OBITUARY John Price

It is with an ineffable sense of loss that we record the death of John Price. He died peacefully in his sleep in a nursing home at Bretton Gate, near Peterborough, on 15 October at the age of 72. A Vice-President of the LRTA since 1980 and an officer for over 50 years, he did much to enhance its influence, development and status. He was also the principal moving spirit in establishing the Tramway Museum Society and consequently the National Tramway Museum.

John Horace Price, the son of a policeman, was born in Wandsworth, London, on 30 August 1926. Educated at Whitgift Middle School, Croydon, his early transport interests focused on buses and trains. John Meredith, his near contemporary at school, drew his attention to the Light Railway Transport League which he joined in 1944, soon developing a keen interest in trams. Leaving school in the same year, he went into the Army and found himself some 12 months later stationed in Germany as part of the Allied army of occupation. At that time, a British soldier's uniform could gain its wearer entry almost anywhere and naturally he was drawn to local tramway systems starting to recover from the ravages of war. He frequented depots and was soon able to gain a good working knowledge of German tramway terminology from depot staff. Fraternising with the locals was at that time strictly prohibited, but he grasped the essential verity that tramway enthusiasts possessed the same motivations and aspirations whatever their nationality. He was soon in contact with local enthusiasts, obligingly arranging tram tours for them, an activity at that time not open to them to organise for themselves. So the young soldier made his own modest contribution to post-war reconciliation, forging enduring friendships as a consequence.

On demobilisation in 1948 he joined the staff of Thos Cook & Son, the celebrated travel firm, as a member of their railway timetable team. It was a classic case of a square peg in a square hole. He became editor of Cook's Continental timetable in 1952 and over the years gradually expanded it so that it came to embrace British and Irish railways and then the whole world. It is now published in two portions: European and Overseas. In 1985 he had become Managing Editor of Thomas Cook Publications. Although retiring from the company in 1988, he thereafter maintained a role as consulting editor. On his retirement, the printer of the timetables, Albert Gait Ltd, produced a limited edition book, A Man and his Timetable, based partly on a paper given by John Price to the Chartered Institute of Transport, of which he was a member. He contributed widely to Cooks in other ways, developing its archives and founding its railway club. He was also an enthusiastic supporter of the transfer of the company's headquarters from Mayfair to Peterborough, his department being the first to move in 1975.

Also on leaving the Army, and with customary vigour, he was able to throw himself into the work of the Association. Within a matter of months he had been appointed Area Liaison Officer, with a seat on the Council. In 1949 he served as Assistant Secretary before in the same year becoming Secretary. He occupied the latter post for seven years. This was a burdensome time, with many of the surviving UK tramway systems closing. Moreover, apart from his general administrative duties, he was busy organising tram tours both in Britain and abroad. One early such tour was that to the Southampton system in August 1948 which, with the subsequent decision of its participants to preserve the tour car, provided the genesis for the establishment of the National Tramway Museum. In later years he was to organise or participate in tours to many parts of the world, including Asia, Africa and the Americas.

Although he had been an early contributor to this magazine, it was in 1957 that he formally joined the editorial team. He was to maintain a connection with it for the next 40 years, being Assistant Editor (Home) 1957-65, Assistant,Editor (Museum Notes) 1966-7, Assistant Editor (Historical) 1967-72, Historical Features Editor 1972-82, Home Features Editor 1982-94 and finally serving as a member of the Editorial Panel 1994-7. Apart from normal editorial duties, he was a prolific researcher and writer of articles on a variety of transport topics, both for the Association's magazines and for those of other bodies. Those for foreign language periodicals would, where appropriate, be submitted by him in French or German.

Another outstanding contribution to the work of the Association was his chairmanship of the Publications Committee, a position which he occupied from 1968 to 1995. In this capacity he saw through to publication many manuscripts, again frequently providing material from his own sources, drawing on his personal photographic archive, enhancing the readability of texts, negotiating with printers, pasting up and proof checking, pricing and marketing. Under these arrangements, he produced several works of his own, including The Tramways of Portugal, which ran to four editions, The Tramways of Grimsby, lmmingham & Cleethorpes and the regional edition of Great British Tramway Networks (which appeared in 11 parts under his editorship and is still proceeding). Under other auspices, he produced such diverse titles as London Buses in Wartime, Railway Holiday in Bavaria and A Source Book of Trams, while there was a whole series on British tramcar manufacturers. Two of the latter, The Brush Electrical Engineering Co Ltd and The Dick, Kerr Story, were based on Waiter Gratwicke memorial lectures which he gave in 1975 and 1993 respectively. (He was the only person to be invited to give this prestigious lecture twice.) While invariably well researched and erudite, his writings were models of good English, always easy to follow and absorbing to read.

Apart from publications, John Price's other great contribution was in the field of vehicle preservation. In the wake of the fateful Southampton tour already referred to, the Association set up a Museum Committee of which he was a founder member. The Committee was soon able to acquire eight trams and several other items, but their preservation was precarious without premises in which to house them. Ultimately, in 1955, the Tramway Museum Society was formed to carry forward this task and the museum at Crich was the result. He was the first Secretary of the Society and much of its success was due to his vision, drive, organisational flair and communications skills.

He relinquished the secretaryship in 1958, but continued as a member of the TMS Committee (later Board), serving as its Chairman 1961-3. He chaired the committee which drew up the Trams Report in 1963 and its sequels of 1978 and 1988. These laid the foundations for the Museum's acquisition policy, establishing a standard in museum circles which materially assisted acceptance of the Museum by the Museums & Galleries Commission for registration in 1990 and designation in 1997. He also acquired and presented to the Museum a nearby cottage which could provide him and other members with overnight accommodation. Later he donated to the the Museum the greater part of his immense collection of tramway archives. In recognition of his services, he was appointed President of the Society for the year 1986-7 and (on his death) the library at Crich has been named the John Price Memorial Library. It was particularly fitting, if poignant, that his last visit to the Museum, on 29th August last, was in connection with the 50th anniversary celebrations held to commemorate the original Southampton tour.

Other preservation activities with which he was closely involved included his membership of the Consultative Panel for the Preservation of British Transport Relics. He was Chairman of the Tramway Committee of that body and it was his work in this capacity which provided the analysis on which the Trams Report, referred to above, was based. He also played a part in the Wagons-Lits Society, securing the preservation of one of their distinctive coaches, and was an active member of the Nene Valley Railway. For a short time he was also a member of the Council of the Transport Trust. His encyclopaedic knowledge was of great assistance to film makers and writers for radio.

Stern of visage, brisk of manner, terse of speech, quick of thought and with a formidable memory, he could cut an awesome figure. But he engendered deep respect and often affection for beyond these outward semblances there dwelt a shy and lonely personality, possessed of great kindliness and generosity. In particular, he assisted numerous people with advice over travel and writing, about their careers and with finance. It was particularly tragic that after a lifetime of relentless activity, he should have been stricken with Parkinson's disease, thus ultimately finding himself confined to a wheelchair. Retaining to the end his restless spirit and intellectual faculties, the frustrations of his physical infirmities were for him a cruel burden to bear, the more so since he was in constant pain from other afflictions. So while for the rest of us the passing of this towering figure, justly described as a legend in his own lifetime, leaves us profoundly desolate, for him, when death came, it did so as a friend. He was unmarried, but is survived by his sister Margery and her family.

GBC