|
| |
|
Books
Sa - Sn
SAGA BY RAIL: GREAT BRITAIN
AND THE ISLE OF MAN
by J. I. C. Boyd |
 |
The second
volume of James Boyd's reminiscences of his life-long enthusiasm for
railways is told in his own inimitable style. The earliest of these
stories date back as far as the 1930s. Most railway enthusiasts of the day
were drawn towards the impressive standard gauge steam-hauled expresses of
Britain's major railways. Fortunately for us, Mr Boyd's tastes were rather
more eclectic and obscure and so in this volume we discover the delights
of such interesting and diverse systems as Altrincham Gas Works, Eaton
Hall, Manchester Ship Canal, Snailbeach District, Woodhead Reservoirs
and Whittingham Hospital railways.
Those familiar with Mr Boyd's
narrow gauge railway history books will be unsurprised to see tales of
travels to the Corris Railway, Welshpool & Llanfair Railway and the Isle
of Man, and of experiences in the early days of railway preservation in
Wales.
|
Mr Boyd also turned his attention
towards some standard gauge lines - predominantly in North-West England
and the Welsh borders. The author was sent to school for a time to
Bryanston, in Dorset, in the 1930s. Being shown how to drive a Somerset &
Dorset Joint line 2-8-0 while on shunting duties at Blandford turned out
to be not just a memorable moment but a life-changing experience. Evocative
stories of a bygone age.
|
Contents |
|
Snailbeach District Railways
Electrification of
the MSJ&AR
Oakeley Slate Quarry
Woodhead Reservoirs
Tramway
A Ride on the
Welshpool & Llanfair Goods
Shunting
Instructions on S&DJR 2-8-0s
Gravity Run: Moelwyn
Tunnel - Tan-y-BwIch
Interrupted by the
Military, Portmadoc, 1940
The Whittingham
Railway, May 1948
Water Troubles on
PRINCE, Festiniog Railway
Little Help in High
Places, IOMR
Of Choirs and Places
Where They Sing
A Musical Interlude,
Portmadoc |
Orbit Oswestry
Digging for Clues,
Portmadoc Wharves
Uncle Joe
Bryanston Railway
Society, 1933
Ducal Visits
Manchester Ship
Canal
Last Days on the
Corris Train
To Scotland and
Back!
Talyllyn Working
Party Reminiscences
A Sleeping
Compartment on the Isle of Man Railway
A First Visit to
Eskdale
Luggage in Advance
Index
|
A brand new title
from James Boyd. A5 format, 192 pages, 230 illustrations. |
|
RS17 |
ISBN
978 0 85361 663 4 |
£ 14.95 |
|
SAGA
BY RAIL: IRELAND
by J. I. C. Boyd |
 |
 James
Boyd’s love of Irish railways began in the 1930s. These are his
reminiscences of his visits. He concentrated his attention on the narrow
gauge railway systems, but did not neglect the main line 5 ft 3 in. lines
which he came across. Little of the subject matter of this book can be
experienced today; accordingly, these accounts have taken on a historical
significance. As time has gone by his knowledge of those early subjects
has been enhanced by later fact-finding; this extra material has been
incorporated into the text to give it more substance. Readers who expect
to find some gems of research herein will be disappointed but to counter
this there will be others who will read this with a certain amount of
envy. For this is how it was. |
James
Boyd writes: ‘I am often asked to set down something about my lifetime’s
interest in railways; it is a reminder of my age and of opportunities
which some people wish they could have experienced themselves. Herein I
bow to their wishes. It must be understood that I had no conception that
in later life notes begun when I was a teenager would be interesting to
many today. Similarly, that photographs taken with a simple camera might
become a rarity. Some things I saw I did not fully appreciate on the first
occasion. My field notes and drawings began in 1933 and were made in a
rather expensive Sketch Book from Reeves which I obtained through the
school Art Room so that it might appear under ‘Extras’ on my father’s
termly bill rather than deplete my pocket money. I soon learnt that a
Woolworth’s penny note pad was sufficient for the rough and tumble of
rucksack, bicycle bag and railway environment!’
|
Contents |
|
Author's Note
Preface
Portadown - A First Visit, August 1933
Beyond Portadown - A Second Visit, August 1939
Into Donegal, August 1939
To the Farthest North-West,
Letterkenny to
Burtonport, August 1939
North Donegal Anthology, Part One -
West Donegal,
County Donegal Railways
North Donegal Anthology, Part Two -
A Hurried Finale,
26th March, 1953
North Donegal Anthology, Part Three -
From Rail to Road,
November 1961
A Visit to Ireland Replaces Wales, June 1962 |
A Long
Walk in West Cork,
The Schull &
Skibbereen Railway, April 1953
Political Intrigue in Bantry,
The Cork, Bandon &
South Coast Railway, April 1953
The Cavan & Leitrim Railway - A Remote Delight, March 1949
The Cavan & Leitrim Railway - Revisited, July-August 1951
The Cavan & Leitrim Railway - Arigna Extension, May 1955
Just Passing By - Ballinamore Again, May 1958
Antrim and the Ballycastle Line
Once Daily and Once Monthly, The West Clare and Tralee &
Dingle sections of
the CIE, 27th-30th September, 1950
Kerry Again! 29th May-2nd June, 1952
Footplate in County Cork, August-September 1962
Index |
A5
format, 288 pages, 295 illustrations. |
|
RS16 |
ISBN 0
85361 651 5
ISBN 978 0 85361 651 1 |
£ 16.95 |
|
THE ST ANDREWS RAILWAY
by
Andrew Hajducki,
Michael Jodeluk & Alan Simpson
|
 |
The five mile branch line from
Leuchars Junction, situated on the main line from Edinburgh to Aberdeen a
short distance south of the Tay Bridge, to the ancient university city and
home of golf, St Andrews, was but the first link of the coastal railway
that eventually encircled East Fife. Built entirely by local interests and
with local capital, the small and independent St Andrews Railway was a
pioneer of the cheap railway movement, a reaction against spiralling
costs, over-elaborate engineering and rapacious landowners. It prospered
as its terminus attracted an increasing amount of traffic and eventually
was absorbed by Scotland’s largest company, the North British. Carrying
goods to St Andrews and the substantial traffic associated with the
Guardbridge papermill, this single track branch line also carried
considerable numbers of passengers, including joyful holidaymakers,
expectant golfers, distracted academics, demure schoolgirls and reluctant
servicemen. |
|
Surviving
Grouping, Nationalisation, and, in its last years, dieselisation, the
Leuchars to St Andrews branch finally succumbed to closure in an era of
hollow promises and unfulfilled hopes; even now, more than a generation
later, there are still those who hope to resurrect the line and restore
its fortunes.
The book is to
A5 format, 288 pages, with more than 200 photographs, maps and
illustrations.
|
|
OL146 |
ISBN
978 0 85361 673 3 |
£ 16.95 |
|
ST HELEN'S
RAILWAY: Its rival and successors
by J.M. Tolson
LAST FEW COPIES AVAILABLE - Order now to avoid disappointment |
|
100 pages of text plus 12 pages of 25 photographs on art paper, and
including 16 maps. A5. Linson covers. |
|
OL64 |
ISBN 0 85361 292 7
ISBN 978 0 85361 292 6 |
£ 4.80 |
|
ST JOHN'S LEWISHAM - 50
YEARS ON, RESTORING TRAFFIC
by Peter Tatlow
|
 |
On 4th December, 1957, W.J.
Trew, as he had done on many occasions previously, was driving the 4.56 pm
steam-hauled express passenger train through south-east London from Cannon
Street to Ramsgate conveying city workers and Christmas shoppers back to
their homes, on this occasion, as so often at the time of year, in a thick
London fog. His failure to locate and hence respond to two warning colour
light signals led him to approach the final red signal, requiring him to
stop his train, at a speed estimated at 30 mph or more. This was much too
close to prevent him crashing heavily into the crowded stationary suburban
electric train ahead of him. By stroke of misfortune the impact took place
under a heavy steel flyover carrying other tracks and the derailed tender
of his locomotive knocked out one of the overbridge’s supports causing it
to fall on the leading coaches of his own train. By better fortune,
another crowded commuter train about to cross the collapsed flyover was
alerted in time to stop. Nonetheless, the casualty toll at 90 souls was
the third worst in the country, to which suffering must be added the many
injured some very seriously. |
|
The emergency and
voluntary services were soon on scene and their exploits were remarkable
in recovering the injured and treating them in nearby hospitals. The
Police coped with the bodies, identifying them and informing the bereaved,
while the traumatised were comforted and consoled by the caring services
and pastoral bodies over the coming days.
During the rescue stage, the stability of the partially-collapsed flyover
was of concern. Apart from some shoring, only once the injured were
removed, could the work of temporarily supporting the delicately-balanced
structure begin. The four tracks of the main line were opened eight days
later, but this still left the line carried by the flyover to be dealt
with. Even before the main line was reopened, a start had been made to
construct the trestle bases for a temporary replacement flyover, which was
completed and double line opened for traffic in seven weeks.
A Ministry of Transport’s Inquiry was started, soon after which the
Inquest returned a verdict of accidental death. In the meantime,
proceedings were instituted against the driver on the charge of
manslaughter. The first jury were unable to agree and at the retrial, the
prosecution declined to offer any evidence and Trew, by then a broken man,
was discharged.
Over a period of more than six months an investigation of the train’s
speed, braking equipment, signalling and sighting distance pertaining at
the time of the accident was carried out. Despite the conclusion that it
was not possible for the driver to see the necessary signals when seated
on the left-hand side of the locomotive, the Inspector deemed that he
should have either crossed over the cab or interrupted his fireman from
his duties to ask him to look out for these signals. As a result, the
driver was held solely responsible for the accident.
Looking back at this conclusion after 50 years, one has to wonder whether,
in the light of recent events on the railways following similar disasters,
it might not be those who were responsible for signal sighting that might
be feeling the force of the law.
The book is to A5 format it consists of 160 pages with more than 100
photographs, maps plans and illustrations including a large pull-out
diagram of the signalling arrangements at Lewisham St John’s. It is has a
laminated card cover with a square backed spine.
|
|
X87 |
ISBN
978 0 85361 669 6 |
£ 12.95 |
|
SCHULL & SKIBBEREEN RAILWAY
by James I.C. Boyd
LAST FEW COPIES AVAILABLE - Order now to avoid disappointment |
 |
If you prefer a railway history concerned with a well-conceived,
adequately-financed, well-managed and prosperous commercial undertaking;
if you wish to read about opulent trains sweeping across well-manicured
countryside to the pleasure of their occupants and profit to its
shareholders, then replace this book on the shelf. It is not for you.
The Schull & Skibbereen Railway - once more aptly
called a Tramway - was bankrupt almost from Day One, operated in a
geographically hostile environment and, in the opinion of many,
historically hostile too. Like all such institutions, it was lovable and
left behind a host of folklore which has grown in the telling; there is a
danger that the public bar might be recognised as its focal centre for
management and employees alike!
|
|
Such folk aver that had it survived until the days
of television it would have been a prime subject, another Oh, Mr
Porter or similar. Local humour dubbed it the ‘Sick and Sore Railway’,
and dismissively as ‘The Tram’.
However derisive this may have been, it possessed
another side to its character - it was a serious means of transport. It
has also left us with a legacy of mysteries and it is up to the reader to
make what he can of all these aspects.
The book is to A5 format and consists of 280 pages
with around 200 photographs, maps and plans etc. It is casebound with a
gold-block spine and a laminated colour dust jacket. |
|
OL108 |
ISBN 0 85361 534 9
ISBN 978 0 85361 534 7 |
£ 22.95 |
|
SCOTTISH CENTRAL
RAILWAY Perth to Stirling
by Peter Marshall |
|
The Scottish Central Railway was opened in 1848 as part of the Scottish
railway system being established during the years of the ‘Railway Mania’.
It was proposed as an essential part of the West Coast route from London
to Aberdeen, which made it a target for larger neighbours as they fought
to dominate Central Scotland. Essentially a locally promoted line less
than 50 miles long, the Scottish Central became the centre of many hard
fought battles. One, between the Caledonian and the Edinburgh and Glasgow
Railway companies, and so between Scottish and English share-holders, saw
the Caley take the line over in 1865.
Another battle was fought over the South Inch in
Perth. As four separate companies approached the city, a dispute emerged
over the location of the station there, with personalities such as the
Lord Provost of Perth opposing a site on the public space.
|
 |
|
Concentrating on the early years, this book
covers the promotion, construction and operation of the company. Later
years of the Grampian Corridor to Aberdeen and steam’s finale, the three
hour express trains of the 1960s, are also featured. The company’s works,
rolling stock, the influence of Alexander Allan and the relationships with
its branches and neighbouring lines, both major and minor, are covered in
the text and illustrations.
The book is published as a celebration of 150
years of rail travel on the main line through Stirling and Perth.
The book consists of 248 pages with more than 120
photographs, maps and plans etc. It is casebound with a gold-blocked
spine, printed endpapers, and a two-colour dust jacket, and is printed on
art paper throughout. |
|
OL101 |
ISBN 0 85361 522 5
ISBN 978 0 85361 522 4 |
£ 19.95 |
|
SHAKESPEARE'S AVON: The History of a Navigation
by Dr Jamie Davies |
 |
Perhaps it could be claimed, that what the Talyllyn Railway was to railway
preservation, the River Avon was to waterways restoration! This great
success story is told here. The beautiful River Avon, which threads its
way from Tewkesbury through Pershore and Evesham to Stratford, had largely
fallen into disrepair as a navigable route by the end of World War II.
Tourists have enjoyed the river through the years, particular daytrippers
from the industrial West Midlands and Black Country known colloquially as
‘The Dudleys’. The river is once again navigable thanks to the heroic
efforts of preservationists. Since 1974 the river has formed part of the
Avon Ring, an extremely popular route with waterways enthusiasts. Jamie
Davies traces the history of the river as a trade route from the 15th
century, to the aspirations of the 21st century, when hopefully the
navigation will be completed to Warwick and the Grand Union Canal. Was the
Avon the birthplace of the world’s first steam ship? Jonathan Hulls vessel
was said to have been built at Evesham in 1737 where its ignominious
failure was witnessed by an excited crowd. |
|
A5 format, 152 pages with 98
photographs/plans, square-backed Linson cover. |
|
C9 |
ISBN 0 85361 490 3
ISBN 978 0 85361 490 6 |
£ 8.95 |
|
THE
SHROPSHIRE UNION RAILWAY - Stafford
to Shrewsbury including the Coalport Branch
by Bob Yate |
 |
Several canal
companies converted their canals into railways during the early 19th
century, and others were purchased by railway companies and subsequently
converted. However, the Shropshire Union Railway running from Stafford to
Shrewsbury, was unusual in that it was one of the few public railways in
Britain to have been built as such by an erstwhile canal company. Around
one-third of the route mileage of the SUR was a joint line. Its partner,
the Shrewsbury & Birmingham Railway never reached their destination of
Birmingham, and was inevitably involved in the competitive struggle for
railways around Wolverhampton. As the London & North Western Railway not
only operated the SUR from its opening, but also oversaw its construction,
it was perhaps inevitable that the forceful character of its General
Manager, Captain Mark Huish, would be evident in its dealings with the
S&BR, and with its successor, the GWR. |
|
These
troublesome times eventually gave way to a more relaxed period in the
railway's history, when it gave good service to its customers and
constantly sought ways to improve its services. The area was rich in
mineral resources, as well as manufacturing enterprise, and the railway
played its part through both peacetime and wartime in promoting these
activities. Its location meant that although it was never a congested
traffic route, it was a very useful diversionary route during emergencies.
In the 1960s, there was an air of inevitability of closure for the line
from Stafford to Wellington. However, electrification work on the West
Coast main line once more brought new life to the line, as it again played
its valuable role as a diversionary route. But although this just delayed
the inevitable, the line closed in very gradual stages, not completely
between Stafford and Wellington until 1991. The future for the remaining
section, the joint line from Wellington to Shrewsbury, appears assured,
even if the intermediate stations have gone. Little trace remains
of the one
branch line, to
Coalport, but its history is rooted in the industrial
revolution, and is told here.
A5
format, 224 pages, with more than 250 photos, maps, etc. It has a full
colour laminated cover with a square-backed spine. |
|
OL129 |
ISBN 0 85361 613 2
ISBN 978 0 85361 613 9 |
£ 14.95 |
|
SIDMOUTH &
BUDLEIGH SALTERTON BRANCHES
by C.G. Maggs
LAST FEW COPIES AVAILABLE - Order now to avoid disappointment |
 |
Sidmouth was already popular as a health resort, before the railway age.
In the line’s heyday, as well as local train services, there were through
carriages from London, the Midlands and the North, helping to make
Sidmouth a popular destination with holidaymakers. Tipton St John’s was
one of the intermediate stations on the line, and further railway
development came with the construction of the Budleigh Salterton Railway,
from Tipton St John’s to Budleigh Salterton. The final link in the rail
network came when the Budleigh Salterton line was extended to Exmouth.
These lines enjoyed healthy passenger figures in the summer season into
the 1950s. Rationalisation caught up with these delightful branch lines in
the 1960s, and closure came in 1967. A5 format, 104 pages, with 91 superb
photographs, 21 maps/plans (including plans of all the stations on the
branches). The book has a square-backed Linson cover, and is printed on
art paper throughout. |
|
LP193 |
ISBN 0 85361 483 0
ISBN 978 0 85361 483 8 |
£ 7.95 |
|
SIGNAL
BOXES of the LONDON & SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY
by G.A. Pryer |
|
In the signal box we have what was perhaps the first ‘true’ railway
building. A station might look like a country vicarage and its
adjacent goods shed like a tithe barn, but seldom, and never on the London &
South Western Railway, was there any attempt to blend the signal box into
the general style of the other structures, and it looked like exactly what
it was. There are several reasons for this. By the time signal
boxes became widespread the public were familiar with railways and there was
no need for confidence-boosting. Furthermore, they were private
buildings, so ostentation was considered pointless. They also had to
embrace many practical considerations, such as affording the signalman a
good view of the tracks and signals under his control and providing enough
room beneath him to house the mechanical interlocking. There had never
before been the need for such a building, except possibly the relay stations
erected in the previous century in connection with the Admiralty semaphore
telegraph.
|
 |
|
It is also fairly certain that no professional architect got anywhere near
them. Indeed, it is not clear who did design signal boxes, as surviving
drawings are either unsigned or signed illegibly.
What is certain is that on the LSWR the task devolved upon the Chief Civil Engineer’s staff, perhaps
because they were thought best qualified to assess the suitability of sites
for different types of building. Some were undoubtedly ‘off the peg’
structures straight out a contractor’s catalogue, but most of the early
boxes appear to have been designed from within the railway company, as were
all those after 1878 except for a few ground-level boxes. This work
attempts to outline the development in signal box design from the earliest
years to the end of the LSWR as an independent company. It does not set out
to be a history of railway signalling as such, although of course some
mention of it is unavoidable. The task has been a complex one, for unlike
its Southern neighbours the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway and
South Eastern & Chatham Railway, or even the GWR with whom it shared so much
territory, the ‘South Western’ never adhered rigidly to sets of standard
drawings, and produced a lot of variants of so-called ‘standard’
structures. They also put up completely non-standard boxes for no apparent
reason, and sometimes harked back to an obsolete design when installing new
signalling, making it impossible to ‘date’ anything according to its style
of architecture. The book contains more than 150 photographs and drawings
with extended captions, it is to A5 format, and consists of 176 pages of art
paper, the book has a glossy laminated full colour card cover with a
square-backed spine.
|
|
X68 |
ISBN 0 85361 565 9
ISBN 978 0 85361 565 1 |
£ 11.95 |
|
SLIPPING AND SLIP CARRIAGES, A History of
by C.E.J. Fryer |
 |
The ‘slipping’ of coaches from moving trains, seems
in today’s more safety conscious world, an incredible practice. But it was
once performed by some of Britain’s most respected railways, sometimes
from their most prestigious expresses. More than 35 years since the last
coach was slipped from the rear of a British main line train, it is surely
time for some connected account to be written about this century-long
phenomenon, before records of its use and frequency vanish from libraries
and archives as the paper on which they were printed crumbles away. There
was a story, long current among railwaymen though never officially
confirmed, that the practice of slipping carriages from trains in rapid
motion originated by accident. It was said that on a certain occasion in
the early days of rail travel, before continuous brakes would have ensured
that a train which broke apart would at once start to slow down and
eventually come to a halt, a highly-placed railway official, wishing to
travel from a terminal station to an intermediate one, mistakenly boarded,
on the wrong side of a departure platform, a train due to run a
considerable distance before its first booked stop.
|
|
He discovered his mistake when the train ran through
one of the stations at which he had expected it to stop, and resigned
himself at having to alight beyond his intended destination and then
retrace his journey. His surprise was great, therefore, when the coach he
was in began to slow down on approaching the station where he had meant to
alight, and eventually came to a halt at the platform. His astonishment
was even greater when, having stepped out of his compartment, he saw the
front part of the train disappearing into the distance!
A5 format, 96 pages of art paper with 46 photographs/drawings
and a Linson cover with square-backed spine. |
|
X60 |
ISBN 0 85361 514 4
ISBN 978 0 85361 514 9 |
£ 6.95 |
|
THE SNAPE BRANCH
by Peter Paye |
|
Snape Maltings, located on the banks of the
River Alde in Suffolk, are famed as the venue for the internationally
acclaimed Aldeburgh Festival of Magic and Arts, held annually each June in
the famous concert hall and surrounding galleries. In addition thousands of
people visit the complex all year round for river trips, painting and craft
courses,
and exhibitions,
as well as browsing in the quality retail outlets and enjoying a drink in
the local Plough and Sail public house. With such a success story it is easy
for the visitor to overlook that the Festival would never have been held at
Snape had not a certain entrepreneur, Newson Garrett, taken over an area of
huts at the navigable head of the River Alde in 1840 and developed the site
into a vast maltings, which ultimately continued as an active industry for
almost 120 years. Although Garrett initially relied on water and primitive
road transport, much of the imports and exports were conveyed by rail along
short branch line opened in 1859. |
 |
To ensure his commodities
reached as wide a market as possible Garrett had, with great foresight,
negotiated with the East Suffolk Railway to the building of the branch, and
for just over a century the Eastern Counties Railway, which worked the ESR,
and later the Great Eastern Railway, London and North Eastern Railway and
British Railways (Eastern Region) operated a weekdays only goods train to
serve the maltings and surrounding area. The railway thus had a great part
to play in the development of Snape and its maltings, ensuring the complex
can be enjoyed by present and future generations. This book tells
the fascinating story of this relatively unknown Suffolk goods line from
inception to closure, with details of the route, civil engineering, staff,
timetables, traffic, and locomotives and rolling stock used on the branch.
The 120 pages of text include115 photographs, line drawings and
plans. |
|
LP229 |
ISBN 0
85361 641 8
ISBN 978 0 85361 641 2 |
£ 8.95 |
|
|
|
