Ian Allan Moderne
This 1949 Ian Allan ABC covering British Railways Southern Region locomotives plus the recently nationalised system’s entire roster of diesel and electric locomotives seems to echo the Art Deco “Moderne” style that the old Southern Railway had embraced during the 1930s. Perhaps that was deliberate homage on Ian Allan’s part, as he had previously worked in the Southern Railway’s Publicity Department. The SR management had resisted Allan’s suggestion to publish a booklet for young train enthusiasts that listed the Southern’s locos. So the enterprising Ian Allan set out to do the job himself, and thus a renowned transport publishing empire was born.
The pen-and-ink depictions of a Southern Lord Nelson 4-6-0 and the LMS diesel prototype 10000 are unmistakably the work of A.N. Wolstenholme. He enjoyed a decade-long partnership illustrating Ian Allan’s ABC books. These “spotters’ bibles” expanded to embrace buses, aviation, shipping, cars and lorries.
Ian Allan Moderne
This 1949 Ian Allan ABC covering British Railways Southern Region locomotives plus the recently nationalised system’s entire roster of diesel and electric locomotives seems to echo the Art Deco “Moderne” style that the old Southern Railway had embraced during the 1930s. Perhaps that was deliberate homage on Ian Allan’s part, as he had previously worked in the Southern Railway’s Publicity Department. The SR management had resisted Allan’s suggestion to publish a booklet for young train enthusiasts that listed the Southern’s locos. So the enterprising Ian Allan set out to do the job himself, and thus a renowned transport publishing empire was born.
The pen-and-ink depictions of a Southern Lord Nelson 4-6-0 and the LMS diesel prototype 10000 are unmistakably the work of A.N. Wolstenholme. He enjoyed a decade-long partnership illustrating Ian Allan’s ABC books. These “spotters’ bibles” expanded to embrace buses, aviation, shipping, cars and lorries.