David Jenkinson (6 August 1934 – 27 April 2004) was a

railway modeller ''Railway Modeller'' is a monthly British magazine about model railways now published by Peco Publications in Beer, Devon. It has been in publication since 1949 with Vol. 1 No. 1 published as The Railway Modeller, being an Ian Allan Production ...

and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

, who had a particular interest in the

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally u ...

(LMS) and was president of the LMS Society.

Biography

Jenkinson was born in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

and educated at

Prince Henry's Grammar School, Otley Prince Henry's Grammar School ( Specialist Language College), also known as Prince Henry's or PHGS, is a secondary school and sixth form established in 1607 in the market town of Otley, West Yorkshire, England. The school teaches boys and girl ...

, which in 1951 took him to a field trip to the Settle-Carlisle Railway line (S&C), which would start a lengthy relationship with that line. He went to London University where he met his future wife Sheila, with whom he had four children (Christopher, Hilary, Timothy and Nicola). After graduating Jenkinson joined the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

(RAF) in 1956, from which he retired in 1972 having achieved the rank of

Squadron Leader Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is also ...

. During this time he built his 4 mm scale

EM gauge EM, Em or em may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * EM, the E major musical scale * Em, the E minor musical scale * Electronic music, music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production * Ency ...

models ''Marthwaite'' and ''Garsdale Road'' (see

Garsdale Garsdale is a dale or valley in the south east of Cumbria, England, historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. It is now within the South Lakeland local government district, but is still a "Yorkshire Dale" for planning purposes. In t ...

) representing a station on the S&C set during the 1930s period when it was run by the LMS. In 1963, with

Bob Essery Robert J. "Bob" Essery (22 November 1930 – 23 November 2021) was a British railway modeller and historian with a particular interest in the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) and one of its principal constituents, the Midland Railway (MR) ...

and others he founded the LMS Society. Alone and with Essery he authored many books, the most important was their book on LMS Coaches, which was groundbreaking in its treatment of a non-

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...

subject. Soon after the

Science Museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in mu ...

was asked to take on the historic railway collections, David, having retired from the RAF, applied for and was appointed as an education officer with the Science Museum at

South Kensington South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...

, where he worked with John Van Riemsdijk on the layout of the new building in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

. He subsequently became Head of Education and Research at the resulting

National Railway Museum The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the Science Museum Group. The museum tells the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It is the home of the national collection of historically significant r ...

(NRM), where he was responsible for refurbishment to running condition of major locomotives and vehicles, so that national tours would promote the museum. He left the NRM in 1988, after management changes. He put some of the time thus freed into his writing career and was editor of ''BackTrack'' from 1989 to 1994, in succession to the magazine's founder, Nigel Trevena, of Atlantic Transport Publishers. Jenkinson set up Pendragon Publishing in 1991 as a separate entity within Atlantic and retained it when he split with them in 1995. In partnership with Michael Blakemore, Pendragon bought ''BackTrack'' from Atlantic in 2003. In the year he left the RAF he started his layout ''Little Long Drag'', which incorporated ''Garsdale Road'' and a lengthy run in a custom-built shed. Later he switched to

7 mm scale 7 mm scale, also known as British 0 scale is a model railway scale of 1:43.5 (or 7 mm to 1 ft; hence its name). The scale is thus different from O scale, American 0 scale (1:48) and O scale, European 0 scale (1:45) For standard ga ...

modelling, building ''Kendal'', ''Kendal II'' and ''Kendal Branch'' the latter based on an imaginary ex-Midland Railway line in the early Grouping era (c.1928-30). Much of his railway modelling stock was sold at auction by

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

in 2005.

Publications

* Extract fro
LMS Society bibliography

York University Library catalogue entries
* D Jenkinson & R J Essery (1967) ''Locomotive Liveries of the LMS'' Ian Allan * D Jenkinson & N Campling (ed) (1969) ''Historic Carriage Drawings'' B Ian Allan * D Jenkinson & R J Essery (1969) ''The LMS Coach'' Ian Allan * V R Anderson, R J Essery & D Jenkinson (1971) ''Portrait of the LMS'' Peco * D Jenkinson (1973) ''Rails in the Fells'' Peco . Second revised edition, 1980, . * D Jenkinson & J Bellwood (1976) ''Gresley & Stanier'' D Jenkinson & J Bellwood * D Jenkinson & R J Essery (1977) ''LMS Coaches 1923 - 57'' Oxford Publishing Company * D Jenkinson (1980) ''The Power of the Duchesses'' Oxford Publishing Company * D Jenkinson & R J Essery (1981) ''LMS Locomotives Vol 1 General Review'' Oxford Publishing Company * D Jenkinson & G Townend (1981) ''Palaces on wheels'' HMSO * D Jenkinson (1982) ''Profile of the Duchesses'' Oxford Publishing Company * D Jenkinson (1982) ''The Power of The Royal Scots'' Oxford Publishing Company * D Jenkinson & R J Essery (1984) ''Midland Carriages (1877 0nwards)'' Oxford Publishing Company * D Jenkinson & R J Essery (1984) ''Midland Locomotives from 1883 Vol 1 General Survey'' Wild Swan Publications * D Jenkinson & R J Essery (1985) ''LMS Locomotives Vol 2 Pre group Western & Central Div'' Oxford Publishing Company * D Jenkinson (1985) ''Modelling Historic Railways'' Patrick Stevens Ltd * R J Essery & D Jenkinson (1986) ''LMS Locomotives Vol 3 Absorbed Pre-Group Classes, Northern Division'' * D Jenkinson & R J Essery (1987) ''LMS Locomotives Vol 4 Pre group Midland'' Silver Link * D Jenkinson (1988) ''Eric Treacy's LMS'' Oxford Publishing Company * D Jenkinson & R J Essery (1988) ''Midland Locomotives from 1883 Vol 2 Passenger Tender'' Wild Swan Publications * D Jenkinson & R J Essery (1988) ''Midland Locomotives from 1883 Vol 3 Tank Engines'' Wild Swan Publications * D Jenkinson (1988) ''The London & Birmingham'' Capital * D Jenkinson & R J Essery (1989) ''LMS Locomotives Vol 5 Post group standards'' Silver Link * D Jenkinson & R J Essery (1989) ''Midland Locomotives from 1883 Vol 4 Goods Tender'' Wild Swan Publications * D Jenkinson & R J Essery (1991) ''LMS Standard Coaching Stock Vol 1 General Intro & NPCS'' Oxford Publishing Company * D Jenkinson (1993) ''Bedtime Backtrack'' Atlantic Transport Publishers * D Jenkinson & R J Essery (1994) ''LMS Locomotives Vol 3 Pre group Northern Div'' Silver Link * D Jenkinson & R J Essery (1994) ''LMS Standard Coaching Stock Vol 2 Gen Service Gangwayed vehicles'' Oxford Publishing Company * J Edgington, J Smart & D Jenkinson (1994) ''The Big Four in Colour 1935 -50'' Atlantic Transport Publishers * D Jenkinson (1995) ''LNWR Carriages'' Pendragon * D Jenkinson (1996) ''Carriage Modelling Made easy'' Wild Swan Publications * D Jenkinson & B C Lane (1996) ''British Railcars 1900-1950'' Atlantic Transport Publishers * D Jenkinson * D Jenkinson & A Earnshaw (1997) ''Last Years of the Big Four'' Atlantic Transport Publishers * D Jenkinson (1998) ''Historic Carriage Drawings Vol 2'' Pendragon * D Jenkinson (1999) ''The Big Four in Colour'' Pendragon * D Jenkinson (2000) ''Historical Railway Modelling'' Pendragon * D Jenkinson & R J Essery (2000) ''LMS Standard Coaching Stock Vol 3 Non Corridor & Special purpose'' Oxford Publishing Company

References

External links

David Jenkinson – an appreciation
by

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkinson, David 1934 births 2004 deaths People educated at Prince Henry's Grammar School, Otley Royal Air Force officers People associated with the Science Museum, London English curators 20th-century English educators Rail transport writers English non-fiction writers English male non-fiction writers Rail transport modellers 20th-century English male writers