Roger Farnworth Railways

[rogerfarnworth]

Re: Christmas 2025 - Books - Reviews and Notes ...
No. 3 – Christian Wolmar … The Subterranean Railway

The featured image for the article below captures the Metropolitan Railway locomotive No. 23 during the London Underground centenary celebrations in 1963. The locomotive is an ‘A’ Class 4-4-0T condensing steam engine, built by Beyer Peacock in Manchester in 1866. It was designed specifically for use on the Metropolitan Railway’s Inner Circle line, where it was intended to limit smoke emissions in the tunnels. It was withdrawn from underground use in 1905 after the lines were electrified. Its appearance in 1963 at Neasden was a special event, marking 100 years of the London Underground.

This article is the third in a short series:

Christian Wolmar; The Subterranean Railway: How the London Underground was Built and How it Changed the City Forever (2nd extended Edition); Atlantic Books, 2020. This edition includes a chapter on Crossrail.

Christian Wolmar’s book published by Atlantic is a 2nd extended edition of a book published in 2004, dating from 2020. The chapter about Crossrail is the last chapter of the book on pages p323-342. This article provides a potted history of the London Underground and a quick look at other similar systems around the world, which comes out of reading Wolmar’s excellent book.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2026/01/20/chr...n-railway/

[rogerfarnworth]

Re: The Strathspey Railway Line
Part 1 – Keith to Dufftown

The featured image for this article is the last of the Great North of Scotland 4-4-0s was No.62277 ‘Gordon Highlander’, nick named ‘The Soldier’. Before being retired for preservation and resorted to its original green livery, No.62277 spent its remaining days in regular service working the goods between Keith and Elgin, and over the Speyside branch, © W.J.V.Anderson. [48]

The January issue of The Railway Magazine usually focussed on Scotland. The January 1959 edition was no exception. [1] Included in the Magazine were articles by:

H.A. Vallance about The Strathspey Line.
J.W. Grant about Scottish 0-4-4 Tank Engines.
G.H. Robin about The Lanarkshire & Dunbartonshire Railway.
M.D. Grenville about Scottish Railways in 1859.

Quote:This article picks up on the article by H.A. Vallance, and begins a journey along the Strathspey line which ran down the valley of the River Spey from Keith towards Abernethy. Initially the line ran Southwest along Strathisla before crossing the watershed to Strathspey.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2026/01/16/the...-dufftown/