George Dow (1907–1987)

This third volume takes the Great Central from the opening of the London extension through to the end of its independent existence on the 31st of December 1922 (when it became part of the LNER in the government-imposed grouping of the railways). Very definitely the hero this time is the general manager, Sir Sam Fay. Dow clearly has a very great admiration and affection for Fay, who lived long enough to help with the research for these books (as did J.G. Robinson and A.F. Bound, the GC loco and signal engineers).

Although the GC never succeeded in paying its Ordinary shareholders a dividend during this period, it did survive as an independent entity until Grouping, and maintained a high reputation for innovation and good marketing. There was significant investment in improved coaching stock, signalling and safety equipment, and an impressive series of elegant and powerful locomotive designs. It was the first British railway to operate gravity marshalling yards on a large scale, although its attempts to make mineral trains more efficient were frustrated by the collieries' reluctance to adapt to larger wagons. As well as running Britain's most important fishing port of the time at Grimsby, the GC operated a large fleet of North Sea steamers and developed an entirely new dock complex at Immingham.

Dow gives plenty of attention to his own professional area: railway publicity. Fay encouraged the use of eye-catching advertising campaigns (including the famously risky one where a prominent poster at Manchester London Road predicted the winner of the forthcoming FA cup) to promote the company's services, and brought in all sorts of through workings to attract passenger traffic. After the war, there was even briefly an Aberdeen-Penzance service. Still, as Dow reluctantly admits, the GC would have done better financially if it could have abandoned passenger services altogether and just concentrated on moving coal and fish around the country. (It would have been interesting to have a bit more detail on this - was it the long-distance services or the suburban traffic around London and Manchester that were responsible for the losses?)… (mais)

Volume 2 takes the story of the Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway up to the end of the 19th century, up to the opening of the London extension and (finally!) the point at which it adopted the name "Great Central". Hero, or perhaps villain, of this volume is the last of the great Victorian railway tycoons, the company's chairman, Sir Edward Watkin.

Dow chronicles Watkin's relentless drive to expand the system and his many battles with neighbouring companies. Paradoxically, in spite of his belligerence and empire-building tendencies, many of the real expansions in the network during this period (especially in Lancashire and Cheshire) were achieved in co-operation with other companies. However, Dow makes it clear that it was largely Watkin's fault that the MS&L never succeeded in agreeing terms for an amalgamation with either the Midland or the Great Northern.

Like practically everyone else who has written on the subject, Dow describes the London Extension of the Great Central as the "last main line into London" - it feels ironic to be reading this in 2008, shortly after the opening of the new high speed link to the Channel Tunnel. Watkin was involved in an earlier Channel tunnel project - one wonders how he would have felt if he had known how long it would take...

Like Volume One, this is an extremely thorough and readable account, guiding the reader as painlessly as possible through the complexities of railway politics.… (mais)

Dow's history of the Great Central is often cited by those in the know as the classic history of a British pre-grouping railway company. Volume 1 first appeared in 1959: fifty years on, it is still an impressive piece of work. The title is already an indication of the level of detail in this history - Volume 1 ends in 1863, covering a period that most railway histories describe in a short introductory chapter, if at all.

The Sheffield, Ashton & Manchester Railway company, which is the main character in this book, was relatively small, but found itself in possession of an important strategic route, the only direct line from Sheffield to Manchester. In 1849 it merged with a number of companies based around Grimsby to become the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire, the immediate precursor of the Great Central. Dow, who had a long career in management with the LNER and BR and presumably knew a thing or two about what goes on in railway boardrooms, guides us through the complex railway politics of the period, showing how the SA&M, in possession of the vital direct route from Sheffield to Manchester, was able to play other companies off against each other to maintain its independence. You do have to swim through some fairly dense alphabet soup at times, as rival companies launch competing projects all over Lancashire, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, but Dow manages to guide the reader to the opposite shore quite effectively, and helps you keep track of the underlying issues.

In fact, the most interesting part of the book is Dow's analysis of the role of the SA&M / MS&L in the territorial struggles of the main players (the Midland, LNWR and GNR). At times, these manoeuverings are reminiscent of the shifts in alliances between the European great powers during the same period. Actual physical violence seems to have been rare, but did happen on occasion - notably when the LNWR tried to back out of its agreement for shared use of London Road station in Manchester by preventing the MS&L booking clerks from getting into their office.

Explanations of territorial matters are helped by Dow's own, very clear, maps; there aren't many photographs (not surprising, given the period), but where possible effective use is made of contemporary illustrations. Although the author is not an engineer, he does provide a reasonably comprehensive account of big engineering projects like the Woodhead tunnel, and some useful notes on locomotives and rolling stock.… (mais)