Cecil J. Allen
{{About-distinguish|the British railway engineer|Mary Cecil Allen}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2017}}
{{Infobox person
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| name = Cecil J Allen
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| birth_date = 1886
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| death_date = 5 February 1973
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| nationality = English
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| occupation = Railway engineer
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| employer = Great Eastern Railway
London & North Eastern Railway
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Cecil John Allen"[https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n50034523.html Allen, Cecil J., 1886-1973]" at Library of Congress Linked Data Service. (1886 – 5 February 1973Obituary in The Times 7 February 1973) was a British railway engineer and technical journalist and writer.
Work
Allen qualified as a civil engineer and joined the Great Eastern Railway in 1903, later working for the London & North Eastern Railway retiring in 1946.Mr Cecil J Allen The Railway Magazine issue 566 November 1946 page 389 He inspected new rails for quality.
Allen also was the second contributor to the long-running British locomotive practice and performance article series in The Railway Magazine from 1909 to 1958,{{cite web|title=Cecil J. Allen|url=http://www.steamindex.com/library/allen.htm|work=www.steamindex.com}} He was concurrently editor of Trains Illustrated in the 1940s, and was succeeded in that position by his son, Geoffrey Freeman Allen, in 1950.{{cite news|title=Geoffrey Freeman Allen: The model railway writer|work=The Guardian|date=16 August 1995|page=10|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/82059280/geoffrey-freeman-allen/|author=Roger Ford}}
Allen was a committed Christian and an accomplished organist, writing a chorus "The Lord has need of me". He was offered a place on the train when Mallard broke the world speed record in 1938, but declined the offer as the run was scheduled for a Sunday morning and clashed with his regular church (Christian Brethren) attendance.{{citation needed|date=July 2012}} He died on 5 February 1973.Cecil J Allen The Railway Magazine issue 872 March 1973 page 189
=Bibliography=
He wrote numerous books on locomotives, and railway company histories, as well as an autobiography "Two Million Miles of Train Travel":
;Locomotives
- {{cite book|title=The locomotive exchanges|publisher=Ian Allan Publishing|year=1949}}
- {{cite book|title=Locomotive practice and performance in the twentieth century|publisher=Heffer, Cambridge|year= 1950 |edition=2nd revised impression }}
- {{cite book|title=The Stanier Pacific of the L.M.S.. London|publisher=Ian Allan|year=1950}}
- {{cite book|title=The Gresley Pacifics of the LNER|publisher=Ian Allan|year=1950}}
- {{cite book|title=The Bulleid Pacifics of the Southern Region|publisher=Ian Allan|year=1951}}
- {{cite book|title=British Pacific locomotives|publisher=Ian Allan|year=1962}}
- {{cite book|title=British Atlantic locomotives|publisher=Ian Allan|year=1968}}
- {{cite book|title=British Atlantic locomotives
|last=Allen |first=Cecil J.
|author-mask=1
|author2=revised & enlarged by G. Freeman Allen
|edition=2nd
|publisher=Ian Allan|year=1976}}
- {{cite book|title=The Deltics : a symposium|author=Cecil J. Allen|isbn=0-7110-0322-X|year=1972|publisher=Ian Allan|display-authors=etal}}{{cite web|url=http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/495774|title=The Deltics: a symposium by Cecil J. Allen and others|work=catalogue.nla.gov.au|publisher=National Library of Australia}}
;Railway company histories
- {{cite book|title=The Great Eastern Railway|publisher=Ian Allan|year=1955}}
- {{cite book|title=The North Eastern Railway|publisher=Ian Allan|year=1964}}
- {{cite book|title=The London & North Eastern Railway|publisher=Ian Allan|year=1966}}
;General railways
- {{cite book|title=The Iron Road: The Wonders of Railway Progress|publisher=John F. Shaw & Co. Ltd.|year=1925}}
- Railways of To-day: Their Evolution, Equipment and Operation. Frederick Warne & Company. 1929.
- {{cite book|title="The Coronation" and other famous L.N.E.R.trains|publisher=Nicholson & Watson|year=1937}}
- {{cite book|title=Titled trains of Great Britain|publisher=Ian Allan|year=1946}}
- {{cite book|title=Switzerland's Amazing Railways|publisher=Thomas Nelson & Sons, London|year= 1965 |edition=4th revised }}
- {{cite book|title=The Steel Highway|publisher=Longmans, Green & Co, London|year= 1928 }}
- {{cite book|title=Modern railways: their engineering, equipment and operation|publisher=Faber|year=1959}}
- {{cite book|title=Two million miles of rail travel: the autobiography of Cecil J. Allen|publisher=Ian Allan|year=1965}}
- {{cite book|title=Salute to the Great Western|publisher=Ian Allan|location=Shepperton|year=1970|isbn=0-7110-0181-2}}
;Other
- {{cite book|title=Hymns and the Christian faith|publisher=London, Pickering & Inglis|year=1966}}{{cite web|title=Hymns and the Christian faith 1 edition, By Cecil John Allen|url=https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1131098W/Hymns_and_the_Christian_faith|work=www.openlibrary.org}}
See also
- Geoffrey Freeman Allen, his son, also a writer on railway topics, and first editor of Modern Railways
References
{{reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Cecil}}
Category:British railway mechanical engineers
Category:Great Eastern Railway people
Category:London and North Eastern Railway people
Category:British rail transport writers
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