Catalogue description The Pearce Higgins collection of railway photographs

It is composed of glass and film negatives featuring Welsh railways, industrial railways, tramways, locomotives and trains of the GWR, LMS, LNER, Bishop's Castle Railway and the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway.

His archive consists of thousands of photographs, which he mostly took himself using 3½ x 2½ and 4¼ x 3¼ ins glass plate negative cameras, as well as manuscript notes, transcripts, and cuttings from technical journals.

The collection is listed. There are manuscript lists for a small portion of the negatives prepared by Pearce Higgins, ordered both chronologically and by company. These contain somewhat idiosyncratic notes giving brief details of the locomotive or train in the photograph, the location and date and the conditions under which the picture was taken. The remainder of the collection has been listed by the NRM and is available in typescript. The formats laid down by Pearce Higgins have been followed and expanded upon. Photographs divided by railway company are accompanied by brief descriptions of the locomotive class, wheel arrangement, number and name, with location and date where known. Photographs ordered chronologically from 1961 -- 1978 are accompanied by an index of subjects and contact prints, which are available to view on request. There is a part list available of the contact prints. There are also indexes featuring the subjects covered by Pearce Higgins' transparency and print collections, also available to view by special request.

Pearce Higgins, Selwyn Howard, 1912-1980, schoolmaster, author, member of the Newcomen Society

Higgins, Selwyn Howard Pearce, 1912-1980, schoolmaster, author, member of the Newcomen Society

• Railway transport

A member of the Newcomen Society, the Industrial Locomotive Society and the Great Western Society Pearce Higgins became an authority on industrial locomotives and minor independent railways, particularly in Wales. He was also the author of a book on the Wantage Tramway.

Over some forty-five years, Pearce Higgins amassed a vast collection of railwayana, perhaps his most noteworthy piece being a Cambrian Railways bogie coach.

The NRM acquired the Pearce Higgins collection shortly after his death in 1980.