Tag Archives: Railway Photographs

Rt. Revd. Eric Treacy MBE LLD

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Flicking through a number of old magazines passed to me by a friend here in Telford, I came across a supplement published by The Railway Magazine in December 1990, “Eric Treacy: The Classic Years.” [1]

Treacy’s photographs are now in the National Archive collection at Kew They are ©Crown Copyright and covered by an Open Government Licence which permits copying of images in the collection for non-commercial use. This covers the photographs from the collection which were reproduced in the 1990 supplement.

The Rt. Revd. Eric Treacy MBE, LLD, Lord Bishop of Wakefield from 1968 until 1976, died on Appleby Station on 13th May 1978. He left behind a large collection of railway photographs, taken over more than four decades.

‘Railway photographer. Pastor to railway men. Lover of life and railways’. This memorial plaque can be found at Appleby Railway Station, where he died in 1978, © RuthAS and licenced for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY 3.0). [2]

In 1932, he was ordained deacon in the Church of England and priest a year later, serving as curate at Liverpool parish church from 1932 to 1934. [4] Wikipedia tells that “he took up railway photography, being inspired by visiting Liverpool Lime Street and getting to know his parishioners who worked on the railway. His photographic work appeared in various magazines during the 1930s.” [3]

His railway photography “was interrupted by the Second World War when he served as Military Chaplain. On 12th March 1940, he was commissioned as Chaplain to the Forces 4th Class (equivalent to captain). [5] On 10th May 1945, it was announced that Treacy had been Mentioned in Despatches ‘in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in North West Europe’. [6] He was promoted to a Chaplain to the Forces 3rd Class (equivalent to major). On 24th January 1946, he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).” [7][3]

In 1946 Treacy published his first book which contained images of L.M.S. locomotives. [8] On demobilisation he became Rector of Keighley and in 1949 was appointed Archdeacon of Halifax. [9] In 1961, he became Bishop of Pontefract [3] and in 1968, Treacy became Bishop of Wakefield. [1: p2]

The Railway Magazine Supplement  comments that Treacy was “a devout man of the church as well as a talented lineside photographer (and frequent footplate passenger!) his atmospheric work never failed to portray his passionate love of railways, quickly establishing him as one of Britain’s foremost railway photographers.” [1: p2]

By 1935, “he was sending work regularly to The Railway Magazine signed ‘Rev E. Treacy, 2 Edge Lane, Liverpool’, showing London Midland & Scottish trains, many of them still worked by former London & North Western Railway locomotives, around that great city. Shap was an early discovery, and he spent many hours walking the fells and awaiting Anglo-Scottish expresses as they slogged their way to the summit. The zenith of his work undoubtedly came with the Stanier Pacifics, and to those who remember, it is virtually impossible to think of Eric Treacy without also the thunderous reminder of a ‘Princess Royal’ or ‘Coronation’ Pacific unleashing its full fury against that formidable climb with 15 bogies and more in tow.” [1: p2]

Lorna Hogger says that “Treacy befriended drivers and firemen in his congregation and often persuaded them to make smoke effects for his pictures. … He took time to plan his photographs days in advance, checking the weather and position of the sun at the time the train was due, and coming to know the locations well. Treacy rarely took unplanned shots, the equipment and large glass negatives being too expensive for acting on impulse.” [8]

Lorna Hogger also tells us that Treacy “joined the Railway Photographic Society in 1935, but unlike many of his peers he described his pictures as ‘emotional rather than technical’, enabling him to create stunning landscapes. This is evident in the photograph below which shows a goods train crossing the Ribblehead Viaduct.” [8]

A goods train crossing the Ribblehead Viaduct, North Yorkshire, c 1950s, © The National Archives, Eric Treacy Collection, reused here under an Open Government Licence. [8]
Embed from Getty Images
WD Class 8F 2-8-0 steam locomotive, circa. 1958, approaching Blea Moor signal box on the Settle and Carlisle line with a freight train of empty anhydrite hopper wagons, in British Railways service. WD locomotives were designed for wartime service overseas during WW2 and were later used on domestic British lines, © The National Archives, Eric Treacy Collection, reused here under an Open Government Licence. [11]
‘The ultimate expression of British steam power and one of Treacy’s crowning glories, came in this classic composition of immaculate Stanier Pacific No. 46230 ‘Duchess of Buccleuch’ bearing the tartan headboard of a down ‘Royal Scot’ powering cleanly towards Beattick Summit. This photograph was sent to the Railway Magazine in March 1957, © The National Archives, Eric Treacy Collection, reused here under an Open Government Licence. [1: p12-13]
Only a handful of ‘Royal Scot’ 4-6-0s remained in their original parallel boiler guide when Treacy took this photograph of No. 46147 ‘The Prince of Wales’s Volunteers (South Lancashire)’ heading a Birmingham to Glasgow train near Beattock, © The National Archives, Eric Treacy Collection, reused here under an Open Government Licence. [1: p21]
Embed from Getty Images
The ‘City of Liverpool’ with a northbound express train. This Coronation Class steam locomotive No 46247 was photographed by Treacy as it left Tebay, Cumbria, on the West Coast Main Line to Scotland. It was built at Crewe Works in 1943 for the London, Midland & Scottish Railway, © The National Archives, Eric Treacy Collection, reused here under an Open Government Licence. [10]

The Railway Magazine Supplement continues: “No less atmospheric were his photographs of departures from major stations: think of Treacy, and sooty masterpieces of ‘Royal Scot’ or ‘Patriot’ 4-6-0s getting to grips with heavy trains at the foot of the deep rock cuttings out of Liverpool Lime Street come to mind, or perhaps an A4 Pacific trying to find its feet at the head of an Edinburgh-bound express at Kings Cross.” [1: p2]

In its original guide as a blue streamliner, ‘Princess Coronation ‘ Pacific No. 6223 ‘Princess Alice’ was photographed at Edge Hill, only a stone’s throw from Treacy’s vicarage in the years between the introduction of the Class and the outbreak of the second world war, © The National Archives, Eric Treacy Collection, reused here under an Open Government Licence. [1: p2]
A4 Pacific No. 60021 ‘Wild Swan’ attached the Harrogate portion to the Leeds portion of the 12.30pm train to London at Leeds Central Station. Treacy sent this photograph to The Railway Magazine in April 1961, © The National Archives, Eric Treacy Collection, reused here under an Open Government Licence. [1: p22]
Embed from Getty Images
Princess Coronation class 4-6-2 steam locomotive No 46244 ‘King George VI’ with the London to Glasgow ‘Royal Scot’ passenger train. Sister engine, the Princess Coronation class 4-6-2 steam locomotive 46231 ‘Duchess of Atholl’, based at Polmadie shed is about to take over for the journey North, © The National Archives, Eric Treacy Collection, reused here under an Open Government Licence. [9]

The Railway Magazine Supplement concludes: “Throughout the transformation of the ‘Big Four’ to British Railways, and into modernisation when diesel locomotives began appearing on major routes, Treacy was there, and his legacy of ‘Deltics’ at Leeds or ‘Peaks’ on trans-Pennine services have all the richness and imagination of his steam photos.” [1: p2]

Photograph albums of Treacy’s work include:

Canon Eric Treacy; My Best Railway Photographs: No.1 L.M.S.; Ian Allan Ltd, London, 1946.

Eric Treacy; Roaming the Northern Rails; Ian Allan Ltd, London, 1976.

Eric Treacy; Roaming the East Coast Main Line; Ian Allan Ltd, London, 1977.

Eric Treacy; Lure of Steam; Ian Allan, London, 1969, 1980.

Eric Treacy; Glory of Steam;  Ian Allan, London, 1981 (reprint?)

G. Freeman Allen; Great Railway Photographs by Eric Treacy; Peerage Books, London, 1982.

P.B. Whitehouse & G. Freeman Allen; Eric Treacy: Railway Photographer; David and Charles, Newton Abbott, 1983.

P.B. Whitehouse & J. Powell; Treacy’s Routes North; 1985.

P.B. Whitehouse & J. Powell; Treacy’s British Rail; 1990.

Eric Treacy; Portrait of Steam; 1991(reprint).

Eric Treacy; The Best of Eric Treacy; Atlantic Transport Publishers, 1994.

David Jenkinson & Patrick Whitehouse; Eric Treacy’s L.M.S.; Oxford Publishing Company, 1988.

References

  1. Eric Treacy: The Classic Years; in The Railway Magazine (supplement), December 1990.
  2. https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Railway_Treacy_Plaque_Appleby_14.06.12R_edited-2.jpg, accessed on 22nd March 2025.
  3. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Treacy, accessed on 22nd March 2025.
  4. Crockford’s clerical directory; Church House, London, 1976.
  5. No. 34809; The London Gazette (Supplement). 8th March 1940, p1462.
  6. No. 37072; The London Gazette (Supplement). 8th May 1945, p2456–2464.
  7. No. 37442; The London Gazette (Supplement). 22nd January 1946, p615–625.
  8. https://blog.railwaymuseum.org.uk/eric-treacy-the-right-reverend-railway-photographer, accessed on 22nd March 2025.
  9. http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/90746857, accessed on 22nd March 2025.
  10. http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/90748392, accessed on 22nd March 2025.
  11. http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/90746931, accessed on 22nd March 2025.