PRESS RELEASE FROM KENTS BANK STATION LIBRARY
April 22 2024 (immediate)
Book launch of unique tribute to the Steam Railway Age
Kents Bank Station Library, on the Furness Line between Barrow and Lancaster, was the appropriate venue for the launch of a unique publication: the railway writings of Methodist minister and theologian E.S. Waterhouse. His monthly articles were not published in an ‘enthusiast’ publication aimed at middle class readers, but in the official union journal of ASLEF (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineman and Firemen).
Footplate Passenger: A particular witness to the Steam Age; The Locomotive Journal writing of E.S.Waterhouse was compiled and edited by former Guardian journalist Robert Waterhouse with a foreword by ‘Community Rail’ pioneer Paul Salveson. The book includes photograpĥs by Denis Thorpe.
“We were delighted to host the launch of Bob’s remarkable book and it will be the first of several book launches at Kents Bank Station Library,” said Library Manager (and writer of foreword to Bob’s book) Prof. Paul Salveson. “On Saturday May 11th we are launching Peter Skellon’s book on LMS locomotive ‘Bahamas’ which E.S. Waterhouse may well have travelled on.” (further press release to follow.)
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About E.S. Waterhouse and the book:
E.S.Waterhouse (1879-1964) was the principal of a Methodist training college, yet from the mid-1930s until the mid-1960s he contributed a monthly column to ASLEF’s Locomotive Journal under the heading “As the Passenger sees it”. The column noted specific journeys on mainline services around Britain, the names and sheds of drivers and firemen, timing, performance, particular issues and solutions.
He travelled for work, but the moment he found a seat in the front carriage or negotiated a footplate pass he became ‘The Passenger’. Intoxicated by steam from schooldays, he’d reluctantly turned down an apprenticeship at the London & South Western Railway in the mid 1890s, following his mother’s wishes for him to study for the Methodist ministry. That in no way blunted his passion for steam.
The columns reflect a fast-changing world, from the high-speed services of the late 1930s, through the challenging war years into nationalisation and the eventual demise of steam. Set beside letters from enginemen and from railway companies, they put a human face on complex technical and social developments. As Toram Beg, the celebrated Gresley Pacific driver and ASLEF’s chosen chronicler remarked, E.S.Waterhouse was “If not one of ourselves at least very near to that”. No other passenger enjoyed such mutual understanding.
Robert Waterhouse came across the letters while recently leafing through a family archive. He then sought out the columns in rare bound volumes of the Journal. He thought he knew his grandfather. The man revealed was a Labour voter, a strong supporter of trades unionism, and an advocate of nationalisation – with management shared equally between the State, the users and the unions. Stanier’s ‘Black 5’ mixed traffic engine was his favourite class.
Christian Wolmar describes Footplate Passenger as “genuine grassroots history”. In his foreword Paul Salveson calls it “truly groundbreaking” and “an important contribution to the social history of our railways.” The book’s cover and an appendix of unpublished images are by the prize-winning Guardian photographer Denis Thorpe.
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Note to editors: Paul Salveson can be contacted on 07795 008691; photographs of the launch event and cover of the book can be supplied on request, as well as Bob’s contact details.
Footplate Passenger (ISBN 978-1-7398873-2-2) is published by Baquis Press, Manchester, £14.99 and is orderable at Waterstones and local bookshops
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Kents Bank Station Library is a not-for-profit community-based library specialising in railway and wider transport books, pamphlets and other published material. It is managed by a small team of trustees with a number of patrons including Lord Hendy, chair of Network Rail, MP Tim Farron and writers Christian Wolmar and Andrew Martin.
Kents Bank Station library: https://stationlibrary.org.uk
Kentsford Road, Grange-over-Sands LA11 7BB
07795 008691 Email: info@stationlirary.org.uk