Regional History of the Railways of Great
Britain
also Forgotten Railways [series]
These notes were written as a preliminary to a contribution about
the series: they were very preliminary and not all volumes had been examined,
although Volume 1 has been part of Kevin's personal library since publication.
David St John Thomas very young (30) when the first volume was published,
and it is doubtful if he lacked sufficient authority to impose strong standards
on his authors. The standard of a few volumes is markedly below that of the
overall standard which was very good to excellent. Indexes were too variable
and referencing could have been better. Most authors fail to link text to
references. "Files of periodical and daily press" followed by a list is not
helpful.
General comment: much overlap around London, the borders for which
were drawn too narrowly: should have included the whole of the Metropolitan
Railway and might have been based on old London Transport area, or a slight
extension of it. This will be a problem if the whole is ever completely revised.
Highly obvious addition to world of e-books. In late 2013 KPJ noted vile
colour of this page, but it reflects the dreadful lack of a reference library
in Norwich; shares the "City's" football team's colours and worst train service
in Europe..
No.14: The Lake Counties very small
No. 2: Southern England: very large and complicated.
No. 9: East Midlands: very odd: from South Humberside to Watford and St Albans:
bounded by Derby; Leicester; Rugby and Peterborough; includes both Midland
and LNWR mainlines.
No. 7: West Midlands: North to Chester and Buxton; South to Birmingham.
Shrewsbury abuts 7/11/13
Chester 7/10/11
Rugby 7/9/13
Needs an overall index (most of existing are very sub-standard). Perhaps the best solution would be to scan all of text and place on CD-ROM: computer searching would enable many of the scattered references to places, such as Harrogate, to be found. An ideal solution would be to link major themes by hypertext.
Regional history of the railways of Great Britain, vol.
1
David St. John Thomas. The West Country.
Regional history of the railways of Great
Britain, vol. 2
H.P. White. Southern England, 4th ed. Newton Abbot: David &
Charles, 1982. 232pp.+ plates
Parts of the book retain the original lucid style. "BETTESHANGER required a 1¾-mile branch...", On 11 December 1903 the BORDON garrison..." Text type bibliography.
Regional history of the railways of Great Britain, vol.
3
H.P. White, Greater London New edition. Newton Abbot: David
& Charles, 1971. 227pp.
Note paucity of material on Great Northern & City cf Jackson?
Excellence of some illustrations: notably engraving of Metropolitan Railway under construction just east of King's Cross station (in picture), but before St Pancras constructed.
What is a bad index?
Road (bus & tram) competition: followed by 13 page
references
Romford followed by 11
Richmond followed by 12
Suburban development followed by 27
London & Birmingham Rly, 74...; — County Council, 7...; —
— — estates, 12
Individual estates, such as St Helier, Bellingham, etc not mentioned
"Neither branch much affected the town, which stagnated picturesqely, its coaching trade dead and its flour-mills dying, and the 1901 population figure was almost the same as it was seventy years before." (Uxbridge)
Concluding chapter (Railways and Megapolis: a Conclusion) is still valid:
"R.J. Smeed, of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, has demonstrated the complete dependence of London in its present form on its railways. One man travelling at peak hours occupies 1 square foot if travelling by rail, 3 if he walks, 4-10 if he goes by bus and 50-80 if he goes by car. While the City has 0.14 square miles of roadway, if the 335,000 commuters walked to their work from peripheral termini or from underground stations they would need 0.02 square miles, 0.07 if they came by bus, and 0.65 square miles (parking would be extra) if by car."
Page 182 rather flimsy map of Dockland railways: many of which now form a part of DLR: of archaeological interest.
General comment: illustrations rather too small and frequently poorly reproduced. Quality of maps vary from author to author; some excellent; some cramped. Some folding maps lack clarity due to lack of sufficient colour variation (3 especially poor). 7 especially good helped by a square shape suited to the region.
Sometimes contemporary policy colours the texts e.g.: "At one time the BRB planned to divert traffic from beyond Leicester to Euston (probably via Nuneaton), to provide a service from Leicester to Moorgate and to close St Pancras. In 1969 the plans were officially shelved due to the cost of adapting the widened lines and to to the growth of traffic at Euston and St Pancras itself."
Regional history of the railways of Great Britain,
vol. 4
K. Hoole, The North East. Newton Abbot: David &
Charles, [rev. Ed.] 1974. 237pp+ plates.
8 maps in text. No bibliography. Excellent maps. Chapter II: West Riding.
In Chapter I (opening page): "On the one hand it includes only a small part of the detail incorporated by William Weaver Tomlinson in his famous The North Eastern Railway, Its Rise and Development, published in 1914. On the other hand, it brings the story down to the present time, it includes those lines which never came under North Eastern ownership, and as are all volumes in this series, it is concerned to portray the railways against their geographical, social and economic background."
"Hull has an atmosphere of the sea and many of its citizens are connected with it in one way or another. They handle the timber from Scandinavia, the grain from North America and Canada [surely Canada is in North America], the nuts from Africa to be ground for oil, the fruit and vegetables from the Channel Islands, the petroleum products brought alongside the Saltend jetties...Yet, though long Britain's third port, Hull often considers itself neglected. It has intense local activity, but because of its geographical position it literally is ‘the end of the line'"
Mentions emigrant traffic via Hull and Liverpool: over 61,000 in 1903 in transit between Europe and USA. Mentions shipping (small involvement by NER) & road services.
Regional history of the railways of Great Britain, vol.
5
D.L. Gordon, The Eastern Counties. 2nd ed. Newton Abbot:
David & Charles, 1977. 236pp. including plates
"In terms of speed the GNR approach to Hertford could never hope to
compete with the route from Broxbourne, nor did the branch from Welwyn stimulate
any local development. Traffic was very sparse, even in 1904-5 when experiments
were made with steam rail=motors, in connexction with which temporary halts,
where ordinary trains did not call at Attimore Hall (closed to passengers
on 1 July 1905, to freight on 4 May 1964) and Hatfield Hyde (closed completely
on 1 July 1905). The little justification that the line possessed was largely
lost on 2 June 1924, when passenger services commenced on the Hertford Loop..."
"North of there [Cuffley] lengthy viaducts at Horn's Mill and near Hertford,
and the 2,684 yd Ponsbourne Tunnel (the longest in the eastern counties and
the last major bore through clay to be build by traditional English
methods)..."
"In the nineteenth century brewing, malting and such activities as rope, twine and net making were carried on, but now footwear, clothing, textiles, radio and television, and general engineering and, above all, food and drink preparation and canning have become important; the last includes a frozen food plant of 1946 which by 1961 was despatching 50 to 100 tons of produce daily by rail to Trowse, Norwich, Chelmsford..."
Good bibliography: better index, but still long lists of numbers. Relaxed style may reflect the lower density of railways in the area covered. Great Northern mainline: Hatfield to Peterborough and east thereof, but excluding Lincolnshire.
Includes a map of the navigable waterways in 1845.
Opens with
"At Narborough, in Norfolk, there is a rotted barge so firmly embedded in the bank of the Nar that trees grow on it. Within a few hundred yards the river, last used for navigation in the early 1880s is crossed by the now derelict branch railway from King's Lynn to East Dereham and by the increasingly busy A47 trunk road from Birmingham to Norwich and Great Yarmouth."
Includes a Shoreditch to Colchester early timetable. Excellent maps.
Regional history of the railways of Great Britain,
vol. 6
Thomas, John. Scotland, the Lowlands and the Borders. Newton Abbot:
David & Charles, 1971. 288 pp,
Ottley 9443 which is in serious error for crediting authorship to
St. John Thomas rather than to John Thomas. KPJ who has not seen the book
for many years considers that John Thomas was not really the correct author
for this type of study and was happier with a more free ranging style of
writing as in the masterpiece Springburn story.
See Robert D. Campbell's reservations in
NBR Study Gp. J., Issue 81 page
31.
Revised edition by Allan J.S. Paterson: reviewed in
Railway World, 1986,
47, 18
Regional history of the railways of Great Britain, vol.
7
Christiansen, Rex. The West Midlands. .Newton Abbot: David
& Charles, 1973. 292 pp. incl. Plates
Chronology, better style of bibliography.
One of the joys of Telford is Silkin Way, a cycle track which makes extensive use of what remains of the LNWR Coalport branch which appears to have plummeted down to the banks of the Severn. It is possible to freewheel much of the way down, and in this respect it is similar to the long bank down to Redbourne on the remains of the Nickey Line. The Coalport branch includes a dark tunnel, made darker by the line now being used for the route of a sewer and the cycle track is above this in the tunnel. The Coalport branch was first encountered in something like Trains Annual with a picture of a coal tank simmering beside the Severn, presumably summoning the strength to climb back to Wellington. In its day, the Ironbridge area must have been fascinating: today, one can glimpse the remains of mine workings converted into lakes; the odd sanitized factory chimney and ways through Telford's Town Park which have been clearly engineered for trains rather than cyclists or joggers. To an extent Christiansen fails to recapture this former age, partly through the lack of gradient profiles and partly through the lack of load limits. How much were those long-chimneyed coal-tanks allowed to haul back up the hill, which certainly demands a low gear on a mountain bike. Across the river are the substantial remains of what is now known as the Severn Valley Railway: it is a terrible shame that these have not been rejuvenated to bring back steam trains into such a spectacular location, where electricity is still being generated from British-mined coal.
Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain Vol.
8
Joy, David. South and West Yorkshire. Newton Abbot: David
& Charles, 1975. 304 pp. incl. plates. Folding map.
Very poor index: Midland Railway followed by thirty-three page numbers
without sub-headings; then running powers followed by twenty numbers without
further division. Leeds & Selby Railway is covered, but the limited detail
might be questioned. Reference section: acts; opened; closed; mileage. Thorough
bibliography.
"In penetrating unusually difficult country the Queensbury lines provided
perhaps the most spectacularly engineered railways in the industrial West
Riding. On the Bradford to Holmfield section close on half the mileage was
in tunnel, the line being christened ‘the Alpine route' by GN drivers
because of the gradients."
"Close on £1 million was spent on building the Queensbury lines,
and it is doubtful if the expenditure was really justified."
"Crowded into some 1,800 square miles were 850 route miles (1,360km)
of railway. Much of this colourful network has now vanished..."
Good introduction to the nature of the area. (Chapter 1)
P. 125 "Henry Oakley, the GN general manager, stated that a deputation
from the [Spen Valley] district had been ‘an annual festival at King's
Cross since 1876.'
Revised edition well received in
Railway World, 1986,
47,
18
Regional history of the railways of Great Britain, vol.
9
Leleux, Robin. The East Midlands. 2nd ed. David St John Thomas,
1985. 240pp. 16 plates 49 illustrations, 9 maps & plans.
First edition published in development of railways and industries
within the area well. This is notable for the iron industry of Wellingborough.
Adds neat touches such as the tunnel segments for some of the tubes being
cast in Wellingborough and the Desborough Co-operative at its ironstone mining
activities. Development of steel making at Corby by Stewarts & Lloyds
Ltd: in 1973 the firm output 450,000 tones of tubes and consumed one million
tons of coal from South Yorkshire and the East Midlands; 250,000 tons of
limestone from Derbyshire and 30,000 tons of steel scrap.
Chapter V: Leicester
Chap VI: Leicestershire
VII: Nottingham
VIII: North Midland coalfield
IX: Derbyshire (includes Burton beer traffic)
X: Lincolnshire
XI: South Humberside
Includes Cromford & High Peak (but this is mainly in West Midlands
volume); Watford to St Albans and Grimsby & Immingham Electric Railway.
Well-written volume.
"A torrential thunderstorm over the Humber on the morning of 12 July
1906 nearly wrecked the ceremonial sod-cutting which began the construction
of Immingham Docks. As it was, the only casualties were the stewards' top
hats whaich they had placed under the tables in the lunch marquee..."
Includes a chapter on Railways for Work and Leisure which includes
preserved railways, such as the Great Central and Nene Valley lines, the
Crich Tramway Museum, the narrow gauge railways at Leighton Buzzard and Whipsnade
Zoo, the Peak Railway project, and the Tissington Trail. Another on accidents
includes the mystery of the Grantham accident (19/9/1906).
"The most important development of Northampton under the LMS was the
choice of Northampton as a major freight sorting point... This was why
Northampton was chosen as the major interchange point between north-south
lines and the 1944 projected new cross-country line from Yarmouth and Harwich
to Worcester and Aberystwyth." [cf A14 and Daventry rail freight terminal].
From Chapter III: The town that missed the railway. Critical of then contemporary
train service: no northbound trains other than to Birmingham.
Note acknowledgement to Geoffrey Webb by Leleux
Backtrack, 2023, 37,
189
Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain Vol.
10
G.O. Holt, The North West. Newton Abbot: David &
Charles, 1978. 256 pp. incl. plates. Folding map.
Under-plays the role of the Liverpool & Manchester. More on the
Garstang & Knot End Railway. Club carriages to Blackpool mentioned on
p. 219. Plate 30 on p.190 of Llandudno club carriages. Not mentioned in index.
Piel Pier not in index. Includes Liverpool Loop on pp. 41/2.
"The former Great Central & Midland stations at Widnes Central
and Tanhouse Lane were in the 1930s served by a CLC Sentinel railcar. They
remained open until 5 October 1964, having seen no more than a workmen's
service for several years. The line was closed to all traffic, but a portion
at Tanhouse Lane remained (with a new connection from the St Helens line)
to reach private sidings. West of Widnes the site of the line has been used
for a new road to Speke.
Sometimes very complex; Stalybridge, for instance.
Original 1846 terminus of branch line from Miles Platting: closed
by L&Y within three years (1 July 1849) when MS&L terminus became
a joint station – short connection at West End. LNWR Yorkshire services:
1858 complaints. MS&L insisted that LNWR and L&Y must share cost
of any improvements.1/10/1869 L&Y returned to old terminus where it remained
until 2/4/1917 (had relinquished rights to joint station). LNWR/MS&L
new and improved joint station 21/5/1885.
Regional history of the railways of Great Britain, vol.
11
Peter E. Baughan, North and Mid Wales. 1980. 248pp,
Ottley 9682
Regional history of the railways of Great Britain, vol.
12
D.S.M. Barrie, South Wales. Newton Abbot: David &
Charles, 1980. 296pp.
Diagram (pages 70 and 71) shows the London & North Western Railway's
route into South Wales with its junctions and connections to other lines.
It also shows the major summits with heights above sea-level. Nevertheless,
gradient profiles for the major lines would have been a major addition and
assisted comprehension. 12 maps
Page 101 (plate) "Serried ranks of privately-owned coal wagons awaiting shipment
orders at Roath Dock sidings in the heyday of the export trade". "Two British
Rail Class 56 diesel-electric locomotives bring some 2,300 tonnes of iron-ore
from Port Talbot into Llanwern Steelworks, in 1979.
A better index A clear introduction, noting the then recent local
government revision which had incorporated Monmouthshire into Wales as Gwent.
Uses names of local government units as they were at the time of being
considered. Place names: "In Wales perhaps more than anywhere else this is
a jungle or a morass in which geographer or historian can only tread most
warily" Multiplicity of spellings."As my uncle (like myself a man of Gwent)
once said when I asked him about the spelling of Cwmffrwd, ‘What does
it matter boy, so long as you know where it is?'"
Regional history of the railways of Great Britain,
vol. 13
Rex Christiansen. Thames and Severn. Newton Abbot: David &
Charles, 1981. 205pp. + plates
The area covered is essentially that of the GWR minus the South West;
South Wales and the North West. Includes Windsor and Marlow,
but not the Uxbridge or Brentford branches. Mentions Bristol
Metro in introductory chapter: writes about Bristol's Regency terraces and
its motorways and Bristol Parkway. Includes some personal recollections:
"The ridge of the Malvern Hills was once an unforgettable place from which
to watch a steam train's progress through a chequerwork of green
fields."
Severn Valley Railway: posted RAF Bridgnorth in 1948. Only once used
GWR diesel railcar from Shrewsbury: otherwise used bus to Wolverhampton
Better index but
South Wales 24 refs
Midland Railway 17 refs
Abington and Adlestrop both in index: latter Edward Thomas poem
The series is frequently useful for contemporary changes: singling and
down-grading of Paddington-Birmingham line: Oxford Cambridge closure; first
note of Oxford-Bicester re-opening.
"Charlbury retained the waiting room fire after commuters petitioned
against its replacement by an electric one. BR Chairman Sir Peter Parker
was among the protesters"
Makes some use of capitals
CRAVEN ARMS - BUILDWAS
THE BISHOP'S CASTLE RAILWAY
"Leominster-Bromyard trains ran virtually empty for years".
Reviewed Railway Wld, 1982,
43, 152,
Regional history of the railways of Great Britain, vol.
14.
David Joy, The Lake Counties. 1984. 270pp.
Reviewed by Michael Harris
in Raileway World, 1984, 45. 238
Regional history of the railways of Great Britain,
vol. 15
Thomas, John and Turnock, David. The North of Scotland.
Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1989. 356pp. incl. plates
More leisurely. Chronology. Well-laid out bibliography. Dreadful index:
Passenger trains followed by 31 page references; locomotives followed by
33; landowners by 34; stations by 29. With few exceptions most railways had
stations. No entry for Waverley, or Edinburgh, Waverley. The more leisurely
approach permits such oddities as the exploitation of iron ore from Tomintoul
and how the LNER had been trapped by a Mr Cleveland Macdonald into considering
the construction of a branch line to tap the ore: this adventure was as late
as 1927. Tomintoul not in index. Posthumous work: Thomas died with work only
one third complete. Includes extracts from timetables: interesting for the
paucity of the service. Also unfulfilled attempts to reach Ullapool (not
in index: p. 261) due to difficulty of decent to Loch Broom, but significance
(since fulfilled) of shorter route to Stornoway was recognized. Surprisingly
the Campbeltown & Machrinhanish Light Railway is included in this volume:
Campbeltown is actually south of Berwick. Reviewed in
J. Rly Canal Hist. Soc., 1989.
29, 487
A regional history of railways, Volume 16 - Ireland.
J.W.P. Rowledge.
As long ago as 1960 David St. John Thomas produced the first volume
of the Regional History of Railways. Thirty-six years and sixteen volumes
later, the present author and Atlantic are to be congratulated on producing
the final volume of what has become the basic, and well respected, history
of the railways in the British Isles.
The author has made a splendid job of compressing the history of Ireland's
railways into one volume. What has been produced is the bare bones of an
historical geography with routes and reasons sharply focused to the detriment
of the more "Are ye right there, Michael?" side of Ireland's railways. The
book is a splendid basic reference at the expense of being an easy bed-time
read.
The usual Regional History format has been used. The photographs are catholic
in their scope and are well reproduced, twenty maps aid the reader's
understanding of the sometimes complicated Irish railway geography. There
is a comprehensive index and an exhaustive bibliography, the appendices are
also exhaustive, listing opening and closing dates for the lines by chapters
in the text as well as information on such items as customs posts, amalgamations
and location of stations by route. This volume is a worthy conclusion to
the Regional History series. It is full to overflowing — like a good
glass of Guinness — with information on the railways of the Emerald
Isle and should be on all serious students' bookshelves. Despite Norwich
Airstrip sometimes sending aeroplanes to Dublin, not in that town's miserable
book collection. Backtrack,
1996, 10, 166.
This seems to be a rather half-hearted series compared with the Regional
Histories. Numbering is chaotic and even John Marshall with his sole
contribution to this Series manages to have two numbers, and one of them
duplicating another title. It is suspected that the publisher was not
earning sufficient from the Series because Neil Pitts in his very thorough
review of two of Rex Christiansen's title states:
The blurb on the dust jacket tells us that Mr Christiansen is working on
two further volumes in the Forgotten Railways series. One looks forward to
their appearance with pleasurable anticipation. NEIL PITTS.
J. Rly Canal Hist. Soc., 1983.
28, 135.
Keith Hoole. Forgotten Railways: North-east England
(Forgotten Railways Series No. 1). David & Charles, 1984.
212pp. 16 plates. 32 illustrations, 13 maps, coloured folding map
Ottley 9343
.P. Howard Anderson. Forgotten Railways: The East Midlands. Forgotten
Railways Series No. 2). 224pp, 16 plates. 32 illustrations, 21 maps &
line drawingss, coloured folding map.
Ottley 8994. Reviewed by Basil K. Cooper in
Railway Wld., 1974,
35, 39
R. Davis and M.D. Grant. Forgotten Railways: Chilterns and Cotswolds.
David & Charles. 1975. 256pp. 16 plates. 59 illustrations
Ottley: 8562. Reviewed by Basil K. Cooper in
Railway Wld., 1975,
36, 211. Also published in same year in Railway History in
Pictures series
H.P. White, Forgotten Railways of South East England. (Forgotten Railways Series No. 6). David & Charles Publishers, 1976. 192pp. 16 plates. 32 illustrations, 12 maps. gazetteer, folding map,
Rex Christiansen, Forgotten Railways: Volume 10. The West Midlands.
(Forgotten Railways Series No. 10). Newton Abbott: David StJ Thomas,
1985. 160pp. 16 plates. folding map
Ottley 13820
Rex Christiansen, Forgotten Railways: Volume 11 Severn Valley and
Welsh Border. (Forgotten Railways Series No. 11). David &
Charles, 1988. 200pp. 16 plates. folding map
Ottley 13290. Reviewed by E.R.L1. Davies in J. Rly Canal Hist. Soc.,
1989, 29,
John Thomas. Forgotten Railways:
Scotland.. (Forgotten Railways Series). Newton Abbott:
David & Charles, 1976. 224pp. 16 plates. 33 illustrations. 11 maps,
gazetteer.
Ottley 9446: other books by John
Thomas
R.S. Joby. Forgotten Railways:: East Anglia (Forgotten Railways
Series). Newton Abbott: David & Charles, 1977. 175pp. 16 plates.
32 illustrations, folding map,
Ottley 9079 Joby's other titles
James Page, Forgotten Railways: South Wales (Forgotten railways
series). David & Charles, 1979. 192pp. 16 plates. 32 illustrations,
12 maps. gazetteer, folding map,
Ottley 9642