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Although closed to traffic in 1966, with most of its infrastructure swiftly destroyed by British Railways, this unique railway line still lives in the minds of many, some too young to remember it in its heyday. For more then a hundred years it courted disaster and could on a number of occasions have succumbed to overpowering financial pressures, but it survived with the help of partnerships with larger, more secure companies, namely the Midland Railway and the London & South Western Railway. Later on, after the grouping in 1923, the line came under the control of the L M S and the Southern Railway. It was unfortunate that the line suffered in later years, from inter regional rivalry between the Western and Southern Regions of British Railways, which led to its eventual closure. The variety of companies involved in its running meant that during its lifetime the small pool of locomotives needed to service the line was supplemented by the best each partner could offer. So from the beginning to the end there were a myriad number of types of locomotive running over the Mendips providing a lively variety of motive power. This heavily illustrated book traces this unique and fascinating history and brings to life this singular, much missed and loved railway.
Weymouth & Portland at Work is a fascinating pictorial history of the working life of the Dorset towns of Weymouth and Portland in the last hundred and more years.
In 1987, the original Oxford Publishing Company produced an amalgam of two paperback books written by former Branksome fireman Peter Smith. Mendips Engineman and Footplate over the Mendips told the story of a young railway fireman and his driver Donald Beale. Enthralling the reader with stories of working trains over the old Somerset & Dorset line, the two books encompassed not just ordinary workings, but also early footplate experiences of Peter's own railway career, driving the very last northbound 'Pines Express' in 1962. This edition contains the complete original text and also includes a new set of black and white images with which to illustrate what remains a still lamented cross-country railway. The Somerset and Dorset: From the Footplate is a book to be savored, not just by those who remember this line, but by a whole generation of railway enthusiasts.
This album of photographs and stories brings alive again what has made the Somerset and Dorset Railway so special for so many and provides a most fitting 40th anniversary celebration.
Take a journey on The Somerset & Dorset Railway back to the halcyon days of steam to a time when a tablet was either taken for a headache or used to ensure only one train was on a single track section at a time, and blackberries were picked on the line-side to make a pie. The book will take you on the journey from Bath to Bournemouth describing the stations along the route and is complemented by tales from the footplate told by Somerset & Dorset men Wallace Moon and Geoff Akers. Then fast forward to the present and 50 years ago what to many was the best loved line of all was swept aside by the ruthless actions of Dr Beeching. But out of adversity comes opportunity and a spirited group of enthusiasts, all volunteers, has worked relentlessly since 1996 to lovingly restore the station at Midsomer Norton. We are now welcoming steam locomotives once again to the Somerset & Dorset Railway with the aim of edging closer and closer to Chilcompton Tunnel and beyond.
Although closed to traffic in 1966, with most of its infrastructure swiftly destroyed by British Railways, this unique railway line still lives in the minds of many, some too young to remember it in its heyday. For more then a hundred years it courted disaster and could on a number of occasions have succumbed to overpowering financial pressures, but it survived with the help of partnerships with larger, more secure companies, namely the Midland Railway and the London & South Western Railway. Later on, after the grouping in 1923, the line came under the control of the L M S and the Southern Railway. It was unfortunate that the line suffered in later years, from inter regional rivalry between the Western and Southern Regions of British Railways, which led to its eventual closure. The variety of companies involved in its running meant that during its lifetime the small pool of locomotives needed to service the line was supplemented by the best each partner could offer. So from the beginning to the end there were a myriad number of types of locomotive running over the Mendips providing a lively variety of motive power. This heavily illustrated book traces this unique and fascinating history and brings to life this singular, much missed and loved railway.
A wonderful collection of photographs showing the Somerset & Dorset Railway in operation, after abandonment and during the present day.