Jeremy Wiseman, 30/04/33 - 20/10/2022

The biographical notes below were first published in series of three books on the railways and tramways of Spain published there by Ediciones Trea S.L. between 2008 and 2011.

Jeremy was a freelance translator based near Geneva. He was born in Grantham, Lincolnshire in 1933 and attended primary and secondary school in Devon. He later studied translation and interpretration in Geneva, living in the nearby French town of Ferney-Voltaire. During this period he travelled many times to Spain for holidays and study purposes; and continued to do so during the nineteen sixties and seventies even though his work took him mainly to Africa on short term contracts with the United Nations. Between 1970 and 1978 he also paid several visits to South and Central America.

He first became interested in minor railways at the age of five, while living in Fittleworth in Sussex, on the branch line from Petworth to Midhurst.

Ex LSWR class M7 0-4-4T number 30108 propels a train to Midhurst away from Fittleworth station on 29/12/1954. Photo Trevor Rowe

He developed a liking for trams a little later when the family moved to Birmingham, being strongly influenced by his two elder brothers who were happy to be close to trams again after being saddened by the abandonment of those at Nottingham, which they had seen earlier in the course of visits to relatives.The names of two other Wisemans may be familiar to readers, namely Jeremy's elder brother Richard, who for 22 years was editor of "Tramway Review" and Richard's son Gordon who is an active member of the SNCF Society of Great Britain.

Photographs appear below from some of the less common locations featured in his vast collection from some 78 countries visited.

750mm gauge 2-6-2T number 6 HÖLAND, built by Hartmann (4658/1925), stands with a train at Bingsfoss, Norway on 25/6/1967


Tramcar number 49 & trailer operating on route 3 to Basta at Emir Bechir in Beirut, Lebanon on 28/7/1962


A pair of Billard autorails and trailers stand in the station at Grande Chaloupe, Reunion looking NE towards the Indian sub-continent on 28/8/1974. Another trailer stands in the left background


An 0-6-0WT built by Orenstein & Koppel (12791/1936) is preserved at the Médine Sugar Estate, Mauritius on 26/8/1974.


Bogie autorail number ZC 903 with three trailers heading for Ambatosoratra stands in the station at Ambodinifodi, Madagascar on 30/8/1974.


An Alsthom Bo-Bo diesel heading an overnight passenger train to Addis Ababa is seen in open country near Caliti, Ethiopia in September 1973.


Tramcar number 40 & trailer operating on route 3 heads along the Sharia Saba Banat in Alexandria, Egypt on 24/7/1962


Compania Espanolade Minas del Rif 2-6-2T number 221, built by Henschel (17891/1920), waiting to back down to jetty at Mellilla with her train of iron ore from mines over the border in Morocco on 2/3/1966


A class DF Co-Co diesel, built by Alsthom in 1968 or 1970, heads an express to Casablanca on a curve by the beach departing Tangier on 4/3/1982


Ghana Railways 4-8-2 number 272, built by Vulcan Foundry (5943/1951), heads a mixed train near Achimota on 3/3/1973.


On the metre gauge line from Lomé to Aného in Togo, locotracteur number 5 shunts at Lomé on 20/6/1971.


Nigerian Railways 2-8-2 number 220 RIVER WESSA, built by Vulcan Foundry (6202?/1954), shunts in the yard at Ebute Metta near Lagos in August 1973.


Usina Santa Terezinha metre gauge Luttermöller 0-10-0 number 14, built by Orenstein & Koppel (9468/1921) stands on a curve outside the mill near Agua Preta, Brazil on 10/12/1974.


On the AF de Estado in Uruguay 2-6-0 number 222, built by Beyer Peacock (6547/1929), heads a passenger train taking water at Piedras Coloradas on 29/12/1971.


On the 3ft gauge FC y Muelle de Pimentel in Peru, 2-6-2 number 3, built by BMAG (8323/1924), heads a train from Pimentel to Chiclayo through open desert on 9/1/1975.