I hope to have an OUS contribution in due course, but here are obituary notices from the general press:

Daily Telegraph:

Peter Semmens, who has died aged 79, fulfilled every train-spotter's dream by becoming the pre-eminent authority on every aspect of trains and railways, from their history, design and technology to timetables and comparative performance.

He wrote 36 books, ranging from a three-volume history of the Great Western Railway to volumes about railway disasters and steam technology. For 22 years he wrote the monthly "Railway Practice and Performance" column in Railway Magazine, which provides detailed analysis of comparative performance, against a wide range of indicators, of different types of locomotive. He lectured and advised on television documentaries and, as the first deputy curator of the National Railway Museum at York, was responsible for supervising the building of the museum and bringing together its vast collection in preparation for its opening in 1975.

There was nothing Semmens did not know about trains, and he became the first port of call for those wanting an informed and precise opinion on train performance or mishap. "On the Great Western Lines in 1889, there were 16 routes averaging more than 100mph," he assured a journalist wondering whether train services had improved. "Now there are just five".

Semmens was a stickler for detail and, when travelling by train, even on family holidays, he would take a clipboard and stopwatch in order to record the time of travel between each quarter-mile marker post en route - a pastime that requires intense concentration and allows no interruption.

The son of a bank manager, Peter William Brett Semmens was born at Saltash, Cornwall, on September 13 1927. Educated at St Edward's School, Oxford, he studied Chemistry at Exeter College, Oxford, where he developed an interest in bellringing, becoming master of the University Change Ringers, and learned to fly a Tiger Moth.

But railways were his real passion. An avid train-spotter as a boy, he never went anywhere without his camera, and from the 1940s he took a vast number of photographs of trains which he carefully numbered and catalogued. On his first visit to meet the parents of his wife-to-be, Barbara Knee, at their home in Barnsley, he went off to watch a steam engine hauling coal trucks at a nearby pit and returned covered from head to foot in coaldust. The relationship survived, and they married in 1950.

After graduating, Semmens joined ICI at Billingham, Yorkshire, where he worked for the next 25 years and became involved in promoting science for young people. He served on the Council of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1974 he joined the York Railways Museum as deputy curator. He also served on the Yorkshire Tourist Board.

In 1981 Semmens was invited by Railway Magazine to take over its "Practice and Performance" column - the longest-running railway column in the world. He continued to write it until 2003, having become the magazine's chief correspondent in 1990. He travelled widely, reporting on train services from as far afield as Japan.

Though journalists often consulted him for an instant opinion following rail disasters, he was reluctant to be too definite. He recalled how, in 1946, while working during his university vacation in Hertfordshire, he had witnessed the aftermath of a major steam train accident at Hatfield. As well as helping passengers to retrieve their belongings from the broken carriages (fortunately there were no fatalities), he conducted a cursory inspection of the train which led him to blame a faulty rail.

But a subsequent official investigation blamed a faulty train suspension system. "This showed me how easy it was to find the wrong culprit in the interests of a quick fix," he wrote. "One must wait for a full technical investigation followed by an accurate and fully researched report."

Indeed, he was so impressed with the quality of the official report into the accident that he became a regular subscriber to HMSO railway inspectorate reports - creating an invaluable research archive.

Following the Hatfield rail crash of 2000, for example, he noted that after the 1946 accident clearance of the wreckage started within a few hours, and all four tracks were reopened for service precisely 24 hours and 30 minutes after the train had left the rails.

By contrast, following the later accident, "in spite of all the modern technology, it will take a further two weeks to restore normal service after all the investigations have been carried out - hardly the way to attract passengers to travel by train, let alone demonstrate the efficiency of Railtrack's organisation."

Semmens's other books included a guide to the Stockton and Darlington Railway, biographies of well-known enginemen, a study of high-speed railways in Japan, a celebration of the building of the Channel Tunnel and Railway Disasters of the World (1994).

Peter Semmens died on March 4. He is survived by his wife and five children.

 

The Yorkshire Post:

Peter William Semmens - William was a family name which had passed through many generations of this Cornish family – who has died aged 79 was a scientist who applied himself to the study, in minute detail, of trains, locomotives and railways, becoming a pre-eminent authority on this particular form of transport.

He wrote, or part wrote, 36 books on the subject, and for 22 years wrote the monthly Railway Practice & Performance article in The Railway Magazine.He lectured and helped make numerous documentaries for television. When the opening of the Channel Tunnel was filmed, he acted as railway adviser.But above all, as deputy head of the National Railway Museum in York, he was responsible for bringing together its vast collection in preparation for its opening in 1975.

Peter's attention to detail, methodical approach and zeal for accuracy made him the ideal person to monitor the speed of the newest and fastest locomotives being brought into service by British Rail. One such was the appropriately-named Cornishman which he and Peter Rodgers – there were always two referees on these occasions – measured travelling at 154mph on a famous stretch of the East Coast main line.His technique was to use a stopwatch, secured to a clip- board, with which he timed the intervals between quarter-mile marker posts.The last time he recorded a train's speed was almost exactly a year ago, after which ill-health brought that activity to an end.

Never did Peter Semmens make a railway journey, and he made very many, without his especially-equipped clip-board on which he meticulously recorded the speed at which he, and sometimes his family of five children, was being carried along. If they were on holiday, Barbara, his wife, would be driving the car so as to meet them when they got off.Peter had little interest in cars, but at Oxford University he learned to fly a Tiger Moth biplane – perhaps the happiest time of his life – as a member of the university air squadron, and his interest in mathematics drew him to bell ringing. He was Master of the University Change Ringers, and when he lived in Middlesbrough he joined bellringers whenever he was able.

His father was a bank manager, and his early childhood was spent in Saltash, on the opposite side of the Tamar from Plymouth. The family home was not far from Brunel's railway bridge, and when Peter was very little, and rather poorly, lying in his cot he could hear the trains clattering over it. "Enij!" he declared, and a love affair had begun. At Oxford he met Barbara Knee, a biology student from Barnsley, and in 1950 they wed.On his first visit to her parents as her suitor, he went off to watch the unique steam engine which hauled coal-laden trains up Worsborough Bank, returning quite blackened. A fireman on the famous double locomotive became one of his best friends. Graduating with a degree in chemistry, for 25 years he worked for ICI in a variety of capacities at Billingham, and there he pursued another great interest: promoting science for young people. For nine years he served on the council of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and helped set up the Teesside branch of the British Association for Young Scientists.

At the time the giant chemical firm was beginning to cut down on management; coincidentally, the nascent Railway Museum was advertising for a keeper. That job went to someone else, but Peter's reputation was such that he was invited to apply for the assistant keeper's job. As such, he supervised the building of the museum and finding exhibits, a job which took him all over the country. Peter Semmens applied to photography the same approach as he did to his railway record-keeping. He took a vast number of photographs, initially developing and printing his own, and each image was numbered and logged.Unfailingly courteous, his attention might sometimes wander from the person who was addressing him as something of interest caught his eye. He was a very observant person.

It was his desire to be well turned out on every occasion – he particularly liked smart, lace-up shoes – but required wifely guidance as how to achieve it. And, however smart, he required numerous pockets, and tended to be hung around with cameras.

He was also a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, served on the executive of the Yorkshire and Humberside Tourist Board and was on the steering committee for the York Visitor and Conference Bureau. Peter leaves Barbara, their five children and seven grandchildren.

 

The Yorkshire Press:

… former deputy head of the National Railway Museum has died at the age of 79. Peter Semmens was the man responsible for bringing much of the museum's extensive collection together. When he joined, as assistant keeper, he supervised the building of the museum and was charged with finding the exhibits for it, a role that saw him travel the length and breadth of the country.

Andrew Scott, head of the museum, paid tribute to Mr Semmens.He said: "Peter was the last survivor of four key figures responsible for setting up the National Railway Museum in 1975 and for shaping its agenda during the early days.” As assistant keeper, or deputy head, of the museum, he became know worldwide for his role in making the museum a success from its opening. Mr Scott said: "Peter made a major contribution not only to the preservation of our collections, but also as a pioneering member of the Yorkshire Tourist Board and what is now the York Tourism Bureau. After his retirement in 1987, Peter was a regular visitor to the NRM and took a keen interest in its activities. He will undoubtedly be missed."

Mr Semmens spent his early life in Saltash, near Plymouth, and lived near to Brunel's railway bridge.
While ill as a young child, he was placed outside in his cot, and could hear the sound of the trains going over the bridge. As they did so, he said the word "enij", and a lifelong interest in locomotives was born.

This culminated in his work at the National Railway Museum, but Mr Semmens also acted as a rail advisor for the Channel Tunnel and, together with a colleague, measured the speed of the Cornishman loco at 154mph on the East Coast Mainline.

He did this by using a stopwatch and clipboard and would note the time the train would take between the quarter-mile markers along the track. He did this on every rail journey.

Mr Semmens read chemistry at Oxford University and while there learned to fly a Tiger Moth biplane. It was also at Oxford that he met his wife, Barbara, and in 1950, they married. On his first meeting with her parents, in Barnsley, he visited the coal train at Worsborough Bank and returned covered in soot.

During his career he worked for ICI at Billingham and helped set up the British Association for Young Scientists' Teesside branch