Bundle – Traffic Surveys – 7 Volumes

Description

Midland Traffic Survey 7th August 1954

In the days before Realtime Trains, observers had to be on the spot. This survey was the most ambitious RCTS survey to date, covering 40 locations between Leicester, Sheffield, Chinley and Tamworth with 120 observers for 12 hours on a Summer Saturday.  It turned out wet that day, and observers on overbridges suffered much discomfort. The final report is fully typeset and illustrated and contains numerous tables tracking train movements in space and time.

Fylde Coast Traffic Survey 5th September 1959

The introduction of diesel multiple units on certain Manchester – Blackpool services in 1959, coupled with the proposal to introduce them on East Lancashire – Blackpool services offered the first real threat to the reign of steam power on the railways of the Fylde. The Preston section of the Lancashire and North West branch decided that a survey of summer traffic on this section should be made, and that 1959 offered the last opportunity to record near-100% steam operation of through trains.

North Eastern Region Traffic Survey 6th August 1960

An ambitious survey covering almost the entire North Eastern region, it was a little late to record all-steam workings.  Almost all the passenger services, other than the main line, were by then worked by multiple units, and the steam locomotives which previously worked these trains were rapidly disappearing. The Class A.5. tanks were no longer to be found in the area, and, before the survey was carried out, the last survivors of Class A.8 were withdrawn. Nonetheless, an interesting snapshot of the transition in traction.  Type-written.

Traffic Survey on Southern Region 6th August 1960

A summer Saturday survey focussed on four lines: West of England, Bournemouth and Weymouth, Cross country via Salisbury, and Somerset and Dorset Lines. It used observers at 20 locations.  Mostly type-written, with some hand-written notes included.

Sheffield Traffic Survey 11th August 1960

This report summarises the fruits of the labours of some twenty persons, principally from the Sheffield Branch of the Society who took part, on August 11th, 1962, in a Traffic Survey covering the principal lines of the former L.M.S. railway in the Sheffield areas Due to the coincidence of holiday breaks in Sheffield, and other large neighbouring towns, e.g Derby and Leicester, the passenger traffic density on this particular day was extremely high.

The comprehensive Midland Traffic Survey of 1954 took place on the corresponding Saturday in August and interesting comparisons over the limited area covered by both surveys are no doubt possible.

North Wales Rail Traffic Survey 4th August 1962

This survey used 24 observers to cover the North Wales main line between Chester and Bangor. Type-written with extensive tables.

Western Change Summer Saturdays in the West 1957 – 1995

Author Paul Chancellor brings almost four generations of change alive. From Halls and Granges struggling with fourteen bogies through the hydraulic and diesel electric locomotive eras to today’s HSTs, traffic surveys taken by RCTS members in the Taunton, Severn Tunnel Junction, Gloucester, Bristol and Exeter areas present the changing canvas of summer Saturday railway operation. The steam to diesel transitional period is particularly featured including the temporary resurgence of steam in 1962 when diesels were transferred North. Diesel availability shortfalls and steam substitution records continue the Society’s reputation for using operational detail to eloquently balance the nostalgia with realism.