other contributors of features in earlier days included Rev. W. J. Scott, Rev. Victor L. Whitechurch (1868–1933), Charles H. Grinling, railwayman H. L. Hopwood (1881–1927), and the much-travelled T. R. Perkins (1872–1952). Harold Fayle contributed on Irish railways (for many years it was traditional for the May issue to have a strong Irish content, with the January one having a Scottish slant). A notable series by the locomotive engineer E. L. Ahrons on "Locomotive and train working in the latter part of the nineteenth century" was published between 1915 and 1926 (and much later collected in book format). A very small amount of fiction was included in the magazine's earliest days.[9] Another feature which has persisted since the early days has been answers to readers' questions, under the title "The why & the wherefore".
Notable photographic contributors of the Interwar period included Maurice W. Earley (1900–82), W. Leslie Good, Frank R. Hebron (died 1980), F. E. Mackay, O. J. Morris (1902–61) (who produced the first colour photograph published in the magazine, in 1938) and H. Gordon Tidey. The cover design, incorporating a photograph, remained substantially unchanged from the early 1900s to the mid-1950s; colour was first introduced there in 1963. In common with most similar magazines, the pictorial content is today largely in colour.
In earliest days, current news paragraphs were placed at the back of the magazine under the headings "What the railways are doing" and "Pertinent paragraphs"; from 1987 news was moved to the front. The magazine has also over the years steadily extended its detailed coverage of locomotive and rolling stock movements. It now covers current British railway news, modern traction, some history, heritage railways and general and international railway topics.
Between November 1963 and December 1996, the definite article was omitted from the title, which was Railway Magazine during that period. Since November 1983, the word "Magazine" has been in smaller type.
The Railway Magazine has a presence on the National Preservation forums. Members and readers are able to talk and comment directly to members of the editorial staff, providing both feedback and constructive criticism. This has been noted as a valuable source of information for the magazine in order to keep in touch with its readership online in the internet age.
The LNER Class A4 is a class of streamlined 4-6-2 steam locomotive designed by Nigel Gresley for the London and North Eastern Railway in 1935. Their streamlined design gave them high-speed capability as well as making them instantly recognisable, and one of the class, 4468 Mallard, holds the record as the world's fastest steam locomotive. Thirty-five of the class were built to haul express passenger trains on the East Coast Main Line route from London Kings Cross via York to Newcastle, and later via Newcastle to Edinburgh, Scotland. They remained in service on the East Coast Main Line until the early 1960s when they were replaced by Deltic diesel locomotives; they themselves proving to be worthy successors to the A4s. Several A4s saw out their remaining days until 1966 in Scotland, particularly on the Aberdeen – Glasgow express trains, for which they were used to improve the timing from 3.5 to 3 hours.
The Ffestiniog Railway is a heritage railway based on 1 ft 11+1⁄2 in narrow-gauge, located in Gwynedd, Wales. It is a major tourist attraction located mainly within the Snowdonia National Park.
The Great Bear, number 111, was a locomotive of the Great Western Railway. It was the first 4-6-2 (Pacific) locomotive used on a railway in Great Britain, and the only one of its type built by the GWR.
Direct Rail Services (DRS) is a rail freight company in Great Britain, and is one of the publicly owned railway companies in the United Kingdom.
The British Rail Class 14 is a type of small diesel-hydraulic locomotive built in the mid-1960s. Twenty-six of these 0-6-0 locomotives were ordered in January 1963, to be built at British Railways' Swindon Works. The anticipated work for this class was trip working movements between local yards and short-distance freight trains. The good all-around visibility from the cab and dual controls also made them capable of being used for shunting duties. The order was expanded from 26 to 56 in mid-1963, before work had started on the first order. They were numbered D9500-D9555.
The BR Standard Class 8 was a class of a single 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotive designed by Robert Riddles for use by British Railways. Only the prototype was constructed, named Duke of Gloucester. Constructed at Crewe Works in 1954, the Duke, as it is popularly known, was a replacement for the destroyed LMS Princess Royal Class locomotive number 46202 Princess Anne, which was involved in the Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash of 1952.
The Swindon and Cricklade Railway is a heritage railway in Wiltshire, England, that operates on a short section of the old Midland and South Western Junction Railway line between Swindon and Cricklade.
Uncut is a monthly magazine based in London. It is available across the English-speaking world, and focuses on music, but also includes film and books sections. A DVD magazine under the Uncut brand was published quarterly from 2005 to 2006. The magazine was acquired in 2019 by Singaporean music company BandLab Technologies, and was published by NME Networks from December 2021. to August 2023, when the brand was sold to Kelsey Media.
Oswald Stevens Nock, B. Sc., DIC, C. Eng, M.I.C.E., M.I.Mech.E., M.I.Loco.E.,, nicknamed Ossie, was a British railway signal engineer and senior manager at the Westinghouse company; he is well known for his prodigious output of popularist publications on railway subjects, including over 100 books, as well as many more technical works on locomotive performance.
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 2301 Class or Dean Goods Class is a class of British 0-6-0 steam locomotives.
The Northallerton–Eaglescliffe line runs between Northallerton and Eaglescliffe stations. It connects the East Coast Main Line to the Tees Valley Line. It was built by the Leeds Northern Railway as part of their main line from Leeds to Stockton which opened on 2 June 1852, although the connection to the ECML at the Northallerton end was not opened for a further four years.
Nicholas Hugh Pigott is the Consultant Editor of The Railway Magazine, Britain's best-selling rail title. He was Editor for 21 years between 1994 and 2015, having previously worked in Fleet Street as a journalist for the Daily Express.
George Augustus Nokes (1867–1948), often known by his pen-name G.A. Sekon, was the founding editor of The Railway Magazine.
The LD&ECR Class D was a class of nine 0-6-4T steam locomotives supplied to the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway in 1904 and 1906 by Kitson & Co. of Leeds. They later became the property of the Great Central Railway and finally the London and North Eastern Railway, upon which they were known as Class M1.
The Hamworthy Freight Branch is a short standard gauge line from Hamworthy Station to the Hamworthy side of Poole Harbour.
Danby Wiske railway station was a station on the East Coast Main Line. It was located approximately 0.5 miles (0.8 km) east of Danby Wiske, in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire. Opened on 1 December 1884 the station was closed to passengers on 15 September 1958.
In British railway parlance Dido trains were typically provided to transport workers to a remote place of railway employment on a Day in, day out basis.
North west Wales experienced a slate boom in the first half of the nineteenth century. Three sites stood out as experiencing the most explosive growth: Dinorwic near Llanberis, Penrhyn near Bethesda and Blaenau Ffestiniog.
Peter Johnson is a British railway historian and author who specialises in books and articles on narrow-gauge railways. He is particularly associated with the Ffestiniog Railway.
Joseph Charles Victor Mitchell was a dentist, inventor, and pioneer railway preservationist. He was the author or editor of, and publisher of, more than 600 books on railways in the United Kingdom and Europe.
↑ Pigott, Nick (April 2010). Pigott, Nick (ed.). "A hat-trick of title wins for your RM". The Railway Magazine. Vol.156, no.1308. London: IPC Media. p.3. ISSN0033-8923.
↑ Pigott, Nick (April 2008). "The best-selling railway title in Great Britain". The Railway Magazine. Vol.154, no.1284. p.3.
↑ "Our Golden Jubilee". The Railway Magazine. Vol.93, no.570. Westminster: Railway Publishing Co. July–August 1947. pp.195–6.
↑ Semmens, Peter (July 1997). "Practice & Performance: the story of the longest-running railway series in the world". The Railway Magazine. Vol.143, no.1155. pp.77–80.
↑ Semmens, Peter W. B. (1996). A Century of Railways. Sparkford: Oxford Publishing Co. p.13. ISBN0-860-93535-3.
↑ "Obituary: Chief correspondent Peter Semmens". The Railway Magazine. Vol.153, no.1273. May 2007. p.12.
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