Willie Brayshaw Yeadon (28 June 1907 – 16 January 1997), was a British railway historian known for his ''

magnum opus A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...

'', ''Yeadon's Register of LNER Locomotives'' and other works.

Biography

Willie Yeadon was born in Yeadon, West Riding of Yorkshire on 28 June 1907. He trained as a

mechanical engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...

, initially working for the Bradford Dyers' Association Ltd. After being made redundant in the 1930s he joined the Hull firm Fenner in 1931. Yeadon's initial railway interest was the

London & North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

. On moving to East Yorkshire he began to study the activities of the

London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At th ...

, starting to collect railway images around 1933.

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

1955 modernisation plan Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

prompted him to begin a systematic study of the locomotives of the LNER, during which he visited engine sheds and works, collecting locomotive related documentation such as works records. He joined the

Railway Correspondence and Travel Society The Railway Correspondence and Travel Society (RCTS) is a national society founded in Cheltenham, England in 1928 to bring together those interested in rail transport and locomotives. Since 1929 the Society has published a regular journal ''The ...

in 1936 and made significant contributions to its multi-volume publication ''Locomotives of the LNER''. In 1984 he was made an honorary life member of the society. During his career at Fenner he ultimately became marketing manager, before retiring in 1972. After retirement he started work on ''Yeadon's register of LNER locomotives''. Volume 12 and after were published posthumously from his work.Sources: * *, reprint of Paragon Review article with list He also published works documenting the locations of LNER locomotives on the first and last day of its existence, and on the railways of Hull. His final work was the two volume ''A compendium of LNWR locomotives''. Yeadon also wrote article for railway periodicals, sometimes using the ''nom de plume'' "No. 9499". Yeadon was married for 64 years to Annie, and had a daughter Jean. He died aged 89 in Hull on 16 January 1997.

Legacy

W.B. Yeadon's will donated his collection of photographs, documents and research notes to the

Brynmor Jones Library The Brynmor Jones Library (BJL) is the main library at the University of Hull. In 1967 it was named after Sir Brynmor Jones (1903-1989) who initiated research in the field of Liquid Crystals ( LCD) at Hull and became Head of the Department of ...

of the

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hull ...

; the collection includes over 30,000 photographs, primarily of LNER locomotives and trains, as well as company (works) records of locomotive repairs, boiler repairs, allocations, and other documents. The collection was inherited by the

Hull History Centre The Hull History Centre is an archive and local studies library in Hull, England, that houses the combined collections of both the Hull City Council and Hull University archives and local studies resources. This collaboration between Hull Ci ...

Bibliography

Yeadon's Register

*Vol. 1: Gresley A1 and A3 Classes (Irwell Press, 1990) *Vol. 2: Gresley A4 and W1 Classes (Irwell Press, 1990) *Vol. 3: Raven, Thompson & Peppercorn Pacifics (Irwell Press, 1991) *Vol. 4. Gresley V2 & V4 Classes (Irwell Press, 1992) *Vol. 5: Gresley B17 & Thompson B2 Classes (Irwell Press, 1993) *Vol. 6: Thompson B1 Class (Irwell Press, 1994) *Vol. 7: B12 class (Irwell Press. 1994) *Vol. 8: Gresley K3 & K4 Classes (Challenger Publications, 1995) *Vol. 9: Gresley 8-Coupled Engines - Classes O1, O2, P1, P2 & U1 (Challenger Publications, 1995) *Vol. 10: Gresley D49 & J38 Classes (Challenger, 1996) *Vol. 11: Gresley J39 Class (Challenger, 1996)

=Posthumous

= *Vol. 12: Railcars & Sentinel Shunters (Challenger, 1996) *Vol. 13: Class C1, C2, C4 & C5 Atlantics (Challenger, 1998) *Vol. 14: Class D13, D15 & D16 - the Great Eastern 4-4-0s (Challenger, 1999) *Vol. 15: Class J94, O6 & O7 - the Engines from the Years of Expediency (Challenger, 1999) *Vol. 16: Class L1, V1 / V3 - Gresley & Thompson Six-coupled Tanks (Booklaw/Railbus, 2000) *Vol. 17: Class B13, B14, B15 & B16 - the North Eastern 4-6-0s (Booklaw/Railbus, 2000) *Vol. 18: Gresley K1 & K2, Thompson K1/1 & Peppercorn K1 (Booklaw/Railbus, 2000) *Vol. 19: Class D1, D2, D3 & D4, & the M&GN 4-4-0s (Booklaw / Railbus, 2001) *Vol. 20: Class Q1, Q2, Q3 & Q4, & The Q1 Tank *Vol. 21: Class A5 to A8, H1, H2, L1 (L3), L2, M1 & M2 Tank Engines (Booklaw/Railbus, 2001) *Vol. 22: Class B1 (B18) to B9 - the Great Central 4-6-0s (Booklaw/Railbus, 2001) *Vol. 23: Class Q5, Q6, Q7 & Q10 - the North Eastern 0-8-0s (Booklaw/Railbus, 2002) *Vol. 24A: Class O4/1 to O4/5 (Booklaw/Railbus, 2002) *Vol. 24B: Class O4/6 to O4/8, O5 & Thompson O1 (Booklaw/Railbus, 2002) *Vol. 25: Class N1 & N2 Tank Engines *Vol. 26: Class J31 to J37 - the NBR 0-6-0s *Vol. 27: Class N7 *Vol. 28: Class R1, S1, T1 & WM&CQ 0-8-0T - The pre-Group 8-coupled tank engines *Vol. 29: Class D5, D6, D7, D8, D9, D10, D11/1 & D12 - the Great Central 4-4-0s *Vol. 30: Class E1, E2, GC 12A, E4, E5, '901', '1440', E7 & E8 - the 2-4-0s *Vol. 31: Class C6, C7, C8, C9 - the North Eastern Atlantics *Vol. 32: Class X1, X2, X3, X4, Y2, Y4, Y5, Y6, Y7, Y8, Y9, Y10, Z4 & Z5 *Vol. 33: Class C12, C13, C14 & C17 *Vol. 34: Class D17, D18, D19, D20, D21, D22, D23 & D24 *Vol. 35: Class J14 & J15 *Vol. 36: Class F1, F2, G1, G2, G3, G4, G7, G8, G9 & G10 *Vol. 37A: Class J1, J2, J3 & J4 *Vol. 37B: Class J5, J6, J7, J40 & J41 *Vol. 38: Class F8, G5 & G6 *Vol. 39: Class F3, F4, F5, F6, F7 & F9 *Vol. 40: Class C10, C11, C15, C16 & D11/2 *Vol. 41: Class J16, J17, J18, J19, J20 *Vol. 42A: Class D25, D26, D27, D28, D29 & D30 *Vol. 42B: Class D31, D32, D33, D34, D35 & D36 *Vol. 43A: Class J71 & J72 *Vol. 43B: Class J73-J80 & NER '44' *Vol. 44: Classes D38, D39, D40, D41, D42, D43, D44, D45, D46, D47 & D48 - The Great North of Scotland Railway 4-4-0s *Vol. 45: Classes J8. J9, J10, J11, J12, J13 - The Great Central 0-6-0 Tender Engines *Vol. 46A: Classes J52, J53, J54, J55, J56, J57 & GNR 19 – The Stirling Great Northern 0-6-0 Tank Engines *Vol. 46B: Classes J50, J51, J84, J93, N19 & M&GN 16A *Vol. 47A: Classes J21, J22, J23 & J24 - The North Eastern 0-6-0s (Booklaw/Railbus, 2010) *Vol. 47B: Classes J25, J26, J27, '1001' & '398' - The North Eastern 0-6-0s *Vol. 48: Classes J64, J65, J66, J67, J68, J69, J70 & J92 *Vol. 49A: Classes N4, N5 & N6 *Vol. 49B: Classes N8, N9, N10, N11, N12, N13, N14 & N15 (Booklaw/Railbus, 2011) *Vol. 50: Classes D50, D51, GC7, J58, J59, J60, J61, J62, J63, J81, J82, J83, J84, J85, J86, J88, J90, J91, N18, Diesel, Petrol & Electric motive power & Trams (Booklaw/Railbus, 2011)

Other LNER

* LNER locomotive allocations: 1947: the last day (Irwell Press, 1989) * LNER locomotive allocations: the First Day, 1923 (Challenger Publications, 1996)

LNWR

* A compendium of LNWR locomotives ** Part 1: Passenger Tender Engines 1912–1949 ** Part 2: Goods Tender Engines 1912–1964

Hull

* Illustrated history of Hull's railways, with M Nicholson (Irwell Press, 1993), * More Illustrated History of the Railways of Hull (Challenger Publications, 1995).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yeadon, Willie Brayshaw 1907 births 1997 deaths People from Yeadon, West Yorkshire People from Kingston upon Hull Rail transport writers 20th-century English historians