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Books > Sport & Leisure > Transport: general interest > Trains & railways: general interest
The Lehigh Valley Chapter of the National Railway Historical
Society compiled this 1966 History of the Lehigh Valley Transit
Company, beginning with the horse-drawn cars in 1868 Allentown.
Once the industrial heartland of Britain, North East England had a
bustling network of railways. Whether on the East Coast Main Line,
local branches or industrial tracks, there was much of interest for
the railway enthusiast. Over 200 colour and black-and-white
photographs are presented here at a number of locations across the
area, such as: Bishop Auckland, Darlington, Durham, Gateshead,
Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Sunderland, and Stockton. The
highly-evocative scenes have been captured by several well-known
photographers at stations, sheds, workshops and the lineside. Many
of the classes associated with the North East are included: Gresley
A3, A4, D49, V2; Peppercorn A1 and K1; Thompson B1; Raven Q6 and
Q7; Worsdell J27; War Department 'Austerity'; British Railways 9F.
Several industrial locomotives are seen at work at places such as
Ashington Colliery, Lambton Colliery, Pallion Shipyard, etc.
Coupled with interesting and informative captions, North East Steam
presents a vibrant, though sadly long-lost era of British history.
Widely known as England's most scenic line, the enduring Settle
& Carlisle Railway was built by the Midland between 1869 and
1876, as part of its quest to forge its own, independent route to
Scotland. It is, uniquely for a railway in the UK, a Conservation
Area in its own right - viaducts, tunnels, bridges, stations,
trackside structures and railway workers' cottages. By walking all
or parts of the route from Settle to Carlisle, you get the chance
to get up close to the railway's magnificent architecture - but
also to see the lonely and lofty fells, and stunning scenery from
the Dales through the Pennines to the limestone pavements of
Westmorland and the green Eden Valley. In the company of this
knowledgeable guide, you'll also discover centuries' worth of local
history and traditions: Roman remains, medieval castles, and the
Romany who still meet at the annual Appleby Horse Fair gathering.
The East Kent Railway was one of Britain's less well known light
railways, a part of the Colonel Stephens group of lines, the East
Kent Railway was meant to open up the newly discovered Kent coal
field and help to make its shareholders wealthy, however things
took a different turn, when the projected colliery's along the line
did not materialise the way the promoters had first envisaged. The
only colliery to produce quantities of coal being Tilmanstone near
Shepherdswell, which opened in 1912. There were other pits started
along the formation of the line from Shepherdswell to Wingham, but
in the cases of the other pits, only the surface buildings or test
shafts were constructed, before the work was abandoned. This was
largely due to flooding and the poor calorific quality of East Kent
coal, which had to be mixed with other coal to be effectively used.
There were four colliery's completed in Kent, the East Kent Railway
only served one of them and this together with the other three
lasted until the latter part of the 20th century. The railway
operated a loss making passenger service to Wingham and for a few
years to Sandwich Road halt on the line to Richborough Port line,
however the service to Wingham Canterbury Road came to an end in
October 1948, after British Railways had taken control. The East
Kent Railway lasted through two world wars and was nationalised in
1948, becoming part of the Southern Region of British Railways, it
closed to traffic in 1984, during the coal strike.
First Steps in Railway Modelling: The Bachmann Way is based on the
late Cyril Freezer's popular guide First Steps in Railway
Modelling, which was first published in 1988 and provided a
completely practical guide to starting out as a newcomer to railway
modelling. As one would expect from the former editor of the
magazine Railway Modeller, his book is a brilliant first steps
guide to all the many complexities of the hobby, from baseboard
construction, planning and laying out the track, to creating
realistic scenery, plus a whole host of topics essential to the
beginner at railway modelling. Although more than 20 years old, the
book remains as relevant today as it was when it was first
published and is now being reprinted with a new chapter on the one
major area of omission from the original; the arrival of Digital
Control Command (DCC) which has rapidly become the standard on
model railway layouts. Apart from the new section giving practical
advice on implementing DCC, there is additional material on
weathering and track plans and a significant number of images in
the main section of the book will be replaced and updated and the
usefulness of the book will be hugely increased by the introduction
of colour for the first time. A brilliant buy for all those wanting
a practical, hands on, how-to guide to the subject.
A photographic journey of the ever changing railway scene of
southern England stretching from Cornwall to the Kent Coast, served
from 1953 to the present day by the Southern Region and its
successors. When our story begins steam west of the Portsmouth man
line still reigns supreme whilst much of the rest of the network is
served by Southern Electric. Many of the trains at work in 1953
were of pre-1939 origin, some even dating back to the first decade
of the 20th century, although the influence of Oliver Bullied's
revolutionary semi-streamline pacifics and high capacity suburban
electric multiple units pointed to the future. By 1967 diesel would
replace steam, and electrification would spread, whilst many less
well used lines in Hampshire, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall would
close. Electrification had begun in the London area in the early
1900s, expanding to the Kent, Sussex and east Hampshire coasts, in
the process creating the greatest main line electrified system in
the world: this would continue down to today.
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