Oswald Stevens Nock was born in January 19
05 in Sutton Coldfield. His relationship with the railways started early – as a young child he was often taken to both the GWR and SECR lines that served Reading, where his father was a bank manager.In 1916 the Nock family moved to Barrow-in-Furness and Oswald became a boarder at Giggleswick School. Having passed his school certificate, Nock enrolled at the City & Guilds Engineering College in 1921 and was awarded a BSc. In 1925 he became a graduate trainee at the Westinghouse, Brake, and Saxby Signal Company.
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Initially, Westinghouse and Nock enjoyed much work thanks to the ‘Big Four’ railways companies (GWR, LMS, LNER and SR) switching from mechanical signalling to electrically controlled signalling. However, by the early 1930s there was a downturn in work and many feared for their jobs. As a way to supplement his income, Nock turned to journalism and his writing about railways soon took off.
His first article was published in the Railway Magazine in January 1932, ‘Carlisle, a Station of Changes’. This was the first of 16 articles that Nock had published over the next two years but he remained concerned that his writing could jeopardise his job so he wrote under the pen name of ‘C. K. Stevens’ or ‘Railway Engineer’ for the majority of his articles. He need not have worried, however, as his career with Westinghouse lasted 45 years. During this time Nock held many senior positions, including Chief Mechanical Engineer and Planning Manager. In 1969 he was elected President of the Institute of Railway Signal Engineers.
Nock met his wife Olivia at King’s Cross Station where she was assistant manageress in the Georgian Tea Rooms. In 1937 Nock and his new bride honeymooned on the Flying Scotsman before settling in Bath. They had one daughter and one son
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Nock always viewed his writing as second to his job with Westinghouse, 'I always thought of writing as a second string to the bow,' he said. 'The real job was as an engineer.' That said his writing was prolific and did not take too much of a back seat. His first book was published in 1945 and thereafter he published an average of 2 books each year. In 1970 when he retired his output increased to an average of 5 books every year! In total Nock wrote over 140 books and 1000 articles on railways. He continued to write until his death, his last book being published in 1993 just a year before he died, in September 1994 aged 89.
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