Ian Allan

Ian Allan, OBE (29 June 1922 – 28 June 2015) was a publisher who specialised in transport titles through his company Ian Allan Publishing.

Early life Allan was born at Christ's Hospital, a private school in West Sussex, where his father, G.A.T. Allan, was clerk to the school. He was educated at St Paul's School. At the age of 15, he had a leg amputated following an accident during Officers' Training Corps exercises.

Publishing career

ABC guides With the help of S. K. Packham, Chief Clerk in the Public Relations Office, Allan compiled a notebook with all the names, numbers, classes and shed allocations of Southern Railway locomotives, based on many of the requests he received about rolling stock. This was so well-received that Allan asked his chief officer, Cuthbert Grasemann, if he might publish it as a small booklet which would save costs in terms of replying to public enquiries and which could even make a small profit. The proposal was turned down but Allan was allowed to begin publication on his own behalf. Through the Public Relations Office, he met W.C. Brett of McCorquodale & Co. printers who agreed to publish the booklet. Two thousand copies of his first book, ABC of Southern Locomotives, were ordered for sale for a shilling each. On the day of its publication, 21 November 1942, Allan presented copies to Grasemann and Oliver Bulleid, the Southern Railway's Chief Mechanical Engineer. This backfired as Bulleid objected violently to the publication of a book about his locomotives without his knowledge and he threatened Allan with dismissal from the Southern Railway as well as an action for breach of copyright if he were to publish.

Undeterred, Allan went ahead with publication and sent a copy to Robert Holland-Martin, Chairman of the Southern Railway, who welcomed it and congratulated Allan on his entrepreneurial spirit. No further objection was raised to Allan's continued employment with the Southern, although he was barred from the Locomotive Drawing Office and informed that communications with the Locomotive Department had to be sent through official channels. The first edition was quickly sold out and enlarged editions followed with photographs provided by O.J. Morris, who had been a frequent contributor to the Southern Railway magazine. The ABC of Great Western Locomotives was published in 1943, followed by the ABC of London Midland & Scottish Locomotives, and the ABC of LNER Locomotives. The 20,000 copies of the first edition of an ABC guide covering London Transport railways, trams, buses, trolleybuses and coaches sold out in a few days despite the poor quality paper used. Allan's guides proved to be a success, leading to the emerging of trainspotting as a national hobby. With Mollie Franklin (later his wife) he formed the Ian Allan Locospotters’ Club in 1949, which eventually grew to some 230,000 members. He also led a successful campaign to reinstate steam-hauled excursions using privately owned locomotives, after the end of steam on British Rail.

He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1995.