Kirjahaku

On 21 May 1969 Dr Richard Beeching officially reopened the railway between Buckfastleigh and Totnes in south Devon as the Dart Valley Railway. This former GWR branch line had been closed by British Railways in 1962, although the passenger service had disappeared in 1958. The railway was only the fifth heritage railway in the country to be reopened and, though volunteers were involved, the owning company had shareholders and was run as a commercial undertaking. The author was one of those early volunteers who worked to make the railway physically fit to carry passengers again. In the intervening fifty-odd years since, the line has had its highs and lows, has come close to closing, has been taken over by a registered charity and now seems to be much more assured in its future direction. Many of the images in this account have never been published before and give a fascinating insight into the early years of the infant heritage railway.

A wonderfully nostalgic insight into what it takes to run a leading heritage railway, with a wealth of fascinating illustrations.

The West Riding of Yorkshire boasted the most complex railway network in Britain, comprised at various times of seven railway companies, with an eighth trying to secure a foothold, eleven significant joint lines and several minor systems. With no overall strategic pattern of territory or route, the companies seemed to vie incessantly for supremacy, often at the expense of efficiency with the significant duplication of facilities: over twenty-five towns and villages had two passenger stations, while some even had three or four! This book reviews the local history, including its economy and key industries. It describes the need for the railways and the political and geographical challenges they faced. It discusses the impact on the region of 'railway mania' experienced throughout Britain in the mid-nineteenth century. The many locomotives that worked these lines are celebrated, with a behind-the-scenes look at their yards, sheds and roundhouses. The lost branch lines and stations are remembered. Finally, there are individual chapters covering Leeds, Doncaster, Barnsley and the coalfields, Sheffield and Rotherham, Airedale and Wharfedale, the Aire and Calder watershed, the Calder Valley and Huddersfield.

The story of Midland Red is well known in enthusiast circles, and those lucky enough to have experienced the company at its peak can well remember the fleet of nearly 2,000 bright red vehicles not only cheering up the industrial areas of the Black Country and the East Midlands but blending seamlessly with the bucolic charms of the Vale of Evesham, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire. Regrettably, most images captured when the company was at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s were in monochrome and showed us nothing of the brightness that these buses brought to our lives. Midland Red in Colour seeks to address this imbalance and bring forward an album of images in full colour to remind us of what we once had in our everyday lives. Delving into his own archives, as well as those of his contemporaries, author Bernard Warr offers a wonderfully nostalgic look back at this iconic company.

A lavishly illustrated look at one of the most famous and idiosyncratic bus providers, the East Yorkshire Motor Services.