OBITUARY
September 2010
GREGORY KIRKHAM FOX 1943 - 2010
- 2009
Friends and fellow enthusiasts were shocked to learn, on Mon 6 September 2010 at the early age of only 67, of the passing of Gregory K Fox, the well-known publisher of the celebrated and long-running ‘Foxline’ series of 'Scenes From The Past' volumes. Greg had been seriously ill for some weeks and, having suffered a series of strokes, was not expected to recover.
A BR bridge engineer by profession, he eventually left the railway to devote his efforts full-time on a developing book publishing business, but, by still maintaining a professional interest in the industry, this undoubtedly gave him unique access to historical records and files which he exploited to the full. The first album, “Scenes from the Past 1: Railways around Stockport”, was published in 1986, to be followed in subsequent years by well in excess of fifty other titles in the series. These titles brought to the public many railway pictures and stories which, otherwise, might never have seen the light of day.
Part of Greg’s success lay in the fact that he possessed a good eye for the production of superior quality compilations, accompanied by an unrivalled encyclopaedic knowledge of every aspect of his subject matter. The ever-growing series came to establish a solid reputation, based upon the featuring of well reproduced photographs of an invariably higher than average standard, each and every one being accompanied by a most satisfying comprehensive, authoritative and interesting commentary.
This textual material was all thoroughly researched and meticulous in detail, not only for the information that it contained regarding locomotives and rolling stock, but also for vital historical facts concerning the physical remains of buildings and the placing of each scene in the context of route development and company involvement. Indeed, some titles have become standard works of reference and, with many of the ‘Foxline’ titles being composed by other authors, few will deny that Greg’s personal input to their own work had usually been considerable and clearly bore his distinctive mark of meticulous writing, image layout, cartography and editing.
The writer recalls many lengthy telephone conversations, particularly at times when Greg was struggling with the details of some obscure freight working, locomotive roster or date for his captions and, from his large circle of other friends, colleagues and railway photographers, it was clear that he was usually able to call upon someone to provide him with a historic photograph or item of information that had never been published previously.
Until shortly before his untimely death, the series had passed well over the 50 mark; with yet further titles known to be in course of preparation. Covering different geographic areas of British Railways, Greg had once said that it was his own preference initially to concentrate mainly on North of England subjects, but the field latterly did come to encompass other areas, and few enthusiasts the length and breadth of the country can today deny that they possess at least one ‘Scenes From The Past’ title within their own collections.
Over the years, many tried to emulate that unique ‘Foxline’ style, with its satisfying combination of evocative scenes and detailed railway history but, equally, it is a fact that few totally succeeded. The name, however, may well live on, for, although unsubstantiated, there have been rumours circulating that the goodwill of the publishing business might already have been sold to an as yet unidentified purchaser.
The funeral service was held on Friday 17th September 2010 at St Chad’s Church in Romiley, being attended by Greg’s family, former work colleagues and a vast number of his many friends, following which committal took place at Stockport Crematorium.
Alan Castle 18-09-2010