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Author Topic: Ian Allan OBE. Passed away 28th June 2015.  (Read 4834 times)
JayMac
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« on: June 29, 2015, 20:47:11 »

Publisher Ian Allan OBE FCIT died on the 28th June 2015 aged 92.

Anyone who has even but a passing interest in railways, particularly in the UK (United Kingdom), will know the name Ian Allan.

The company he founded, and that bears his name, has been a publisher of countless books on all things railway (and other transport modes) from the mid 20th century to the present day. He started it all with his 'ABC Guides', still published today, listing all the locomotives and diesel/electric units in service on the UK Network. These were and are bibles for the die hard enthusiast who must 'spot' every one in a given area, or indeed UK wide.

I've just had a look at my bookshelf and there are 17 books on railways and transport published by Ian Allan.

Ian Allan Publishing was also a major publisher of transport related magazines and periodicals from the 1950s onward, although most have now been sold on to other publishers.

I try, whenever possible, when visiting London, Birmingham or Manchester, to fit in a visit to one of the Ian Allan shops. They are rail enthusiast heaven.

Thank-you Mr Allan for the books and magazines. RIP.

From Wikipedia:

Quote
Ian Allan (1922-2015) was a book publisher, who specialised in transport titles, through his company Ian Allan Publishing.

Allan was born on 29 June 1922 and was educated at St Paul's School.

In 1942 Allan, then working in the public relations department for Southern Railway at Waterloo Station, decided he could deal with many of the requests he received about rolling stock by collecting the information into a book. The result was his first book, "ABC of Southern Locomotives". This proved to be a success, leading to the emerging of trainspotting as a national hobby, and from this the company was formed.

He married Mollie Eileen Franklin in 1947 and they had two sons. He died on 28 June 2015, aged 92.

Also, an article written by him published in The Observer in 2004:

Quote
This much I know
Ian Allan, trainspotter, 83, Lyne, Surrey

Trainspotting is an innocent pursuit. We only ever had one criminal case, I think, involving an older Locospotters' Club member interfering with younger chaps. The sight and sound of a steam locomotive in full cry was normally excitement enough for everyone in trousers, short or long.

An obsession with numbers is not such a daft thing. I published my first locospotters' guide, the ABC of Southern Locomotives, in 1943. Printed 2,000 for a print bill of ^42. Sold out immediately at 1/- [5p] a copy. My first business adventure. It hadn't been hard to put the book together; I knew all the Southern engine details - wheel diameters, cylinder bores, boiler pressures, names and numbers - by heart.

Nothing beats running your own railway. My boyhood ambition was to be station master, Waterloo, graduating to general manager, Southern Railway. I ended up as a junior assistant in the railway's PR (Public Relations) department; 15/- [75p] a week, August 1939. Now, in my eighties, I'm chairman of the Great Cockcrow Railway, Surrey. All two miles of it. The tracks are 7.25 inches apart, but, all up, the trains weigh the mainline equivalent of 425 tonnes, and run at scale speeds of 70mph. It's a microcosm of the real thing. Except, our trains are always clean, and we haven't had an accident worth reporting since we opened 35 years ago.

Never retire: it's the best way to get ill, depressed or drop off your perch prematurely. Engine drivers would, famously, die shortly after they collected their carriage clock. How could you go from the footplate of the Golden Arrow one week to moping about the house the next? I'm in the office at Shepperton five days a week. My sons run the Ian Allan Group these days, but I like to do my bit.

One leg will do nicely. I lost my left leg when I was 15, during exercises with the OTC. Catastrophe - I wouldn't be able to pass the Southern Railway's medical for traffic apprentices. No general managership for me. They needed at least the two legs, they said. I did wonder how I was going to ride my bicycle to go and look at trains, but I was up, about and on my bike within six weeks. Had to be careful at Waterloo, though, crossing the 650 volt tracks during the blackout; if I'd brushed the electric rail with my tin leg, that would have been the only bit left of the young Ian Allan.

Everyone has a favourite number. Mine is 909, with 913 coming a close second. [Southern Railway Schools class 3-cylinder 4-4-0s, St Paul's and Christ's Hospital.]

Trainspotters weren't always thought of as anoraks. They were quite respectable in the Forties, Fifties and Sixties, especially after an incident in 1944, when spotters laid pennies on the tracks of the West Coast mainline at Tamworth, so that passing trains would flatten them; we formed the Ian Allan Locospotters' Club to keep them in order. Members had to sign a pledge of good behaviour on railway property. We ended up with 260,000 members and took them the length and breadth of Britain by Ian Allan steam specials.

Trainspotting and religion go together like the number 4472 and the Flying Scotsman. I'm dedicated CofE; come from a long line of clerics. Eric Treacy, late Bishop of Wakefield, was one of the great railway photographers. His mitre used to hang in the palace hall alongside an oily engineman's cap.

Railway enthusiasm is classless. The great heroes of the steam age were not just legendary locomotive designers, nor great company bosses, but engine drivers like Bill Hoole [LNER» (London North Eastern Railway - about)/BR (British Rail(ways)) Eastern Region]. Hoole held the post-war record for British steam [112mph]. We published a biography of him. Sold jolly well. Don't think anyone would be interested in the life of an engine driver today, unless he or she happened to be an off-duty mad axe murderer.

You could never, ever mistake a railway enthusiast for a spy. Railways have never been state secrets in Britain; we published our first guides during the Second World War. Spotters went everywhere at the time, taking numbers. On the continent they would have been arrested. Still are in some parts of the world.

There was never a Golden Age of the railway. I can remember a 'late-running arrivals board' at Euston before the war. It read up to 99 minutes late. One day in 1939, every slot on the board was full. We southern types called the LMS (London Midland Scottish - 1923 to 1948) 'ell of a mess'. The recent privatisation has been a much bigger mess. If there was anything like a Golden Age, it was between 1900 and 1920, before the car got into its stride.

Never put the mockers on the next generation. There may be better times around the corner. Who knows, we might even begin to learn to love our mainline railways again.
« Last Edit: June 29, 2015, 20:57:36 by bignosemac » Logged

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« Reply #1 on: June 29, 2015, 22:22:30 »

I'm sure I can remember a travel agent called Ian Allen Travel in Yiewsley High St, became WHSmith Travel and later I think Thomas Cook before disappearing.

Would that be the same Ian Allen?
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JayMac
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« Reply #2 on: June 29, 2015, 22:39:06 »

Ian Allan Travel is indeed part of the group of companies established by the late Ian Allan. I beleive the retail travel agents' were sold on some time ago. The travel arm of the business is more specialised these days.

http://www.ianallan.com/
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« Reply #3 on: June 29, 2015, 23:31:10 »

Quote
"Never retire: it's the best way to get ill, depressed or drop off your perch prematurely."

Quote
Publisher Ian Allan OBE FCIT died on the 28th June 2015 aged 92.

He's sold me that particular pitch: thank you, Ian.  RIP.  Lips sealed
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Oxman
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« Reply #4 on: June 29, 2015, 23:40:00 »

I still have some of my ABCs from the 60s.

A generation of railway enthusiasts owe a debt of gratitude to this man.

Thank you Mr Allan, and RIP.

Edited to correct spelling.
« Last Edit: June 30, 2015, 00:19:34 by Oxman » Logged
Chris from Nailsea
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« Reply #5 on: June 29, 2015, 23:43:10 »

I'm really sorry to have to labour the point, but it's Mr Allan.  Embarrassed
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William Huskisson MP (Member of Parliament) was the first person to be killed by a train while crossing the tracks, in 1830.  Many more have died in the same way since then.  Don't take a chance: stop, look, listen.

"Level crossings are safe, unless they are used in an unsafe manner."  Discuss.
JayMac
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« Reply #6 on: July 01, 2015, 08:17:22 »

Obituary in The Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11708536/Ian-Allan-trainspotter-obituary.html
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« Reply #7 on: July 01, 2015, 09:43:19 »

I was in the Birmingham branch just outside New Street station on Monday afternoon. Nothing in the shop to suggest that their founder just recently passed away.
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