Backtrack | October 2023
We have plenty in store for you in our October issue.
4-4-0 Stalwarts on the Southern - colour spread by Dick Riley of veteran South Eastern & Chatham Railway locomotives at work in the late 1950s/early 1960s.
I. L. Brunel and the Birmingham & Gloucester Railway - Ian Greig looks at how the great engineer planned to be involved, but didn't.
The Hurn Branch: Lost but not forgotten - Stephen Roberts traces a short - and short-lived - London & South Western connecting line in Hampshire.
The North Wales Land Cruise Train - Malcolm Cowtan recalls a popular British Railways holiday enterprise.
The Dunbar Signalman's Mistake - Alistair F. Nisbet explains how signalling failings caused a North British Railway accident in 1898.
At Banbury - colour photos at this important station on the Paddington–Birmingham main line.
South by South Western - four colour pages of steam on the main line between Waterloo and Basingstoke by Roger Cruse
A Close-Run Thing: The London Passenger Transport Board: Part One - Niall Devitt considers the difficult road to creating what we know as 'London Transport'.
Permanent Way Work - archive photographs of complex track layouts and track gangs at work.
A Manchester Neighbourhood - five colour pages by Gavin Morrison of the adjacent Manchester stations Victoria and Exchange between 1956 and 2005.
Pulverised Fuel for Firing Locomotives - Part Two of Miles Macnair's study of alternative locomotive technologies.
The St. Helens and Warrington & Stockport Railways 1854-1873 - the penetration of competing companies to Liverpool and Manchester described by Ian Travers.
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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
- Delivered directly to your device every week
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 October 2023.