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As was promised in Journal 18 (p.v.), the collection of pieces concerned with railway history and architecture in the north is offered against a background of reappraisal of both freight and passenger services in recent years. While the position in 1976 may not seem quite so gloomy as it did in 1974, the significance of railway systems has been called into question in many countries in the 1970s. Thus, in England in 1975, at sesqui-centenary of the passenger system, the future of this means of transport was very much in doubt, views regrettably inclining to polarize according to political position. While the various notes and articles are edited here to give an overview, none were written primarily for the Journal. Yet these very differences of emphasis all serve to indicate how inspired so many kinds of men have been by the challenge of building the railway, and how concerned others have been at its perhaps avoidable eclipse. |
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