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| From an early age, Ian Allan wanted to be stationmaster at Waterloo and then general manager of the Southern Railway. In the event, the publisher and entrepreneur, who has died aged 92, rose to become chairman of all two miles of the Great Cockrow Railway, a miniature steam line he bought, when its founder died, and moved to within what has since become hearing range of the internal-combustion roar of the M25. Allan transformed the Great Cockrow into a fully-fledged 7¼in gauge express line, with trains carrying children of all ages at scale speeds of 70mph through what had once been a piggery and is now a Betjemanesque Surrey garden. | From an early age, Ian Allan wanted to be stationmaster at Waterloo and then general manager of the Southern Railway. In the event, the publisher and entrepreneur, who has died aged 92, rose to become chairman of all two miles of the Great Cockrow Railway, a miniature steam line he bought, when its founder died, and moved to within what has since become hearing range of the internal-combustion roar of the M25. Allan transformed the Great Cockrow into a fully-fledged 7¼in gauge express line, with trains carrying children of all ages at scale speeds of 70mph through what had once been a piggery and is now a Betjemanesque Surrey garden. |
| This miniature railway was an achievement of which Allan was justly proud and where until recently he could be found driving steam locomotives based with pin-point accuracy on their main-line counterparts, including the Merchant Navy class pacific 21C11 General Steam Navigation and the four-cylinder 4-6-0 850 Lord Nelson, two of the locomotives Allan had watched drawing express trains in and out of Waterloo station. | This miniature railway was an achievement of which Allan was justly proud and where until recently he could be found driving steam locomotives based with pin-point accuracy on their main-line counterparts, including the Merchant Navy class pacific 21C11 General Steam Navigation and the four-cylinder 4-6-0 850 Lord Nelson, two of the locomotives Allan had watched drawing express trains in and out of Waterloo station. |
| On his way to the chairmanship of the Lilliputian railway, Allan had also become the world’s best known and probably its most successful railway publisher. In the summer of 1937, he lost a leg in a camping accident with the Officers’ Training Corps. Although up and about trainspotting on his bicycle within six weeks, this defining accident meant that he was technically unfit to take up a traffic apprenticeship with his beloved Southern Railway and so rise to managerial heights. | On his way to the chairmanship of the Lilliputian railway, Allan had also become the world’s best known and probably its most successful railway publisher. In the summer of 1937, he lost a leg in a camping accident with the Officers’ Training Corps. Although up and about trainspotting on his bicycle within six weeks, this defining accident meant that he was technically unfit to take up a traffic apprenticeship with his beloved Southern Railway and so rise to managerial heights. |
| In August 1939, however, Allan was employed as a Grade 5 clerk at 15 shillings a week in the general manager’s office at Waterloo. Working in the publicity section, Allan helped plan advertising and excursions while fielding telephone inquiries from the public. Many of these concerned details of Southern locomotives. Allan hit on an idea. If he could collate essential information and all the numbers, and names, of the railway’s locomotives, he could publish these as a booklet and thus inform and delight his fellow railway enthusiasts while making a profit for himself. | In August 1939, however, Allan was employed as a Grade 5 clerk at 15 shillings a week in the general manager’s office at Waterloo. Working in the publicity section, Allan helped plan advertising and excursions while fielding telephone inquiries from the public. Many of these concerned details of Southern locomotives. Allan hit on an idea. If he could collate essential information and all the numbers, and names, of the railway’s locomotives, he could publish these as a booklet and thus inform and delight his fellow railway enthusiasts while making a profit for himself. |
| Although frowned upon by Oliver Bulleid, the Southern’s chief mechanical engineer, the idea was supported by the railway’s chairman, Robert Holland-Martin. The first edition of what was to become the long-lived and, while steam reigned supreme, hugely successful ABC of Southern Locomotives was published in December 1942. This was on the back of 2,000 one-shilling postal orders that Allan had received in response to an advert he had placed in Railway World. A second edition of Southern Locomotives with an illustrated cover followed in February 1943, chased at express speed by three more editions that year alone. | Although frowned upon by Oliver Bulleid, the Southern’s chief mechanical engineer, the idea was supported by the railway’s chairman, Robert Holland-Martin. The first edition of what was to become the long-lived and, while steam reigned supreme, hugely successful ABC of Southern Locomotives was published in December 1942. This was on the back of 2,000 one-shilling postal orders that Allan had received in response to an advert he had placed in Railway World. A second edition of Southern Locomotives with an illustrated cover followed in February 1943, chased at express speed by three more editions that year alone. |
| Southern Electrics appeared in October 1943, and within a very short spell all major British railway locomotives and trains, including those of the London Underground – its trams, buses and trolleybuses, too – were contained in the pocket-sized books carried the length and breadth of Britain’s railways by legions of railway enthusiasts who underlined the numbers of engines they spotted in the pages of their hard-working “ABCs”. Trainspotting as a classless, cheap, adventurous and innocent national craze had been born along with Allan’s publishing empire. | Southern Electrics appeared in October 1943, and within a very short spell all major British railway locomotives and trains, including those of the London Underground – its trams, buses and trolleybuses, too – were contained in the pocket-sized books carried the length and breadth of Britain’s railways by legions of railway enthusiasts who underlined the numbers of engines they spotted in the pages of their hard-working “ABCs”. Trainspotting as a classless, cheap, adventurous and innocent national craze had been born along with Allan’s publishing empire. |
| Ian , son of George and Mary (nee Barnes) was born at Christ’s Hospital, Horsham, West Sussex, where his father was clerk to the school. He was educated at St Paul’s school, London. His favourite engine numbers, he said, were 909 (St Paul’s) and 913 (Christ’s Hospital), two of the Southern Railway’s Schools class 4-4-0s. He left the Southern in 1945 to form his own publishing company, by which time he and Mollie Franklin, whom he went on to marry in 1947, had also founded the Locospotters’ Club. When British Railways announced its 1955 modernisation plan, the club boasted 230,000 members, who took a pledge not to misbehave or otherwise trespass on railway property following wartime newspaper reports of spotters invading railway tracks. | Ian , son of George and Mary (nee Barnes) was born at Christ’s Hospital, Horsham, West Sussex, where his father was clerk to the school. He was educated at St Paul’s school, London. His favourite engine numbers, he said, were 909 (St Paul’s) and 913 (Christ’s Hospital), two of the Southern Railway’s Schools class 4-4-0s. He left the Southern in 1945 to form his own publishing company, by which time he and Mollie Franklin, whom he went on to marry in 1947, had also founded the Locospotters’ Club. When British Railways announced its 1955 modernisation plan, the club boasted 230,000 members, who took a pledge not to misbehave or otherwise trespass on railway property following wartime newspaper reports of spotters invading railway tracks. |
| By 1962, the Ian Allan Group was settled in offices at Shepperton station down the line from Waterloo. The company boardroom was the 12-wheeled Pullman car Malaga, built in 1921 and used by King George VI when he rode Southern rails. | |
| Allan published books and magazines on all forms of transport and ran rail tours, an activity that led to the development of a travel business. A keen freemason, he published The Square and sold masonic along with military, police and club regalia. He owned two hotels, traded in organic gardening products and even ran a car dealership, selling, among other makes, Saabs, Land Rovers and Cadillacs. Cars were a threat to railways, and although Allan played key roles in the steam railway preservation movement, he was always a businessman. | Allan published books and magazines on all forms of transport and ran rail tours, an activity that led to the development of a travel business. A keen freemason, he published The Square and sold masonic along with military, police and club regalia. He owned two hotels, traded in organic gardening products and even ran a car dealership, selling, among other makes, Saabs, Land Rovers and Cadillacs. Cars were a threat to railways, and although Allan played key roles in the steam railway preservation movement, he was always a businessman. |
| Tall, distinguished and energetic, Allan had a dry wit and was a kind and generous man despite what, to employees at least, could seem a formidable manner. He had no interest in retiring, working hard to the end. His entertaining and self-deprecating biography was titled Driven By Steam (1992). He was, and his appointment as OBE followed in 1995. | Tall, distinguished and energetic, Allan had a dry wit and was a kind and generous man despite what, to employees at least, could seem a formidable manner. He had no interest in retiring, working hard to the end. His entertaining and self-deprecating biography was titled Driven By Steam (1992). He was, and his appointment as OBE followed in 1995. |
| Allan is survived by Mollie and their two sons. | Allan is survived by Mollie and their two sons. |
| • Ian Allan, publisher and businessman, born 29 June 1922; died 28 June 2015 | • Ian Allan, publisher and businessman, born 29 June 1922; died 28 June 2015 |
| • This article was amended on 6 July 2015. The Pullman car used as a company boardroom was the Malaga rather than the Allegra. |
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