Railways and Recollections: 1957

The year started with the resignation of Sir Anthony Eden as Prime Minister following the Suez crisis of the previous year. Harold Macmillan, who prior to the nationalisation of the railways in 1948 had been a director of the Great Western Railway, became Prime Minister on 11 January. On the railways Simeon T. Webb, Casey Jones’ fireman on the fateful ‘Cannonball Express’ in April 1900 passed away in Memphis at the age of 83. Nearer to home, the new numbering system was introduced whereby diesel locomotives carried a ‘D’ prefix and electrics an ‘E’ prefix, and 3rd Class was phased out, leaving just 1st and 2nd.