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Sorely neglected by railway authors, the line between Bristol and Taunton was part of the Bristol & Exeter Railway. A fascinating line, it was built to serve a moribund coalfi eld and a grand harbour scheme which proved a dismal failure. The line had many interesting features: two short dock branches, one of which had a telescopic bridge; several industrial concerns with their own locomotives; vital wartime factories; the busy holiday and excursion traffi c to Weston-super-Mare, which required a special station. Wind strength had its effect on the railway, as on the horse-worked Weston-super-Mare branch, when an adverse wind blew it was quicker to get out and walk. The line has also had more than its fair share of accidents and mishaps. The B&ER favoured express tank locomotives, some magnifi cent specimens with 9-foot-diameter fl angeless driving wheels. The human side is not to be ignored, however: there are details of navvies' lives and deaths, of a spat between Brunel and his resident engineer, and the daring robbery of a mail train. Colin G. Maggs, one of the country's leading railway historians, covers all these details and more in this gripping and well-researched story, illustrated with over 200 images.
For many the GWR was synonymous with holidays by the sea in the West Country, but it was built to serve as a fast railway line to London, especially for the merchants and financiers of Bristol. Its operations stretched as far as Merseyside, it provided most services in Wales, and it was the main line to Cardiff, Bristol, Cornwall and Birmingham. This book, a classic first published in 2006, reveals the equipment, stations, network, shipping and air services, bus operations including Western National, and overall reach and history of the GWR. Forming part of a series, along with The LMS Handbook, The LNER Handbook and The Southern Railway Handbook, this new edition provides an authoritative and highly detailed reference of information about the GWR.
The first edition of this popular volume has been out of print for several years and has become much sought after. Produced in black and white, the first edition was the first volume in the series, taking a detailed regional look at the Beeching Report, its proposals for closures and modifications of the UK railway network. The report has become legendary and the interest and debate it generated is no less today than it has ever been since first published. Indeed, with railways now rejuvenated and passenger numbers growing ever larger, the reflection on what Beeching got right and what perhaps in hindsight got very badly wrong makes for fascinating reading. This new, expanded second edition has been completely reworked and is now published with color illustrations both new and replacing the original black and white images where possible. The text has been expanded and updated as appropriate and there are 32 extra pages, bringing the new edition to 192 pages.
Julian Holland's Dr Beeching's Axe 50 Years On is a unique memorial to all that was lost following the publication of the ‘Beeching Report’ on 27 March 1963. Uniquely, the author has tried to include every railway line that was closed as a result of the ‘Beeching Report’, and more. They are all shown on Map 9 in Part 2 of the ‘Report’ and have been annotated for clarity at the beginning of each regional chapter in the book. Needless to say it is not plain sailing: there are lines that were marked for closure on the maps but were closed before publication of the ‘Report’; there are lines that were not originally on Beeching’s original hit list but which were closed anyway; there are lines that were originally marked down for closure but which were fortunately reprieved. There are even one or two which seem to have not existed at all! The author has included them all.