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Books
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The Hereford & Gloucester Canal
by David Bick
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Throughout the length and breadth of England, no major navigation is so
lost in obscurity as the Hereford & Gloucester Canal. Unlike its famous
neighbour, the Thames & Severn, with which comparisons may be drawn, all
links with living memory have inevitably broken and apart from a brief
account here and there, its story has never been told. Small wonder
then, that these 34 miles of inland waterway are a thing forgotten.
Promoted on a doubtful footing during the Canal Mania of the 1790s, the
Hereford & Gloucester Canal has an absorbing history and industrial
archaeology, and it is hoped these pages will provide a useful
introduction to a subject which I have studied on and off for 30 years. |
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In particular, reference is made at some length to the part played by
Stephen Ballard, a local man by whose drive and ability the canal was at
last completed, and whose diaries have provided a vivid insight into days
before the railways came. For one who numbered among his friends and
acquaintances George and Robert Stephenson, Thomas Brassey, Joseph Locke,
and I.K. Brunel, Ballard¹s name, like the canal he built, has lapsed into
undeserved oblivion. The biographical notes included here are an attempt
to restore his position among the foremost contractors and engineers of
the day. No story of the canal would be complete without reference to
the Gloucester-Ledbury railway, which after 1885 assumed to a considerable
extent its role and route, and a chapter on this era is included. Of the
canal itself, many remnants survive to surprise those who care to leave
the beaten track - bridges, aqueducts, tunnels, and silent ribbons of
water which we can scarcely believe no barge has parted for a hundred
years. In this new enlarged edition we record the achievements, so far,
of the Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal Trust in its endeavours to
link two cities by water again, after a gap of well over a century. The
book is to A5 format and consists of 112 pages and is published on art
paper throughout, it includes more than 90 photographs, maps and plans. It
has a full colour laminated card with a square-backed spine. |
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C8 |
ISBN 0
85361 599 3
ISBN 978 0 85361 599 6 |
£ 8.95 |
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HILLHOUSE IMMORTALS, The Story of a London & North Western Railway Shed and
its Men
by Neil Fraser |
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London & North Western: a name that excites the imagination and charged the
atmosphere with great achievements in the realm of railway enterprise. One
of the LNWR's less fashionable engine sheds forms the background to this
work, a shed where there were no household names and few famous engines -
its stud being drawn from a worthy assortment of hard slogging dividend
earners. Situated half a mile north of Huddersfield on the Manchester-Leeds
route, Hillhouse Shed was animated by highly contrasting figures possessed
of many good human qualities, and a few with a share of human failings. Men
whose words and humour deserve recall and whose stirring deeds quickens the
blood. Remembrance of past generations of men and engines is tempered by
the fact that of all the characteristics with which humans are endowed, it
is often by some particular incident that they are remembered. Here is the
story of men who left their own indelible mark in railway history. A5
format, 112 pages with 113 photographs/plans. |
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RS5 |
ISBN 0 85361 548 9
ISBN 978 0 85361 548 4 |
£8.95 |
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HORNCASTLE and TATTERSHALL CANAL
by J.N. Clarke
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Horncastle’s link with the River Witham which enabled navigation south to
The Wash, and north to Lincoln, then via Fossdyke to the River Trent. The
opening of the GNR’s Lincolnshire Loop Line sent the canal into decline.
The canal was officially declared defunct in 1889 and so closed what had
been a vital link in the development of Horncastle’s growth and prosperity
during the first half of the 19th century.
96 pages with 35 photographs/maps etc. Art paper throughout to A5 size.
Two-colour Linson cover.
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C6 |
ISBN 0 85361 398 2
ISBN 978 0 85361 398 5 |
£4.95 |
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HORSE TRAMS OF THE BRITISH
ISLES
by R.W. Rush |
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The first type of public
railed transport, the horse tramway, seems to have been sadly neglected by
historians. This is not intended to be a detailed history of all horse
tramways, indeed such an attempt would be nigh impossible. It seeks only
to trace the development from the inception, well over a century ago, of
the horse tramways in general, and to compare some of the various designs
of cars, and the firms
who built them. A list of horse car systems in the British Isles is given
as an Appendix, and is believed to be complete as far as the author can
discover. It is hoped that the book will throw some light on what hitherto
has been a very neglected subject.
The book is to A5 format and
consists of 104 pages and includes 23 of
Mr Rush's plans of
horse trams, all reproduced to 4 mm scale. More than 50 photographs are
also included. It has a laminated colour card cover with square-backed
spine. |
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LP227 |
ISBN 0
85361 600 0
ISBN 978 0 85361 600 9 |
£8.95 |
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HUDDERSFIELD and KIRKBURTON BRANCH
by J.N. Fisher |
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The story of an unusual railway, as it was the only London & North Western
Railway branch in an area where Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway branches
proliferated. The branch opened for passengers in 1867, just 20 years
after the railway first reached Huddersfield. The passenger service was
relatively short-lived, and ceased, apart from specials, in 1930. Goods
services continued over the whole of the branch for a further 35 years and
over a truncated section into the 1970s. In addition to the two terminal
stations, there were three other stations along the line at Deighton,
Kirkheaton, and Fenay Bridge and Lepton. Although constructed and operated
as a branch it was originally intended as a through route to Barnsley and
the Yorkshire coalfield. It was perhaps in its service to industry where
the benefits of the branch were most in evidence. In addition to carrying
raw materials in for local industry, and manufactured goods out, the
railway connected directly to a number of private sidings and even fully
fledged industrial railway systems. |
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The largest and the best private
industrial railway in the district served ICI’s Dalton Works, this system
consisted of around 20 miles of track. Interest in the branch has already been
re-kindled with the re-opening of a passenger station at Deighton.
There is also currently a proposal which could result in the relaying of
the first nine furlongs of the branch to enable ICI Organics to convey
bulk train loads to its works. And so in spite of the early loss of a
passenger service from this branch the final chapter may well not have
been written and it is just possible that at least a section of the line
could again provide some service which will be of benefit to the local
economy. A5 format, 80 pages, art paper throughout and including 66
photographs and illustrations with a 2-colour Linson cover and a
square-backed spine. |
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LP202 |
ISBN 0 85361 510 1
ISBN 978 0 85361 510 1 |
£ 6.95 |
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