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This introduction dated 20/9/2001 |
Introduction |
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This site is a departure from my the style of my previous two sites (see the Kyte Family Webring on the Home Page) as it is a railway site principally limited by time rather than a geographical area. When I decided to set up the LMS webring I was rather surprised to find how little there was on the Internet for the LMS compared to that of the Great Western Railway and the London and North Eastern Railway (I've not done much searching on the Southern Railway as it doesn't appear to have a Yahoo Webring - apologies if it does and I haven't found it yet). I decided to attempt a site that provided a general historical look at the LMS from the grouping in 1923 to the onset of nationalisation at the beginning of 1948, as well as providing links to other LMS sites (Hence "Gateway to the LMS"). The story seems to come in four parts. There is the period from 1923 to 1932, when the merging of such bitter rivals as the Midland Railway and the London & North Western Railway would be at its most visible in the Locomotive Department and would result in the stagnation of locomotive design and production. The next part would be from 1932-1939, when William Stanier would end the locomotive stagnation and LMS lines would see some groundbreaking designs of locomotive in use. Then comes World War II from 1939 to 1945, which put a hold on the advances of the previous decade, and finally 1945-1947, when impending nationalisation resulted in a general attitude of "Why bother". At the moment, I'm not claiming to have all the answers. In fact, my research has raised a couple of interesting questions, most notably "Exactly who was Chief Mechanical Engineer between 1930 and 1932?". The answer may not be the generally accepted one as the section on the CMEs will reveal. As to CME bias, I am trying to avoid the "Stanier was God" (but that's becoming more difficult as I do more research) attitude of some publications and attempt to give the relevant credit to his predecessors (I'll admit to a little bias towards Fowler, being as he came from same area as me) and successors. This is a project that will take some time, but if I can have it ready by 2023 then I'll be happy. Please look around the site, email me with any comments you may have, and above all come back later as my research progresses. I intend to write it with a view towards the non-railway visitor being able to understand this site; I shall define railway terms where necessary.
Richard Kyte |