British Railways Engine Sheds - London Midland Matters NO DUST JACKET
The railways of Britain saw few schemes of Modernisation to match the scale, cost and thoroughgoing nature, the intensity of the work undertaken by the LMS from the early 1930s. The company had lain, a dreaming giant, from its inception in 1923 only to wake with a start as the 1930s got under way. Discovering itself falling behind rivals, and stuck firmly with an organisation of locomotive running and servicing hardly distinguishable from that of the nineteenth century, it shook off the early debilitating power struggles of its constituent parts; its problems were quickly identified and a crash programme of reform and rebuilding initiated. A new sense of direction and urgency and an eager grasping of post- Depression philosophy, 'spending out of Slump' transformed LMS engine sheds out of all recognition. catapulting the Company within seven years from a dismal 'last' in the progress stakes to a striking pre-eminence.
This book re-examines many of the details of this era, drawing upon hitherto poorly known archive material; it reconsiders many aspects and more importantly places the story in a continuous historical context, to a greater extent than has hitherto been possible. "The First Phase', 1930 1939, is the best known but a startling investment still took place in the War Years 1939 to 1945, years which might usefully be termed the 'Second Phase'. Improvements in this time were all the more remarkable given the problems of labour and material and the groaning, daily crisis of War working. The last and 'Third Phase' saw the work continued, in an extraordinary (and largely unacknowledged) effort by British Railways, a programme of investment and improvement, in the glow of post-War optimism, to rival or even surpass LMS efforts of years before. It rolled on from 1945 to peak in the early - mid 1950s, only to peter out amidst the political and technical uncertainties (the diesels and electrics bore down, with unforeseen and alarming suddenness) of the late 1950s. By 1959 'the British locomotive engine shed", developed and refined over more than 120 years, was effectively at an end.
This book is an insight into the singular part played by the LMS and later the London Midland Region of British Railways in the evolution of a remarkable railway institution.
Hardback NO DUST JACKET, 22x27cm, 90 pages, black & white photographs
Condition: Good/Very Good
ISBN: 9781871608083
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