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Part 9


Part 9 of Railway Wonders of the World was published on Friday 29th March 1935.



This issue contained a colour plate This Mighty Express, the GWR King Class No. 6000 "King George V". It was attached to page 269, or the fifth page of this number, forming part of the article on the Great Western Railway. There were no art plates or photogravure supplements with this issue.  




The Cover

The cover featured an American "Hudson"

4-6-4 locomotive No. 5271 hauling the "Twentieth Century Ltd". This picture was later used as a colour plate issued with part 14, and also appears as a black and white illustration on page 1038 of the series.

American "Hudson" 2-6-4 No 5271 hauling the "20th Century Ltd"


Contents of Part 9


Editorial


Engineering in New Zealand (Part 2)

The chapter by Cecil J. Allen, and concluded from part 8. This is the third article in the series Railways of the Empire, whilst there is a sequel to the chapter in part 31.

(Pages 261-265)


The Story of the GWR

In August 1935 the Great Western Railway celebrated its centenary and this chapter sets out the wonderful story that lies behind one hundred years of railway progress, over 9,000 miles of track developed in a century. The article includes a double page centre spread black and white photograph of the Royal Albert Bridge, and a full page illustration of the entrance to the Royal Albert Bridge. The article also includes a fine colour plate of the locomotive "King George V" (also shown below). This is a colour version of the photograph previously published with the article “How Mighty are the Kings” which appeared in part 1. You can read a further account of the Great Western Railway in Frederick Talbot’s Railway Wonders of the World (1913).

(Pages 266-280)


This Mighty Express (colour plate)


King George V No 6000




























THIS MIGHTY EXPRESS passenger engine of the Great Western Railway, the “King George V”, is the result of a century of progress and development. The giant locomotive provides a striking contrast to the little six-wheeled engines employed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel to haul his first trains.

This is a colour version of the photograph previously published with part 1.

(The plate is attached to page 269)


The Santa Fé “Chief”

A description of this famous express running from Chicago to Los Angeles. This train owes its inception to a wealthy miner who, eager to break trans-continental rail-speed records, ordered a special train for his own use. Before it became known as the "Chief", the express attained almost legendary fame as the “Scott Special” or “Death Valley Coyote”. I went to the United States to travel the 2,228 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles in California on this particular “hotel on wheels”. And you can’t spend days and nights on one train without becoming thrilled by it, especially over so varied a route as that on which the “Chief” runs. The journey is full of fascinating contrasts, as state after state is passed through. There is a vast difference between Illinois and Arizona, and between Kansas and California, and the traveller is therefore afforded a constantly changing spectacle as he speeds along in the redoubtable “Chief”. At one stage of the journey in the Raton Tunnel (New Mexico) the train climbs to 7,622 ft. This is the fifth article in the series Famous Trains.

(Pages 281-284)


Driving a Locomotive

A trip on the footplate at seventy miles an hour. A fascinating insight into the driver’s cab, taking the reader through a typical journey, and showing how the engine is controlled.

(Pages 285-290)


Train Ferries (Part 1)

Some remarkable examples of trans-ocean transport. This chapter surveys some of the remarkable services in which trains are run out to specially built ships, and carried across the intervening waters before resuming their journeys by rail. This article is completed in part 10.

(Pages 291-292)


You can read more on “Trains That Go To Sea” in Cecil J Allen’s Railway Wonders (1925), and you can read more on the Southern Railway’s “Twickenham Ferry” and the LNER’s “Train Ferry No. 3” in Shipping Wonders of the World.