KEY MOMENTS
Moments in time
We have published more than 1450 issues in our 125 years. Contributing editor Chris Milner delves into the archives to give a f lavour of how The RM has reported on the ever-changing railway scene in that time.
July 1897: Issue 1
WE called at Paddington to interview Mr Joseph Wilkinson, general manager of the Great Western Railway. After explaining the purpose of our visit, Mr Wilkinson wished to know why we had chosen the GWR for the first of the series of Railway Magazine interviews.
We explained that, as the GWR was widely known as the Royal Railway, we could not do better in this Diamond Jubilee Year [of Queen Victoria] than commence at Paddington.
Upon hearing this explanation, Mr Wilkinson’s face lit up with a genial smile, and he replied: “Well, it so happens that I now have a gentleman waiting to see me for the purpose of arranging the running of the Royal Train, by which the Queen will travel from Windsor to Paddington on June 21st.”
“As you know,” Mr Wilkinson continued, “we consider our new Royal Train quite the event of the railway world so far as the Queen’s Jubilee is concerned.”
September 1901: P&P is born
IT was this month’s issue that saw our first ever Practice & Performance feature, written by Charles Rous-Martin.
The column has been an ever-present in The RM, and is acknowledged by Guinness World Records as the world’s longest running railway series. Between August 1909 and December 1958, Cecil J Allen compiled 535 articles for the series.
Our interview kicked off in Issue 1 with the GWR’s general manager Joseph Wilkinson, although we did not have this image of him at the time – it was reproduced in Vanity Fair in November 1902.
October 1905: A ton up
THE 100th issue of The RM was published, and contained praise from many leading locomotive engineers of the day – William Pickersgill, John G Robinson, George Churchward and Wilson Worsdell.
August 1914: First World War begins
BRITAIN entered the war on August 4, 1914 and all the principal railways of the United Kingdom were taken over by the Government for the duration under the Regulation of the Forces Act of 1871.
The order was issued that same day by the War Office “declaring that it is expedient that the Government should have control over the railroads in Great Britain.
This control will be exercised through an executive committee composed of general managers of railways which has been formed for some time and has prepared plans.
“The necessity for this action must at once become apparent when it is realised that certain ports, through which the bulk of our food supplies enter this country, may be closed for the purpose of such food supplies, and the rolling stock and locomotives diverted to other lines serving other ports.
The very first page of our very first recordsetting Practice & Performance column in September 1901 – aseries that continues today.