The Last Steam Locomotive Engineer: R.A. Riddles

The occasion of the naming of an engine Royal Signals — a lunch party held by the London. Midland & Scottish Railway — was also the occasion of the first encounter between R. A. Riddles and his present biographer. Both were leaving the party early on their respective duties.'Where are you off to?'To see if the Guard of Honour has arrived.''Damn the Guard of Honour. I want to see if the engine has arrived.'This book is the outcome of that early meetirg. It deals with the career of a remarkable locomotive engineer who joined the Crewe Works of the old London & North Western Railway in the years before the First World War and rose to the very top of his profession, with responsibility on British Railways for more locomotives than any previous Chief Mechanical Engineer. He was respon-sible for the design of the 'Austerity' locomotives of the Second World War and for the Standard locomotives of British Railways. Of these,, his 2-10—0 has strong claims to being the finest steam engine ever to run in the British isles. R. A. Riddles is the last of the long line of British steam locomotive engineers.Colonel H. C. B. Rogers has been a railway enthusiast all his life. His hobby is writing on railways, military and naval matters, and his previous books The Pageant of Heraldry, Mounted Troops of the British Army, Turnpike to Iron Road, Tanks in Battle, Battles and Generals of the Civil Wars 1642-1651 Troopships and Their History and Weapons of the British Soldier