Backtrack | July 2020
Have camera, will travel - three colour pages at various locations by a new contributor, P. Wakefield
The Metropolitan Railway in the News 1860-1863: Part Two - Jeffrey Wells follows the travails of building the Met up to its opening.
The First Train on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway - Anthony Dawson looks at the start of public railway travel in 1830.
“Have you seen ‘Lady Margaret?” - Mike Fenton recalls an affectionately remembered tank engine on the GWR.
The A1s’ Northumbrian swan song - David Milburn charts the demise of an LNER Pacific class.
LNER A4 Blues - The streamlined Pacifics in their garter blue livery.
From Road unto Rail: Part Five of Miles Macnair’s series takes us into the British Railways era.
The Sad Life of Henry Packham, Signalman on the LBSCR - Colin Packham reveals a family story on the Brighton line, with an unhappy ending.
Legitimately Travelling without Payment - Alistair F. Nisbet examines some cases of where passengers didn’t have to pay their own fare.
When the Duke went to Stafford - colour photographs by Edward Talbot of the Royal Train carriages in 1981.
Buxton’s Twin Stations - archive photographs of the LNWR and Midland’s presence in the Derbyshire spa town.
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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.
A Backtrack digital magazine subscription is your go-to for railway history:
- Britain's leading historical railway magazine
- Delving into the era of horse-drawn tramroads up to locomotives and rolling stock
- History of lines, the social, political, financial, engineering and labour aspects of the railway
- Archive black and white quality images and historical colour coverage of the railway scene
- The history of train stations, railway bridges, signalling, biographies and train services
- Contributors include many of today's leading railway history writers
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You'll receive 12 issues during a 1 year Backtrack magazine subscription.
Note: Digital editions do not include the covermount items or supplements you would find with printed copies.
Articles in this issue
Below is a selection of articles in Backtrack July 2020.