Page:Engines and men- the history of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen. A survey of organisation of railways and railway locomotive men (IA enginesmenhistor00rayniala).pdf/13



T has long been my desire to have compiled a History of our Society, as I have felt that the record of a Society like our own, which has had such a continued struggle, would lend itself particularly well to such a project, and that it would be not only a source of delight to our older members, and an inspiration to the younger ones, but a great record for us all,

It was not, however, until June, 1920, that I was able to find time to collect all the mass of requisite material and place the matter in the hands of Mr. J. R. Raynes, himself a skilled Journalist and a writer of books, with the result that after nearly a year of hard work on the part of Mr. Raynes I am able to write foreword to this volume and present it to our members, in the hope and with the sincere wish that it may be a delight to every one of its readers; that older members may in its pages be able to fight their battles over again, and joy in the accomplishment of at least some of their Sadly ideas, and in dreams which have come true. That younger members may, by reading of the

realise some of the immensity of the early struggles, and thereby he enthused to carry on the good work with renewed courage and ever greater energy.

I feel that not only will this book be valuably informative as a chronological record of the Society's progress, but a real inspiration to all interested members, for it will be impossible for anyone reading, first of the formation and early vicissitudes of the Society, then tracing its progress step by step through forty years of storm and sun, until finally success begins to crown the efforts and our present position is reached, without themselves feeling an uplifting and a keen desire to buckle on their own armour and perform deeds of "derring do" in carrying the Society to yet greater successes in the near and distant future.