Backtrack | December 2019
The Survival of the Far North Line - Edward Gibbons explains how the line from Inverness to Wick and Thurso became an unlikely survivor in a sparsely populated area of the former Highland Railway.
Marylebone Collisions - Alistair Nisbet looks at the circumstances surrounding various accidents in the vicinity of this London terminus.
At Peterborough - four pages of colour showing steam on the East Coast Main Line and cross-country route.
The Iron Horse - a Victorian railway adventure story rediscovered by John C. Hughes.
The Midland Compounds: Myth or Marvel? - David. P. Williams reviews the life and times of the significant class.
The Nine Bright Shiners - colour spread depicting the GWR '47XX' Class 2-8-0s.
Thoughts from Inside and Outside the Box - some railway career elections by Spencer Jackson.
The Great Central Railway and London & North Eastern Railway on the Mid-Wirral line - Stan Yates writes about the development of the route and the provision of passenger services.
Sir Brian Inspects - archive photographs recording the inspection tour by Sir Brian Robertson, Chairman of the BTC, c1960.
The 'Marquess' on tour - colour photos of the preserved LNER K4 'The Great Marquess' on railtour duty in the 1960s.
A Lincolnshire Country Junction: The Railways around Firsby - described by Jeffrey Wells.
'Sans Pareil' after Rainhilll - Anthony Dawson relates what happened to this Liverpool & Manchester Railway pioneer after the famous 1929 locomotive trials.
Another way to Liverpool - a page of archive photos showing the 'lost' route between Manchester & Liverpool via Lymm.
'The Eastern Belle' - David P. Williams highlights an express service between Liverpool Street and the Essex Coast of the 1920s/'30s.
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The specialist magazine was first published in 1986 for the purpose of ‘recording the history of Britain’s railway’ - the magazine’s strapline - and it is now published by Pendragon Publishing. Dropping every month, Backtrack magazine is your monthly dose of railway nostalgia and historical insight.
35 years later and Backtrack has firmly established itself as the authority on topics such as the history of Britain and Ireland’s train stations, railway bridges, signalling, biographies, train services and staff recollections - all of which regularly appear in the magazine. Backtrack's contributors include many of today's leading railway history writers and the magazine has a reputation for being of the highest quality.
With a multitude of unmissable monthly features, every issue aims to chronicle and record part of the history of Britain’s railway system. Every issue contains a dozen or so large articles that focus on a particular line or area in British railway history.
Whether you’re into early railway history from the 'pre-Stephenson' era, steam, diesel or electric locomotive you’ll find every era covered in minute detail - from railway company history, railway carriages and wagons, railway stations, railway ships, hotels and road vehicles, railway economic and social history and railway publicity and advertising.
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Articles in this issue
Below is a selection of articles in Backtrack December 2019.