|
Post by dem bones on Nov 12, 2013 22:27:54 GMT
Sadly, Wordsworth never got around to reprinting Rolt's Sleep No More. The History Press did a nice reprint, however, and so far I've enjoyed all of the stories to varying degrees. With "Hawley Bank Foundry" and "Music Hath Charms" left to go, my favorites are "Bosworth Summit Pound," "Cwm Garon," and "Agony of Flame." Rolt seems to be most famous for his railway and canal settings, but I'm also impressed by his Machen-style use of remote settings and hidden, sinister folk. Yeah, Hawley Bank Foundry and Bosworth Summit Pound were the two that got me into him via (where else?) Hugh Lamb's anthologies. His non-fiction - at least the few examples i've read - shows the same command of atmosphere, and it is such a shame we never got to see a Wordsworth edition because i'm sure Derek would've found room for some bonus extras.
|
|
|
Post by Shrink Proof on Nov 13, 2013 19:48:40 GMT
Rolt seems to be most famous for his railway and canal settings, but I'm also impressed by his Machen-style use of remote settings and hidden, sinister folk. I think that some of that fame derives from his position in the railway history and preservation world. He wrote extensively and with authority on numerous railway topics and was also a key figure in the early days of railway preservation. Indeed, many railway enthusiasts know his name well, yet are quite unaware that he also wrote fiction.
|
|
|
Post by clarence on Mar 17, 2015 20:19:47 GMT
Just started to read Sleep No More (History Press). As has been said, Tom was an authority on British industrial history. I had already read Bosworth Summit Pound and The Garside Fell Disaster in another anthology but the others seem promising.
Recommended.
Clarence
|
|
|
Post by Shrink Proof on Mar 18, 2015 8:07:11 GMT
"Sleep No More" is a fine collection. I really like the way Rolt managed to move the Jamesian tale out of its previous environment. If a deserted cathedral can be spooky, why not an abandoned factory, a mine or a railway tunnel? Nothing wrong with James' settings but Rolt definitely broadened it out.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Nov 15, 2015 16:28:42 GMT
Sunday morning, burnt out, good as skint, and it's raining. "is it even worth me hauling my carcass all the way down to the market? It's not like you see many books down there any more, let alone interesting ones, not even on a sunny day?" It's always worth it. L. T. C. Rolt - Landscape With Machines: an Autobiography (Longman, 1971) Felix Kelly Blurb: L.T.C. Rolt, biographer of our great engineers and author of many books on the history of engineering, has now written a book which lays a considerable claim to permanence. Landscape With Machines is purely autobiographical, but, for its enjoyment, it is not necessary for the reader to have an interest in, or knowledge of, machines or engineering; the book evokes the author’s experiences and enthusiasms with an appeal that is universal. Mr Rolt tells of his childhood in Chester, on the Welsh border near Hay-on-Wye and in Gloucestershire; of an engineering apprenticeship and career which took him from a farm in the Vale of Evesham to a locomotive works in Stoke-on-Trent and from Dursley to the Wiltshire Downs until he finally settled in a Hampshire village, running a garage which specialised in veteran and vintage cars. The book ends with his decision to begin a new career as an author just before the outbreak of war in 1939. The title is apt. Imbued with the author's love of England and his intense feeling for the beauties of the English countryside, the book reveals a landscape populated not only by men but by machines; machines which were until recently regarded as commonplace but which are now only to be found in museums or in the hands of private collectors: steam ploughing engines, steam wagons, steam locomotives, canal boats and a variety of unusual motor cars. With its vivid first-hand descriptions of steam-ploughing, of life in a steam locomotive works, of testing the first British diesel lorry and of his first voyage in a steam-powered canal boat, this autobiography, like its author’s previous books, makes a valuable contribution to engineering history. But it is much more than this. At its centre is the ever-present conflict between the author’s two loves: his machines threatening the destruction of the natural world - as they have already destroyed the way of life he knew as a child. It is a problem which is becoming increasingly urgent. It would be difficult to exaggerate the interest and enjoyment provided by this book. Among the autobiographies of recent years, it must take a leading place.
|
|
|
Post by Michael Connolly on May 26, 2017 11:57:07 GMT
This is Joanna Dowling’s cover art for the first edition of L.T.C. Rolt’s Sleep No More (Constable, 1948). It looks like she scribbled it in biro. It’s no wonder that the book did not do well at the time. Her cover for A.N.L. Munby’s The Alabaster Hand (Dobson, 1949) is a bit better.
|
|
|
Post by ropardoe on Sept 9, 2018 9:32:46 GMT
In the Ash-Tree Press edition of Sleep No More, Hugh Lamb writes about L.T.C. Rolt's "The House of Vengeance" that: "In January 1974, Rolt mentioned that he had been asked to contribute an original story to an established series of anthologies. I won’t say which one, to spare the editor's feelings..." Rolt told Hugh that the editor had rejected "The House of Vengeance" as "a story of gothic horror that doesn't come off". Not one to spare an editor's feelings, I think names should be named! Any thoughts on who this erring person might have been? ("The House of Vengeance" is actually my favourite Rolt story.)
|
|
|
Post by Michael Connolly on Mar 23, 2019 12:57:58 GMT
Landscape With Canals and Machines: The Legacy of LTC Rolt is being repeated on Radio 4 Extra next Friday: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vrsshIf it's the programme I remember, only once does it even mention that Rolt wrote ghost stories. Anyhow, here's the cover of the 1974 Harvester Press edition of Sleep No More, a copy of which I got from Richard Dalby over thirty years ago.
|
|
|
Post by ripper on Mar 31, 2019 11:20:59 GMT
I think my favourite Rolt stories are those that have a firm industrial setting, such as The Mine, Bosworth Summit Pound and The Garside Fell Disaster. As I am a sucker for nasty things down mines, The Mine is probably the story I come back to most often. Rolt's railway disasters history, Red for Danger, sounds like a fascinating read and I have been promising myself to get a copy for years.
|
|
|
Post by Shrink Proof on Mar 31, 2019 19:04:48 GMT
In "Red For Danger", Rolt runs through British railway accidents in a very readable style that isn't geeky (i.e., for railway enthusiasts), isn't technical (i.e., for mechanical engineers) and isn't gory (i.e., for serial killers). Some of the incidents described are so ludicrous that they seem like silent movie stuff - his story of a runaway train reads like something from Laurel & Hardy. It says much for his writing skills that I know several folk with no interest in railways who found it fascinating, yet it was also recommended to me as a "must read" when I was training as a signalman on a preserved steam railway. There are loads of cheap second hand copies out there - Rolt died in 1974 and later editions include an extra section by railway historian (and signalling specialist) Geoffrey Kitchenside who updated the book in 1980.
|
|
|
Post by ripper on Apr 1, 2019 14:02:47 GMT
In "Red For Danger", Rolt runs through British railway accidents in a very readable style that isn't geeky (i.e., for railway enthusiasts), isn't technical (i.e., for mechanical engineers) and isn't gory (i.e., for serial killers). Some of the incidents described are so ludicrous that they seem like silent movie stuff - his story of a runaway train reads like something from Laurel & Hardy. It says much for his writing skills that I know several folk with no interest in railways who found it fascinating, yet it was also recommended to me as a "must read" when I was training as a signalman on a preserved steam railway. There are loads of cheap second hand copies out there - Rolt died in 1974 and later editions include an extra section by railway historian (and signalling specialist) Geoffrey Kitchenside who updated the book in 1980. It reminds me of a BBC Horizon documentary from the late 60s or 70s that looked at how safety had evolved on the railways, and, of necessity, concentrated closely on accidents and what was learned from them. Thanks for pointing me to the post 1980 editions with the extra section.
|
|
|
Post by humgoo on Jun 3, 2019 16:19:42 GMT
The other day I read the article "Was Ann Clark Pregnant?" by Tina Rath on the wonderful G&S M.R. James Newsletter site. The theory sounds plausible, and I couldn't help thinking of Rolt's "Bosworth Summit Pound". Did Rolt have "Martin's Close" in mind when he wrote the story, I wonder?
"The wall was not so high that an active man might not thereby rid himself of a heavy and unwelcome burden [...]"
You English gents do seem to like to throw in-trouble girlfriends into water!
|
|
|
Post by ropardoe on Jun 4, 2019 15:37:01 GMT
The other day I read the article "Was Ann Clark Pregnant?" by Tina Rath on the wonderful G&S M.R. James Newsletter site. The theory sounds plausible, and I couldn't help thinking of Rolt's "Bosworth Summit Pound". Did Rolt have "Martin's Close" in mind when he wrote the story, I wonder?
"The wall was not so high that an active man might not thereby rid himself of a heavy and unwelcome burden [...]"
You English gents do seem to like to throw in-trouble girlfriends into water! Could well be - Rolt was certainly an MRJ fan.
|
|
|
Post by Michael Connolly on Jun 5, 2019 12:42:45 GMT
The other day I read the article "Was Ann Clark Pregnant?" by Tina Rath on the wonderful G&S M.R. James Newsletter site. The theory sounds plausible, and I couldn't help thinking of Rolt's "Bosworth Summit Pound". Did Rolt have "Martin's Close" in mind when he wrote the story, I wonder? "The wall was not so high that an active man might not thereby rid himself of a heavy and unwelcome burden [...]"
You English gents do seem to like to throw in-trouble girlfriends into water! Could well be - Rolt was certainly an MRJ fan. I think that Rolt re-read MRJ's stories every five years, which is less often than I do.
|
|
|
Post by Michael Connolly on Jun 24, 2020 8:12:04 GMT
Landscape With Canals and Machines: The Legacy of LTC Rolt is being repeated on Radio 4 Extra next Friday: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vrsshIf it's the programme I remember, only once does it even mention that Rolt wrote ghost stories. Anyhow, here's the cover of the 1974 Harvester Press edition of Sleep No More, a copy of which I got from Richard Dalby over thirty years ago. For a change, Radio 4 will actually discuss SLEEP NO MORE on A GOOD READ on June 30 repeated on July 03. I'll get back about this, if I'm spared.
|
|