| What with the Railtrack fiasco,
clapped out and overcrowded trains, delays and cancellations on our railways
today, let us turn back the clock to happier times when Britain’s railways
led the world and were regarded with pride by staff and passengers alike. The
year is 1938 and Senior Service cigarettes cost a shilling for twenty - plus a
free card from a series of 48 photographs of British Railways. The pictures are
really superb. Among the most dramatic is a photograph of “the big
five” streamlined “Silver Link” class locos. Steamed up and
ready to haul the Coronation expresses from London to Scotland with
sound-proofed and air-conditioned coaches. One of these engines, 4468
“Mallard” had just set up a new world steam record of 126mph. You can
now see this wonderfully powerful beast of an engine, together with the trailer
car used on the record run, in the National Railway Museum at York. Other
famous expresses on show are the “Flying Scotsman”, the “Royal
Scot”, the “Night Scotsman” the “Queen of Scots”, the
“Mancurian” the “Torbay Express” and the “Golden
Arrow”. And we see a machine which rapidly replaces old track with new.
You don’t have to be a Railway buff to appreciate this set. It is a true
classic, and is offered in top VG condition. |
