Reviewer: Michael Keith
Title: The Turbomotive Stanier’s Advanced Pacific
Author: Tim Hillier-Graves
Total Number of Pages: 206
Rating Scale (1: Very Poor, 10: Excellent): 7
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Technology advances in various ways and enroute to its final ‘success’ can sometimes follow paths that are ultimately fruitless. Such was the fate of the subject of this monograph; the London Midland and Scottish Railway’s (LMS) ‘Turbomotive’. The “Turbomotive’ was the physical form of an idea that, in theory, had lots to offer, yet which, due to circumstances outside the control of its proponents, ultimately proved a technological dead-end.
The motivation behind what became known as the ‘Turbomotive’ was a simple one: economy and simplicity. Its premise was that, by incorporating a miniaturised version of a highly-successful maritime propulsion system (the steam turbine), costs could be reduced, greater efficiency achieved, and money saved. The idea was not a new one, but the way that the LMS dealt with it was. This volume records what was designed and why, the results of actual ‘in service’ experience, and, ultimately, what happened to the chief participant: LMS locomotive No. 6202; the ‘Turbomotive’. It is a very interesting tale.
An Acknowledgements section follows the Contents page. Within it the author thanks those who contributed to the volume. Curiously, the sources of the volume’s photographs are also indicated within this section, rather than in a ‘Sources’ section as might be expected. For ease of use, when notating the photographs, the author has used abbreviations to indicate their sources. He has placed the abbreviations in brackets after each ‘source’ that is named within the Acknowledgements section. Where photographs appear within the volume, these abbreviations appear below the individual captions. An Introduction section follows. Within it, the author details his reasons for writing the volume and his familial relationship with the locomotive. The Introduction is followed by the 10 Chapters comprising the main part of the volume. The locomotive which is the subject of this volume was involved in a major three-train railway accident (known as The Harrow Railway Disaster) at Harrow on 8 October 1952; an accident which ultimately led to its scrapping. The scale of the disaster prompted an Official Enquiry, and Chapter 1 is devoted to this, with particular reference to the actions of its crew during the accident. Chapters 2-8 detail the reasons for the creation of the locomotive and its ‘in service’ history. Chapter 9 returns once more to the accident, discussing it in greater detail, and describing the circumstances which ultimately led to the subject locomotive’s withdrawal from service and scrapping. Chapter 10 discusses the locomotive’s historical relevance. Eight Appendices follow. These cover a wide variety of topics relevant to the larger narrative. They include The Science of Steam Turbines (Appendix 2) and 6202 – Evolution of a Locomotive (1935-1952) (Appendix 7) amongst their subjects. The latter uses plans to depict the evolution of the locomotive throughout its life. A single-page Reference Sources section is placed behind the Appendices. This lists the sources of non-photographic material used within the volume. A three-page Index completes the volume. Numerous monochrome photographs and plans appear within the book, together with two half-tone advertisements. There is however no indication of their existence on the Contents page. An eight page ‘colour’ section is also provided. This contains illustrations relevant to the narrative, but again, its existence is not acknowledged on the Contents page.
This reviewer found this volume to be both informative and well-written. It was however let down by the ‘small details’. Of these the most obvious concerned punctuation. Although the spines of both the dust jacket and the volume itself have the title correctly written as The Turbomotive, Staniers Advanced Pacific, inexplicably the comma following Turbomotive omitted from both the ‘face’ of the dust jacket and the volume’s two title pages, In addition, the apostrophe is omitted from Stanier’s on the same two title pages. The absence of both the comma’s and apostrophe’s from such important locations implied (perhaps unfairly), that similar ‘carelessness’ might be found within the work. It was not a good introduction to a volume purporting to be an ‘authoritative’ narrative. That the Contents page carried no indication of the existence of photographs etc. did not help. It was also noticeable that although the word ‘Pacific’ was used frequently throughout the volume, no explanation was given as to exactly what a ‘Pacific’ might be. As non-railway readers might not know that, at its most basic, the term refers to a steam locomotive with a 4-6-2 wheel arrangement, an explanation would have been helpful. A Glossary to explain technical terms could also have been of value. .
This volume is likely to appeal to several different groups. These could include devotees of the LMS and those with an interest in both British Railways (the LMS successor) specifically, and British rail transport in general. Railway modellers and artists interested in ‘trains’ are likely to find the images and diagrams informative. Transport historians interested in British transport history and the machines that were employed could also find it worthy of their attention. Engineers with an interest in turbines and turbine development vis-à-vis rail transportation might also find the volume of interest.
On a Rating Scale where 1: Very Poor, 10: Excellent, I have given it a 7.
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