Robert Adley

My friend, John, has drawn my attention to a book he has recently re-visited - In Search of Steam 1962-68, by Robert Adley. I did not know that in his quest for a parliamentary seat, Robert Adley had [unsuccessfully] contested the 1966 general election as the Conservative candidate for the Birkenhead constituency.

He was also a renowned train man, of course, an advocate for the railways in general, a photographer and an author of a series of railway books, who sadly died as a relatively young man. The extract John passed to me shows that while Robert Adley was in town to organise his election campaign, he also found time to get down to the Mollington Street sheds a number of times - between 8/8/65 and 7/5/66, at least - and that he befriended a number of railwaymen in the process.

We went around ourselves on many occasions during that period, though the dates of our visits did not coincide with his. Like us, he appears to have always been granted access, though we never tried it on other than on Sunday mornings, when it was quiet. We were never denied access by the foreman, however, and so we never had to “bunk” them as we were more than happy to do elsewhere.