Gresley's Master Engineer, Bert Spencer

Gresley's Master Engineer, Bert Spencer PDF Author: Tim Hillier-Graves
Publisher: Pen and Sword Transport
ISBN: 1399045113
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
The great and the good rarely, if ever, accomplish all they wish to achieve without the able assistance of many skilled men and women. To have a very capable person beside you acting as guide, confidant and adviser is essential. Even better when it is someone with a depth of knowledge equal to, or even better than your own. If all these skills can be combined in one trusted, assistant so much the better. To a leader such a person may be valued ‘beyond rubies’, because they have the ability to take ideas, add something and help make them a reality. For Herbert Nigel Gresley, CME of the LNER, Bert Spencer was just such a man. As Gresley triumphed his faithful, introverted and highly talented assistant remained resolutely in the background playing an unsung yet key role in the development of Gresley’s outstanding Pacifics and his many other memorable locomotives. For sixteen vibrant years Spencer sat beside his greatly admired leader witnessing and participating in all that happened adding much to an emerging legend that still resounds with us today. Here, for the first time, is Spencer’s fascinating story, much of it in his own words. This was made possible by the thoughts and memories he recorded in letters to friends, papers he wrote for the Institution of Locomotive Engineers, official documents and much more. All this has been edited together to produce a unique and important personal narrative of his life and work.

Gresley's Master Engineer, Bert Spencer

Gresley's Master Engineer, Bert Spencer PDF Author: Tim Hillier-Graves
Publisher: Pen and Sword Transport
ISBN: 1399045113
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 250

Get Book

Book Description
The great and the good rarely, if ever, accomplish all they wish to achieve without the able assistance of many skilled men and women. To have a very capable person beside you acting as guide, confidant and adviser is essential. Even better when it is someone with a depth of knowledge equal to, or even better than your own. If all these skills can be combined in one trusted, assistant so much the better. To a leader such a person may be valued ‘beyond rubies’, because they have the ability to take ideas, add something and help make them a reality. For Herbert Nigel Gresley, CME of the LNER, Bert Spencer was just such a man. As Gresley triumphed his faithful, introverted and highly talented assistant remained resolutely in the background playing an unsung yet key role in the development of Gresley’s outstanding Pacifics and his many other memorable locomotives. For sixteen vibrant years Spencer sat beside his greatly admired leader witnessing and participating in all that happened adding much to an emerging legend that still resounds with us today. Here, for the first time, is Spencer’s fascinating story, much of it in his own words. This was made possible by the thoughts and memories he recorded in letters to friends, papers he wrote for the Institution of Locomotive Engineers, official documents and much more. All this has been edited together to produce a unique and important personal narrative of his life and work.

The A4 Pacifics After Gresley

The A4 Pacifics After Gresley PDF Author: Ronald Hillier
Publisher: Pen and Sword Transport
ISBN: 139907346X
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
In their book ‘Gresley’s Silver Link’ the authors analyzed the evolution of the A4s Gresley’s and their service up to Gresley’s death in 1941. This book takes this compelling story from the early years of the war up to their demise in the 1960s After four years of service pulling the LNER’s most prestigious trains the A4s took on a more utilitarian role and for six years worked hard to support Britain’s war effort. From this they emerged bowed, but unbeaten, although in an extremely jaded condition. Once restored they took up where they had left off in 1939 and did exceptional service for the rest of their days. With the help of previously unpublished material the authors analyze the second phase of the A4s careers, first as LNER engines, then, from 1948, under British Railways management. Without a diesel or electric fleet of engines to replace them they entered a second golden age of fast running in the ‘50s. Then in the ‘Swinging Sixties’ they faced, as some thought, a premature end as part of a much delayed modernisation programme. Until withdrawn from service they continued to astound their footplate crew and performed exceptionally well, even when maintenance standards had slipped and their condition had deteriorated. They were thoroughbreds and have become a fitting memorial to the master engineers who produced and sustained them for 30 years or more.

Flying Scotsman, and the Story of Gresley's First Pacific Locomotives

Flying Scotsman, and the Story of Gresley's First Pacific Locomotives PDF Author: Tim Hillier-Graves
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1399059564
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
Herbert Nigel Gresley’s first Pacifics, though notable in their day, were made universally famous by one of their number – 4722 Flying Scotsman. Throughout her life she has been feted and glamorised far more than any of her sisters and yet when appearing from the LNER Works at Doncaster in 1923 she was just another member of the class, but at some stage, early in her career, she acquired star status and to this day has not lost it. But why is this so and why do people care so deeply about this locomotive even though her deeds were easily exceeded by Gresley’s A4 Pacifics? Was it her styling, her name, her performance or simply the work of very talented purveyors of slick PR? Or was it an amalgam of all these issues? As Flying Scotsman reaches 100 ‘not out’ it is fascinating to reflect on these questions. But to do so we must consider how the Class came about, how they were developed, the impact they made on society as it was then, how they were sold to a waiting public and much more. From all this we may be able to understand why 4472 rose above the others and became an icon that still graces our lives today. It is, the author believes, a story without parallel in railway history.

Thompson, His Life and Locomotives

Thompson, His Life and Locomotives PDF Author: TIM. HILLIER-GRAVES
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781526731166
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Peppercorn, His Life & Locomotives

Peppercorn, His Life & Locomotives PDF Author: Tim Hillier-Graves
Publisher: Pen and Sword Transport
ISBN: 1526729865
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 522

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Book Description
Arthur Peppercorn, a vicar's son from Herefordshire, was the last L N E R Chief Mechanical Engineer. He managed his department for a very short time before it was swept away in the wholesale changes that followed Nationalisation of British Railways in 1948.Although a disciple and follower of Sir Nigel Gresley, he was his own man and developed his talent for production engineering that fully complimented the design skills of his greatly respected leader. He then became a worthy deputy to Edward Thompson during a war that demanded great personal sacrifices from both men. When he finally became C M E in 1946 he used his wide talents and experience to lead in developing two successful pacific classes of locomotives, that many rate as being among the best locomotives of this type ever to appear in Britain. This book, which is the first detailed biography of Peppercorn, tells his fascinating story and describes the influences on his life and career, illustrating his many achievements along the way.

LMS Locomotive Design & Development

LMS Locomotive Design & Development PDF Author: Tim Hillier-Graves
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1526721635
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 1014

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Book Description
In 1958 one of Britain`s greatest locomotive designers died without public fanfare or recognition, mourned only by his family. Yet William Stanier, arguably one of our greatest engineers and his leader, said of him that without his Chief Draughtsman all he achieved with the LMS would not have been possible. How could such a man slip from our view and remain anonymous, although his Princess Coronations, Black 5s and 8Fs are regarded as three of the finest classes of locomotive ever built? And today many survive as stars to grace the ever growing preservation movement.In reality, Tom Coleman was an intensely private and modest man who never sought recognition or commendation. His need for privacy may be one reason why his life has remained shrouded in mystery for so long, but finally his story has been slowly pieced together from a wide variety of sources, many previously untapped. So now we can see for ourselves his great contribution to railway history and recognise his singular talents.

Memorials of Old Staffordshire

Memorials of Old Staffordshire PDF Author: William Beresford
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Staffordshire (England)
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description


Planetary Improvement

Planetary Improvement PDF Author: Jesse Goldstein
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262535076
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
An examination of clean technology entrepreneurship finds that “green capitalism” is more capitalist than green. Entrepreneurs and investors in the green economy have encouraged a vision of addressing climate change with new technologies. In Planetary Improvement, Jesse Goldstein examines the cleantech entrepreneurial community in order to understand the limitations of environmental transformation within a capitalist system. Reporting on a series of investment pitches by cleantech entrepreneurs in New York City, Goldstein describes investor-friendly visions of incremental improvements to the industrial status quo that are hardly transformational. He explores a new “green spirit of capitalism,” a discourse of planetary improvement, that aims to “save the planet” by looking for “non-disruptive disruptions,” technologies that deliver “solutions” without changing much of what causes the underlying problems in the first place. Goldstein charts the rise of business environmentalism over the last half of the twentieth century and examines cleantech's unspoken assumptions of continuing cheap and abundant energy. Recounting the sometimes conflicting motivations of cleantech entrepreneurs and investors, he argues that the cleantech innovation ecosystem and its Schumpetarian dynamic of creative destruction are built around attempts to control creativity by demanding that transformational aspirations give way to short-term financial concerns. As a result, capitalist imperatives capture and stifle visions of sociotechnical possibility and transformation. Finally, he calls for a green spirit that goes beyond capitalism, in which sociotechnical experimentation is able to break free from the narrow bonds and relative privilege of cleantech entrepreneurs and the investors that control their fate.

The Deltics & Baby Deltics

The Deltics & Baby Deltics PDF Author: Andrew Fowler
Publisher: Pen and Sword Transport
ISBN: 1473870119
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 520

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Book Description
Andrew Fowler is a well known writer of railway history, with a regular feature in Railway Herald Magazine. The Deltic class 55 Locomotives were some of the most successful, first generation diesels introduced to British Railways, being constructed from 1960-1962 and numbering twenty two, in the production class. The prototype machine was constructed in 1956 and was tested extensively on express trains on the London Midland and Eastern Regions of B R, until 1960. The interest and enthusiasm, for the class is reflected in the fact, that six examples of the class are preserved, including the 1956 prototype. The Baby Deltics, were a derivative Locomotive design, using one rather then two engines, for use on outer suburban and short main line semi fast services. Only ten Baby Deltics were constructed between 1961-1962, for use on services out of London Kings Cross. The Baby Deltics were all withdrawn within a decade, as they were not very successful in main line service.

Streets with a Story

Streets with a Story PDF Author: Eric A. Willats
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780951187104
Category : Islington (London, England)
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description