Throughout its length from London to Glasgow via Crewe and Carlisle, with a loop through the West Midlands and spurs to Holyhead,Liverpool and Manchester, the West Coast Main Line has consistently provided interest for those many with more than a passing interest in trains and travel. This book outlines the history of the route,its physical characteristics and sets the scene for the various passenger and goods traffic flows that sustained it; it then details the arrangements for motive power and train working through the era of change that was 1957 to 1963. The level of interest - as evidenced daily by the presence at the lineside of hordes of young spotters and other observers - was particularly high at that time as processions of trains hauled by fine express passenger locomotives and those more suited to other traffic passed by. The book also goes 'behind the scenes' to provide insights into the daily and seasonal challenges of managing that section of a wider railway network, as directed by the varying terms of relevant legislation, and a government increasingly concerned to shape the railways for the changing needs of the public, industry and the economy. The book will be of particular interest to those who simply recall those days by the lineside, those with an interest in detailed arrangements to provide and maintain suitable motive power, those with an interest in how the railway served the needs of the nation and modellers who seek information. The book is illustrated with color and monochrome images and supported by maps.
Stephen Sayre’s career was far more remarkable for its diversity than for its success. At one time or another, Sayre was a soldier, merchant, banker, shipbuilder, politician, speculator, propagandist, diplomat, and inventor. He was also considered by some, as John Alden relates, “a wicked schemer, a fool, a madman, an embezzler, and a traitor.” Following the dizzying course of Sayre’s career, this biography reveals a vast panorama of life, both high and low, in the era of the American Revolution. Sayre frequented the polite society of England, Europe, and New York; twice married into a wealthy English family; and was elected for a term as sheriff of London. He also consorted with the actress Sophia Baddeley, one of the most notorious women of the time; was arrested and confined in the Tower of London for allegedly plotting to kidnap the king; and spent twenty months in a debtors’ prison. If there was one constant in Sayre’s life, it was his involvement in revolutionary politics. He was a fearless advocate of colonial rights in England, and after the outbreak of war in America he traveled to Prussia, Denmark, Sweden, and Russia to seek support for the revolution. Years later, he was an enthusiastic supporter of France’s revolution. Working as an agent for the new French regime, he tried to secure it financial aid, promoted a scheme to purchase American weapons for the French army, argued for a French attack on Spanish Louisiana, and was active in diplomatic efforts to stave off war between Britain and France. Eventually, the turmoil of events in Paris drove away even as devoted a supporter as Sayre. He returned to America, where he continued to argue the cause of the French Revolution and quickly gained a reputation as an extremist. Engaging in the politics of the new American republic, Sayre assailed conservative forces in the nation, in particular the emerging Federalist party. He devoted much of his energy in later years to a persistent but unrewarded attempt to secure a post within the federal government and to somewhat more successful attempts to obtain payment for his past services to his country. In time he moved to Virginia to live with his stepson; he died there in 1818. From the beginning of his career, Stephen Sayre aspired to wealth, social position, and political influence. At various points in his life he achieved each of these goals, but finally they all eluded him. An outstanding patriot, Sayre was far too erratic in his behavior, far too mercurial a personality ever to be counted as a father of his country. He is better remembered as a kind of principled rogue, an adventurer in the service of his own ambitions and those of his country.
Encompasses ante-colonial America, the English colonies, the Revolutionary War, and the rampaging frontier and constitutes a unique national literary treasure. Guilds's Simms restores Simms to his proper place as a major figure in American letters and reintroduces the man and the author to the reading public.
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