Description

10 superb colour plates of locomotives, painted by artist and model-maker Ernest Twining.  Including, GWR “Great Western”, 1846, London & South Western “Milo”, London Brighton & South Coast, No. 122, Caledonian Railway 8 ft. single No.83, Bristol & Exeter, No. 42, North British No.224 (the Tay Bridge engine), London Brighton & South Coast No.111, London & North Western “Prince of Wales” (“Problem” Class), South Eastern Railway, Crampton Engines Nos. 85 and 92, South Eastern Railway, Crampton locomotive No 137.

Alfred Rosling Bennett (1850-1928) was not only an accurate railway and locomotive historian, but was also a prominent electrical and telephone engineer.  Educated at Belle Vue Academy at Greenwich he had hoped to study locomotive engineering, but he accepted an offer to join the Indian Telegraph Dept., was credited with several innovations and after returning to England set up the first telephone line in the country in 1877. In the 1880s he was involved in the development of incandescent electric lighting, established the telephone network in Guernsey in 1895, and became engineer to several municipal telephone systems in England and Scotland, one of which, Kingston upon Hull, remained independent of British Telecom until late in the 20^th c. He became a prolific writer on railway matters and in 1890, he organized the railway section of the International Engineering and Electrical Exhibition in Edinburgh He achieved the distinction of becoming Vice-president of the Institution of Locomotive engineers in 1911.

The selection of locomotives represents Bennett’s personal taste, particularly in respect of those from railways south of the Thames, which he knew as a child. Accurate colour representations of locomotives from this period are very rare. IF YOU DO NOT HONESTLY AGREE THAT THESE ARE WORTH 40 PENCE EACH, ASK FOR A REFUND, WHICH WILL BE SENT IF YOU UNDERTAKE TO DELETE THE DOWNLOAD WITHOUT TAKING COPIES OR PRINTS.