oldpway.info Details of:

"A Century of Permanent Way".
By Fred Bland.

opwID Bland_1925
Type Book
Status oldpway has a set of 600dpi lossless colour scans (4.4GB) made from the loan of a book in private ownership. 600dpi and 300dpi pdf versions are on-line.
Assumed to be out of copyright. It was written for and published by Edgar Allen & Co. Ltd. as sales promotional material. Initial copyright was probably assigned to Edgar Allen & Co. Ltd.
Availability Read section 1 at 300dpi (24.8MB), Read section 2 at 300dpi (22.2MB), Read section 1 at 600dpi (79.5MB), Read section 2 at 600dpi (84.2MB)
Published by Edgar Allen & Co. Ltd., Imperial Steel Works, Sheffield, 1926.
The book is undated; the main content was written in 1925, but the book includes a reprint of a paper on Atmospheric Railways, dated July 1926, so the book was probably published in 1926.
Pages 72pp, many photos and drawings. Section 1 is pages 1 to 35. Section 2 is pages 37 to 72.
Description Section 1 of this book is a paper given to the PWI in 1925 titled "A Century of Permanent Way". It describes the development of railways and particularly permanent way from early tramways up till 1925. It is fully illustrated with many photos and drawings of early track, including early rail joints and early switches. This section 1 also includes a July 1926 paper on Atmospheric Railways.
Section 2 of this book is "Modern Manganese Steel Trackwork". It is a detailed description, with many photos, of the Patent-rolled Imperial manganese steel rails, railway switches, crossings and layouts, manufactured by Edgar Allen & Co. Ltd.
Author notes Fred Bland, M.I.Mech.E., F.S.A.
President of Sheffield Section, Permanent Way Institution, 1925.
Director, Tramway Dept., Edgar Allen & Co. Ltd.
Member of Council of Light Railway & Tramway Association,
and of British Engineering Standards Association (Rails),
and of American Electric Railway Association "A.E.R.A.",
and of The "Newcomen" Society.
Notes on section 1 Section 1 of the book, titled "A Century of Permanent Way", is a paper prepared for the Annual Convention of the Permanent Way Institution, held in Sheffield and given as a Lantern Lecture on 8 July 1925.
This paper is particularly valuable for the descriptions and drawings of early permanent way, many of which only exist in this paper. In preparing the paper Fred Bland was priviledged to see many original documents and original letters from early railway engineers. The paper traces the development of permanent way from early tramways up till 1925.
There is a detailed discussion of the introduction of fishplates and of steel rails.
The headings in the text are:
Introduction; Early Engineering Feats; The Origin of Permanent Way; The first Cast Iron Rails; The Outram Myth; Plate-Rails v. Edge Rails; The Surrey Iron Railway; The Coming of Wrought Iron and Edge Rails; Malleable Iron Rails; The Coming of the Stocton and Darlington Line; The Year 1825 and After; The First Passenger Line; The Liverpool-Manchester Railway; The First London Line; The London & Birmingham Railway; George Stephenson on Rail-Wear; Sheffield and the Railway; Railways Rejected; Further English Development; The Railway in America; The Ride to York; The Vicar of Bray Railway; Speculation Begins; The Battle of the Gauges; G.W.R. v. L.& N.W.R.; George Hudson; Rail Sections; Specifications; English Bull-head Sections; Fishplates; The Mono-rail; Conclusion;
George Stephenson; Robert Stephenson; Isambard Kingdom Brunel; Joseph Locke; Richard Trevithick;
(p.24) Detailed Description of Lantern Slides; (p.29) Visit of Delegates of the Permanent Way Institute to the Imperial Steel Works; (p.30) Conference of the Permanent Way Institution;
(p.31) Atmospheric Railways;
(p.33) Correspondence;
(p.35) Menai Tubular Bridge.
Many early prints and photos are included and reproduced well.
The following drawings of permanent way are useful and will be put as separate drawings on this website when time permits:
(p.7) Ten Types of Early Rails - Cast and Wrought [1769 - 1829]
(p.8) First Rolled Rails, Birkenshaw's patent, Showing Sections and Rolls
(p.12) Losh and Stephenson's Engine on Rails and Stone Blocks; also Showing Wheels and Other Details
(p.15) Track Details, London and Birmingham Railway
(p.16) Various Sections of Early Bridge Rails - English and Foreign [probably from Whishaw]
(p.16) Early Sections of Rails - English and Foreign [probably from Whishaw]
(p.17-20) 38 Illustrations of Early Joints [1835 - 1856]
(p.26) Stephenson's Three-way Switches with Lever Boxes [Early]
(p.26) "Isaac Dodds" Self-acting Switches (1839)
(p.27) Section of "Lifting" Switch, Thompson and Nicholson, 1858
(p.27) Three-way "Stub" Switches with Pivotted Changing Piece [Early]
(p.27) Stephenson's "Stub" Switch, with Eccentric Lever, Laid outside Camden Town Station [Print]
Notes on section 2 Section 2 of the book, titled "Modern Manganese Steel Trackwork", is a detailed description, with many photos, of the Patent-rolled Imperial manganese steel rails, railway switches, crossings and layouts, manufactured by Edgar Allen & Co. Ltd.
The headings in the text are:
Manganese Steel Railway Switches & Crossings; Rolling Manganese Steel Rails; Reducing Cost by Patent Process; Advantages of Imperial Patent-rolled Manganese Steel Rails; Corrosion Tests; Mechanical Tests; How Manganese Steel Rails are Made; From Rails to Switches and Crossings;
Skill and Service; Increased Output, Newer Methods, Larger Plant; Men who Mattered; Edgar Allen Service;
(p.48) How to Order Special Railway Trackwork; (p.50) Table giving the Trigonometrical value of Crossing angles when the "Inclination Number" is measured in each of the three separate methods; (p.51) Table showing Inclination No. of Crossings with degree equivalents;
(p.52) The Testimony of Baker Street; Where high price is economical; (p.53) Length of Life of Imperial Patent-Rolled Manganese Steel Rails; (p.53) Drop Tests of Edgar Allen Imperial Patent-Rolled Manganese Steel Rails;
(p.70) List of Railway Companies who have placed Contracts for Edgar Allen Imperial Manganese Steel Switches and Crossings, etc.;
(p.72) Edgar Allen Catalogues and Publications.
Section 2 includes 23 very clear photos of track components and track layouts built by Edgar Allen.
On p.54 there is a drawing of a double scissors cross-over, built by Edgar Allen for the Beunos Ayres Great Southern Railway.