Books and maps

I was sent the draft cover design for my second book on the railway stations of Warwickshire by my publisher yesterday. It looks pretty good and i am looking forward to the book coming out, probably about April 2026.

A while ago the producers of a range of British inland waterways maps (Heron Maps) asked me if they could use a photograph i had taken of the Wey Navigation in Guildford. The map is now complete and they sent me a couple of the maps today, and it is really nice to see my photo included. You can get the map here, it is a very nice production indeed.

The Voronov Plot

The Blake & Mortimer comic series, originally by Edgar Jacobs and now carried onwards by a number of different writers and artists, are among my favourite comic series. Beautifully drawn in the clear line style, they are a high point of European comics with their intricate tales of espionage and weird/mad science set in a different but still familiar early postwar world.

In this latest volume released by Cinebook, Blake & Mortimer are caught up into a taut cold war drama involving extraterrestrial derived biological weapons (of course), renegade scientists (natch) and KGB agents and a battle of wits across Moscow, London and ..er.. Liverpool on the eve of the space race.

As with all of the Blake & Mortimer books, there is a lot of story squeezed into one volume. At times maybe it may seem the story is a little dense but then again you are definitely getting your money's worth!

A trip to Southend and Rochford

It was my birthday last week and i had the week off work. Late in the week i headed down to London to visit my in-laws in east London. I also made the trip down to Southend-on-Sea. I love a bit of faded British seaside glamour (and at this time of year very faded!) I walked along the pier (the longest pleasure pier in the world) and took the train which runs along it back! You can see my Southend-on-Sea photos here.

On the way back to London, i stopped off at Rochford and had a look around there. I also stopped off at Southend Airport station though no planes were currently flying, the airport there is not quite as busy as Heathrow! You can see my Rochford and Southend Airport photos here.

The Devalino Caper

An enjoyable if overly long Collins Crime Club story by AJ Russell.

A professional criminal is hired to steal bonds from a rich businessman who lives in a heavily guarded compound. A key part of the security is provided by some large dogs (hence the cover image!)

The actual caper is a bit ridiculous (he is smuggled into the compound with it's highly lauded security in a car boot!) Too much of the story involves him wandering around the house, mostly aimlessly, at night trying to find documents. It isn't the most thrilling crime story you will ever read at times. However, it does built up to a satisfying and action packed conclusion.

The story isn't bad but it is a bit too wordy, it has pages of dialogue which go nowhere but no doubt help pad the thin plot out. The story includes quite a lot of crudity and bad language which leaves me a bit cold. 

Although I'm pretty potty mouthed myself, i strangely do not really enjoy reading it!

British Railway Stations 1825-1900

As you can imagine. in the country which invented the modern railway, there have been a lot of railway stations in Great Britain. There are currently over 2,500 stations on the network (i've been to a mere 559 of them to date - you can see pictures, videos and information on the stations i have visited in my railway station website!) Plus, hundreds more preserved stations.

However, thousands of stations have been closed as well. There were over 9,000 stations in existence during the 20th century. There were also 1,200 stations which opened and closed in the 19th century, this book covers these.

This is an excellent reference work by Paul Smith and Sally Salmon. Each station is given an entry detailing the dates of opening and closing, it's location (sometimes assumed) and also a snippet from a period Ordnance Survey map showing where the station used to be.

Many of the stations were simply replaced by larger, more capable stations as the rail industry developed and expanded. However, other stations too were closed and the line removed. Robbing some communities of a rail connection for over a hundred years.

An excellent little book which i will no doubt find useful in my own railway book writings. Now for some photographs of open stations!

Wendover

Hinckley

Crewe

Bewdley

Tintin in the Congo

A controversial book, this is one of the earliest Tintin stories from the early 1930s (though this edition has coloured artwork done in 1946). When originally created, this story depicted the colonial racist attitudes of the time towards Africa, plus a rather bloodthirsty approach to dealing with wildlife. 

Later editions toned down both, Herge feeling embarrassed by what he originally drew, but enough remains of both which meant this edition of Tintin was not published in English until 2005 (the original black and white edition was published in 1931). When it was finally published there were attempts to ban it but if you actually read this story it does seem rather like an over reaction.

Tintin goes to the Congo, then a Belgian colony, and soon begins a break neck series of adventures including various battles with wild animals and native people. However, most of the story involves a criminal white man who is finally unveiled as part of Al Capone's operation, and aiming to help the Chicago gangster boss take over diamond smuggling in Africa...

The story lacks the depth of plot of later Tintin stories, being more a series of subplots vaguely linked (and then mostly by geography). The story of course has a very patronising attitude to African people who are largely depicted as being childlike and needing direction from the white man. The book reflected the attitude of Europeans to Africans at the time (1930s) and should be viewed in that light, its not much more offensive than say Carry On Up The Jungle. Of course, Africans are still patronised in the Western media these days, just in a different way.

Some events in the book are rather cringe worthy, such as Tintin being revered as an idol by an African tribe. The slaughter of wildlife i personally found more of a problem but it does date from when the natural world had what appeared to be a limitless abundance of fauna so accidentally slaughtering a herd of antelope maybe was maybe not quite so big a deal!

The book is what it is, and to be honest i quite enjoyed it, view it like that and you might too. Its nowhere near as good as most later Tintin books but is interesting on a number of levels including as a historical document of 1930s colonial attitudes.