 | Branch Lines Books Published |  |
| Branch Lines Books Published | |
| The Alcester Branch | Wild Swan | |||
| Stanley C. Jenkins and Roger Carpenter | £18.95 | 100 pages | Softback | 2005 |
| A delightful portrait of the six mile branch that connected the Midland's cross country line at Alcester with the Great Western's route to Stratford Upon Avon at Bearley. Originating in the 1860s the line wasn't built until over a decae later when the two companies at either end of the route agreed an uneasy truce to allow its operation. This was one of those minor routes that was shut down in both World Wars as an economy measure but somehow managed to survive for freight until 1951, with a couple of miles surviving into 1960 for wagon storage. Not quite as exhaustively comprehensive in its photographic coverage as some books owing to the obscurity of the subject, this book nonetheless allows more than a glimpse of a charming rural railway. | ||||
| The Banbury and Cheltenham Railway Volume 1 | Wild Swan | |||
| William Hemmings | £29.95 | 200 pages | Hardback | 2004 |
| Fully up to the high standards of its publisher, this book covers the line's history up until 1939 and the outbreak of war. The depth of research and the quality of the results and illustrations uncovered are astounding, chronologically culminating in an amazingly clear series of photographs of evacueees arriving at Chippng Norton. The same book is also available in a softbound format at £23.95 and in either format this is a beautiful book. Volume 2 (see separate description) is a detailed examination of the route and its stations from Banbury to Kingham, whilst volume 3 (not yet published) will complete the history after 1939 and cover associated ironstone workings and the remainder of the route from Kingham to Cheltenham. | ||||
| The Banbury and Cheltenham Railway Volume 2 | Wild Swan | |||
| William Hemings, Paul Karau and Chris Turner | £28.95 | 170 pages | Hardback | 2004 |
| A very detailed photograhic survey of the line from Banbury to Kingham, including the romanticaly named Rollright and Sarsden Halts and their associated sidings. Kingham is very briefly shown, presumably fuller details will be in volume 3, not yet produced. OS map extracts and a well researched and comprehensive text accompany the photographs in what is a beautifully produced and potentially definitive work on this subject. It is also available in a softback binding at £22.95. This is not a criticism exactly, but I do wonder at the sanity of the publisher in the way in which the whole work has been split into three volumes (no date for the third!) and two different bindings, there was a story that this book was rushed out to beat another publication on the same subject from Lightmoor - surely not? | ||||
| The East Somerset and Cheddar Valley Railways | Lightmoor Press | |||
| Richard Harman | £24.99 | 272 pages | Hardback | 2009 |
| At last, a comprehensively researched, well written and copiously illustrated book that covers the "Strawberry Line". The historical development and relationship with the Somerset and Dorset and its antecedents are very well covered and comprehensive plans, scale track plans and a set of the later signalling diagrams give a very full account of what the line looked like. Operation is also well covered, with train workings, locomotive diagrams and accounts of several incidents and a very good selection of photographs. The very end of operations and the move into preservation are not really covered although the various quarries and their operations are, including the by now vast Foster Yeoman operation at Merehead. | ||||
| The Mawddwy Van & Kerry Branches | Oakwood | |||
| Lewis Cozens, R.W. Kidner & Brian Poole | £14.95 | 240 pages | Softback | 2004 |
| A well illustrated book covering three Cambrian byways, which is a much extended new edition of a book first published in 1972. The first two lines were built to exploit mineral deposits whilst the Kerry line was a general carrier in an area that became important for forestry, linking to the "Kerry Tramway" (also detailed in the book) around World War 1. The Hendre Ddu tramway of 1'11" gauge running off the Mawddwy is also covered and the photographic coverage is remarkably good given how long ago all these lines closed. The large wheeled Sharp Stewart 0-4-0 tanks with their single 4 wheeled coach and wagons are quite delightful - surely the prototype for "Ivor the Engine"? | ||||
| Return To Pwllheli Please | Foxline | |||
| Derek J. Lowe | £17.95 | 120 pages | Softback | 2008 |
| A return photographic journey along the Cambrain Coast route from Machynlleth to Pwllheli. Photographs cover the 1950s up to the early 1970s and concentrate on steam workings. Fully up to the high standards of earlier volumes produced by Greg Fox and a delightful and informative record of a magical railway journey that can still be taken, albeit by "Sprinter". | ||||
| Southern Branch Lines | Capital | |||
| Michael Welch | £16.95 | 120 pages | Hardback | 2007 |
| Michael Welch consolidates his position as a top picture editor with this large format album of inspiring photographs of minor Southern Railway lines. All the photographs were taken by members of the "GLO Group", a peculiarly British institution of which full details of which are given in the book. Dating from 1959 the images depict the subject from the Weald right down to the western extremities of the "withered arm" in Cornwall. The subjects and compositions of many of the pictures chosen are quite unusual and the result is a striking pictorial record of both branch and secondary railways and the environment in which they operated. | ||||