Obituaries (Page updated to 15 December 2009 ) to In Memoriam list

From the November/December Journal.

Dr James Allan Heslop (NE 8325)

James Alan Heslop was born and brought up at Blyth in the heartlands of the North Eastern Railway and the London & North Eastern Railway. His grandfather held a clerical post with the North Eastern Railway in the Staithes Master’s Office, involved with the shipment of coal from the Company’s staithes which served the vast network of collieries in the Northumberland coalfield. Educated at Blyth Grammar School he went on to study at Durham University where he gained a first class honours degree in chemistry, before going on to study for his Ph.D.

Like many members, his working life was spent with Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) at their Heavy Organic Chemicals Division at Teesside, where he was involved with their Analytical Department. As an acknowledged expert in his field he travelled extensively in Europe and the Far East. After taking early retirement he continued as a Consultant advising on the de-commissioning of small nuclear reactors, a sphere in which he was particularly expert.

Surrounded by the products of Darlington and Doncaster, Alan had a life long interest in railways. On his frequent business trips to London on the East Coast Main Line, he regularly recorded the locomotives at York and other places. It was only latterly that he joined the Society and contributed a number of erudite letters to the ‘Journal’ on the performance of 4-6-0 locomotives. He will be missed by his close friends and family, and we send condolences to Andrea, his wife, and the children David and Karen. The Society was represented at his funeral by Ian Johnson (Vice President), with whom he had spent many happy years line-siding in their youth.

Ian Johnson

Major J.W.B. Hext MBE – a tribute

Under the brooding shadow of the Old Man of Coniston in the Lake District is the beautiful Holywath House with its garden and estate where John Hext had his wonderful miniature railway. In this delightful Lakeland garden with mature trees and shrubs ran a truly remarkable railway. Begun in 1953 the railway was his life’s work with bridges, inclines, cuttings and fully signalled with authentic block sections, signals and signal box as well as some fine locomotives. It was always a delight to enjoy the running days, when John would invite his friends to share with him the enjoyment of his railway. Dick Edlington, our late Hull member, had shared in the design and installation of the signalling system, spending many happy days at Coniston. There were regular visits by members from the North East, and North West who made the pilgrimage to John’s railway. He was a particular friend of the late Harold Bowtell (ex-Royal Engineers), both of whom had seen war service in Burma.

John Wilfred Barratt Hext (LNW 3218) was born on 24 February 1916 in Coniston and was educated at Marlborough and Jesus College Cambridge where he read agriculture, later going to Duncombe Park, Helmsley for further practical experience. During World War II he served in the Royal Artillery in France before being wounded and evacuated from Dunkirk, later being posted to Burma. After leaving the army he devoted himself to his own estate at Coniston. A life member of the Society John was a true enthusiast. A modest man who had a wonderful sense of humour he was always good company and devoted not only to his railway but also to the local community where he had been a justice of the peace for forty years and chairman of the bench for thirty.

All who visited his home were made welcome and he enjoyed the fellowship of members who took the trouble to share an interest in his life’s work. His other passion was his large collection of medals which included those from his father (Charles Wilfred) who was also a Major and had served in India. John passed away on 7 January 2009 - a true gentleman who will be sadly missed by the many friends he made, and who shared his passion for railways. He has left us a wonderful legacy of memories and his railway.
On his last journey to the church, the cortege stopped at the engine shed, where his railway volunteers gave him a three whistle salute from three of his delightful steam locomotives - a fitting final tribute to a great enthusiast.
Our sympathies go to his children and grandchildren.

We are grateful to his son Jonathan for the biographical details he has supplied.

Ian Johnson

Reginald Sowler (NE 6620)

Reg Sowler was born in Norton on Tees in 1923 and his first love was the old North Eastern Railway. When World War II came he spent time in India noting the steam locomotives he saw and visiting sheds whenever possible. Steam was a passion and he decided on its passing in this country to look abroad and also to compile lists to see if some reasonable figure could be reached as to how many steam locomotives had ever been built worldwide. Steam locomotives held a fascination that lasted over seventy years. His health failed badly over the last few years and he was also blind for the last four years of his life. His final wish was to commence his final journey to the sounds of an A4 Pacific. At Coundon Crematorium, in County Durham on 24 August 2009 we granted him that wish.

Nigel Sowler

We are also sorry to learn of the deaths of

Bernard Mitchell (NW 8166) of Stockport, John A. Robinson (LNE 4161) of Spark Bridge, near Ulverston

and the Rev Cyril A. Selman (M 3239) of North Tawton, Devon.

From September/October Journal

James Douglas Darby (NW2056)

Doug Darby died on 15 July, 2009, aged 94 years. The Society was well represented at his funeral. He was born in the Isle of Man on 1 July, 1915, and outlived his two brothers, Seymour and Les.  He joined the Society in 1949, and was a regular attender at our Manchester Meetings and on our walks on closed railway lines. He worked for Carborundum in India for some years, helping to establish their factory in Madras. This enabled him to give us talks in Manchester about his experiences of Indian railways.                                                                                                                                                                                                Malcolm Dickin

Richard ‘Dick’ Swarbrick (S6050)

Dick passed away on the 29 June 2009 having been in declining health since a heart operation five years ago. The cremation took place at Masonhill Crematorium on the 6 July at which there was a good attendance including a number of SLS members.  Dick was born and raised in Liverpool. His father died in 1925 just three days before Dick was born and he was raised in a warm and close family. It was a Roman Catholic family and Dick found himself supported and spoiled by a number of good-hearted nuns. After school he was called up in 1943 to serve in the Royal Air Force and was posted to India where he mastered the arts of radar. While in the RAF Dick came to appreciate the support given to the forces by the Salvation Army.

After the war he came to Scotland and worked firstly with automatic telephones before moving on to a career in electronic design and development with Kelvin and Hughes and with Smiths and Honeywell where he received a commendation from the USA for his work. His last job was with Weir Pumps as the Senior Electronics Engineer before retiring after a lifetime of diligent and able service wherever he had been.  Dick’s work was his hobby too and he frequently took himself off to his study to work on various projects. But his interests were wide. He was very fond of nature and, in particular, of his dogs. He was a member of the Scottish Railway Preservation Society and of the Stephenson Locomotive Society – indicative of his huge interest in steam trains, filming as many as he could.

He regularly attended the SLS Ayrshire Centre meetings over the years entertaining members on a number of occasions with his railway cine films. Those of you who have seen ‘Dick o’ Troon’ in the credits of videos will have seen some of his filming. His dedication is shown in a sequence he made from Gourock to Glasgow. It took some twelve months to make, the locomotive is not always the same but if it had not been turned or the weather was not right the day was lost.  Dick, a gentleman to the end, married Hazel in 1972 and they retired to Troon in 1991. The Society offers its condolences to Hazel and the extended family.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                              J.C. Black

From July/August Journal

James Ian Craig Boyd

J.I.C. Boyd who died on 20 February, aged 87, was recognized as a very meticulous recorder of obscure, decrepit, narrow gauge railways. His books were a model of detail that earned him the accolade, ‘If it’s in Boyd, it must be right.’  James Boyd was born in Cheshire in 1921 and completed his schooling at Bryanston where he spent as much time as possible on the nearby Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway and founded the school’s railway society. He had barely started work in the family textile business when World War II broke out. He spent his war years as an Army map reading instructor.

His passion for railways he put down to reading the early railway histories of the Oakwood Press. From the age of ten he would make sorties to record every detail of such oddities as the Woodhead Reservoir Tramway in the Pennines, the lines radiating from the long-lost Blodwell Junction on the Welsh border, the Snailbeach District Railways in Shropshire and the three feet gauge railways of Ireland.
His entire family were swept up in his hobby – wife and two daughters – organizing work parties on the Talyllyn Railway and painting the locomotives.

Perhaps James Boyd is best known for his books on North Wales, especially the Ffestiniog Railway. He produced his definitive two-volume The Festiniog Railway in 1956 which ran into several editions. His first book, Narrow Gauge Rails to Portmadoc appeared in 1949 with more than a dozen further volumes following. These included: The Isle of Man Railway, Narrow Gauge Railways in South Caernarvonshire (1971), Narrow Gauge Railways in North Caernarvonshire (1981), The Schull and Skibereen Railway (1999) and Saga by Rail (2006/2007), a two volume account of his early travels. His wife died in 1994 and both his daughters predeceased him.

Henry Arthur Vaughan Bulleid

Members will be saddened to learn of the death of the eldest son of Oliver V.S. Bulleid, the last Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Southern Railway, on 5 May 2009, aged 96 years. His father was made a Vice President of the Society in 1959 (May/June 2009 ‘Journal’ p.121). H.A.V. Bulleid was born in Doncaster on 23 December 1912, educated at Cambridge and was a fully trained locomotive engineer. He worked briefly at Derby in the LMS experimental section although most of his professional life was spent in the polymer industry working as the Chief Engineer at the British Nylon Spinners plant, Pontypool.

He is probably best known for three major biographical works on locomotive engineers: Master Builders of Steam, The Aspinall Era and Bulleid of the Southern, all published by Ian Allan in 1964, 1967 and 1977 respectively. Master Builders of Steam dealt with Churchward, Gresley, Stanier and his father and was of major importance because Bulleid was a trained locomotive engineer and until recently, one of the few writers with access to the private proceedings of the Association of Railway Locomotive Engineers.  The Society was represented at his funeral by Vice Presidents Ian Johnson & Bruce Nathan and Tony Hancox.   A full obituary will appear in the next issue of the ‘Journal’.

Ronald I. Nelson (H 2128)

Ronald Nelson (Ronnie) died at his home, near Bridport, Dorset on 15 February, aged 91 years. He was for many years the managing director of the publishing firm Thomas Nelson & Sons of Edinburgh. He was both a railway author and publisher being responsible for books such as Railway Reminiscences of Three Continents by Gerard Vuillet and other railway classics.

He published a number of books by O.S. Nock and Norman McKillop and the standard book on Switzerland’s railways by Cecil J. Allen. Also his book, Locomotive Performance, a Footplate Survey remains a definitive work on the subject. One book that springs to mind and a favourite of some members was 2750 The Legend of a Locomotive by H. Webster, telling the story of the Gresley Pacific Papyrus. The Library holds two books of which he was the author, Footplate Experiences on Both Sides of the Atlantic and Modern Motive Power in Service.

With his books on footplate experiences it was not surprising to find that he was a regular contributor to The Railway Magazine’s ‘Practice & Performance’ series by Cecil J. Allen and O.S. Nock.  The Society gratefully acknowledges a generous donation from his widow, Liz, sent in accordance with his wishes.

We are also sorry to learn of the deaths of

J.K. (Ken) Brewster (NE 5285) of Low Fell, Gateshead; John Charles Gillham (H 4678) of Ealing, London;

Fred J. Liptrot (NE 8476) of Darras Hall, Ponteland, Northumberland;

Donald Scott (H 8021) of Bickley & Orpington, Kent; David Whiteside (NE 5678) of Stocksfield, Northumberland

& Ken Wilson (H 8417) of Poole. Dr J.A. Heslop (NE 8325) of Yarm,

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In Memoriam

E. Baker
G. A. Barlow
Dr. A. L. Barnett
B.C. Bending
K. J. Carpenter
R. Carter
M. Challis
R L Chambers
D. Clayton
A. B. 'Bert' Collins
D.E. Collins
Bernard Cordingley
R.M.B. Crombie
Richard Ross Cunningham
J.J. Davis
P. G. Douglas
J. Dulieu
John M. Edgson
J. M. Fleming
P. J. Garland
Dr. I. Gavin
B.F. Gilliam
C E Greaves
Peter T. Handford
T. J. Holden
A. R. House
R.H. Hughes
R Hughes
R. Hutcheson
C.P.A. Judge
Ken Lea
J. M. Learmont
Brian Lewis of Sale ( not the current Society Chairman!
Dr Arthur James Lowe
K. K. Mackay
Dr N. A. MacKillop
D Mason
P.A.G. Michie
P. Moore
S. C. Nash
Ronald Nelson
Peter Nettleton
J. E. Newsome
T.E. Norfolk
J.W. Parnham
N. Pearce
R. C. Riley
H. D. Rowbotham
R.W. Rush
W. D. Seddon
P.W.B.Semmens
E.W. Sisman
S. W. Thomson
W. H. Thompson
R. O. Tuck
G. N. Wildish
Dr K. C. Willson

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