A Good Read H Holcroft - Locomotive Adventure

Steph Dale

Western Thunderer
IMG_8920v1.jpg
Shown above my terribly tatty copies of Harry Holcroft's 'Locomotive Adventure'. I have to admit that although I've read them a number of times, the less-than-subtle degradation is not down to me. For a start I'm not actually old enough to have owned them from new! Volume 1 'Fifty Years with Steam' is undated and definitely older than my 1963 copy of Volume 2 'Running Experiences'.

So I guess I should explain why I've raised them here. A lot of that comes down to who Harry Holcroft was and where (and when) he worked. He started out as an apprentice at the GWR Wolverhampton works, soon finding himself working under Churchward at Swindon. Emerging as a very accomplished engineer and creative thinker he was instrumental in the establishment of the Churchward standardisation policy and also the designer of the 43xx 2-6-0. Gradually becoming disillusioned with work under Collett (seeing no further development in the standardisation policy) he moved to work on the SECR, joining Maunsell's 'dream team'; Clayton, Lynes and Surtees.

From there he joined the Southern Railway at grouping, working through the National Strike, being involved in the designing of another family of 2-6-0s (the N and U series) and along the way failing to adequately protect his design for the 'Gresley' conjugated valvegear, before working for Bulleid and eventually leaving railway service to work for the Institution of Civil Engineers.

And so on and so forth; a guy who was, in railway terms, in interesting places at interesting times. Unusually for many in his line of work he was also a great communicator. Some of the technical description might take a little thinking about if you're not technically minded, but his writing style flows nicely and is warm; he also gives the impression of being honest about himself and others. He's also the only leading locomotive designer of the period that I know of who wrote an autobiography.

For those interested in railway history, the design and operation of steam locomotives, engineering or just enjoy a damned good read about railways I recommend them both.

Steph
 
Last edited:

SimonT

Western Thunderer
My copy is just as tatty and an equally satisfying read; I thoroughly endorse all that Steph has said. The book inspired me to build a very obscure Wolverhampton tank engine which I must finish (some big blue things distracted me:rolleyes:).
Simon
 
Top