Ian Allan has Died

From the BEEB

Been and Gone: The voice of the moon landings and the father of trainspotting

Railway enthusiast Ian Allan turned trainspotting into a multi-million pound business. It was while working as a clerk for the Southern Railway that he had the idea of publishing a book listing all the company’s locomotives. His managers failed to see the point so Allan published the ABC of Southern Railway Locomotives in 1942. Originally he had intended it to be a reference work and was amazed when schoolboys started appearing at the end of platforms, clutching his book and ticking off the engines as they passed by. He quickly produced volumes covering the other large railway companies as well as buses and trams. By 1962 he was running a thriving business, publishing books on all forms of transport. With the end of the steam era he became an active campaigner in the railway preservation movement, successfully persuading British Railways to reverse a decision to ban privately-owned steam engines from using their lines.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-33371524

From the DT.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11708536/Ian-Allan-trainspotter-obituary.html

There was (or is) I believe another string to this remarkable man’s bow that of miniature railways. I think that the Great Cockcrow Railway at Chertsey in Surrey runs to a two mile loop of seven and a quarter inch guage track. Computer controlled signalling and points and best of all steam powered! Off thread in a sense – sorry for that – but he will be rightly remembered by many diverse enthusiast communities. RIP – ABC

A remarkable man….he virtually invented trainspotting as a hobby with his ABC books of the regions, and went on to diversify into all sorts of things…aviation publishing, organised trips, railway preservation, property, and even garage businesses.
Truly someone who brightened many of our young lives.

RIP Ian Allan. I’ll underline that!

Another end of another era. It’s fair to say that we live in an age where there is a huge amount of enthusiast material in books, magazine and on line, but one can’t help feeling affection for the early days of ABC books and the first eagerly-awaited editions of Aircraft Illustrated 🙁

Sad news – a big name from my childhood.

Sums up my experience.
RIP

Sad news – a big name from my childhood.

Hi All,
Got a few of the Ian Allen books over the years…RIP Mr Allen.

Geoff.

Sad news. I went back to my very first ABC of Civil Aircraft Markings of 1952 (cover below). In his introduction John Taylor mentions that the first edition was 1950, but this was the first with large pages.

I can go back to my first CAM in 1955, I can’t remember how much before this it started

Very sorry to hear this. As a very young lad I inherited a couple of books published by him which had belonged to my dad….still have them. Then, as a teenager myself I became addicted to ‘Aircraft Illustrated’ and a marvellous companion publication, ‘Aircraft Illustrated Extra’. Not to mention long hours on Grantham station trainspotting Deltics and Brush 4’s with one of his guides in my pocket. Truly, an amazing contribution to the history of transport publishing.

I think it was ‘Air Extra’ – but yes, it used to be a great read and for AI, I was a subscriber from (if memory recalls) the March 1972 issue, which had an RAF Bassett on the front cover.

What a life he had. RIP Ian Allan

Very sorry to hear this. As a very young lad I inherited a couple of books published by him which had belonged to my dad….still have them. Then, as a teenager myself I became addicted to ‘Aircraft Illustrated’ and a marvellous companion publication, ‘Aircraft Illustrated Extra’. Not to mention long hours on Grantham station trainspotting Deltics and Brush 4’s with one of his guides in my pocket. Truly, an amazing contribution to the history of transport publishing.