Taken by Trains - The Life and Photographs of William Nash 1909-1952 (X 78)
William Nash acquired his first camera at the age of 13. He was besotted by trains from his earliest years and they formed his favourite subjects. These factors came together in remarkable photographs taken by a teenager in the 1920s. In turn there followed a successful career with the London Midland & Scottish Railway before William lost his life in the Harrow Railway Disaster on the 8th October, 1952. William's pictures record the inter-war British railway scene, whilst his correspondence conducted in Esperanto with railwaymen across the world creates a poignant portrait of the gathering storm in the 1930s in which he took great interest.
Between 1926 and 1952 he worked on the railway starting out in a signal box at the time of the General Strike. His talents were recognised with promotion. In World War II he was Assistant District Controller at Rugby and around 1950 he was working in the London Midland Region headquarters planning Royal Train journeys. All this was cut short when he lost his life at Harrow.
In 1922, he started taking railway pictures, outside the family circle, these remained unknown until 2000. Nash had, for one so young, a good eye for composition and a keen awareness of what would be a worthwhile subject. Great Western Dean Goods, the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway, Sentinel steam railcars on Jersey, the Ashover Light Railway, Midland Railway 'Spinners', new LMS 'Royal Scots' or Southern Railway 'King Arthurs', all fill his albums.
His youngest daughter Kate Robinson and transport historian Robert Forsythe have shared the task of presenting his material. A series of retrospective exhibitions were staged in Cumbria to mark the 50th anniversary of his death in 2002-2003.
This new volume looks at the wider spread of Nash's pictorial material around Britain and examines his professional life as a career railwayman during which he was involved in some pioneering studies, including inter-war electrification proposals on the LMS. Newly originated hand prints from the original negatives have been made for the book by Kate Robinson.
Softback, landscape format, 192 pages, over 190 photographs
Condition: Very Good
ISBN: 9780853616191
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