Railway Memories – serie

With photographs supported by introductory text, track layouts, operating instructions and timetables brought to life by the reminiscences of people who worked in the area, "Railway Memories No 15" recalls the busy railway network serving the West Yorkshire towns of Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley during the 1950s and 1960s. It takes a fascinating and nostalgic look back at the stations, yards, signal boxes, colliery railways and the trains of such variety that no less than 46 differenct classes of locomotive are featured - not counting sub-classes or colliery and industrial locomotives.

Offers a look at the ever changing Leeds railway scene over a span of 50 years from the late 1940s to the 1990s. In 217 top quality photographs, this book features not only many steam trains of the past but diesels, electrics, stations, locomotive depots and goods yards. It also includes introductory text, track plans and other information.

With bygone railway scenes from all over Yorkshire, 184 pictures - 11 of them colour - illustrate the wide variety of diesel locomotives and multiple units to be found in the white rose county prior to the end of British Rail steam on 11th August 1968.

Tom Greaves gives his own account of the chaotic introduction of main line diesel locomotives during the late 1950s which was conducted primarily on the suburban network out of London's King's Cross station and with which he was directly involved. There, a multitude of untried and disparate locomotive types were launched into intensive commuter service almost overnight with inevitable consequences but out of which ultimately emerged a modern, cleaner and more cost-effective network. Railway Memories No.26 also outlines the array of measures taken in the 1950s to prolong the life of steam and make it more efficient before the diesels finally took over. The author charts his early years as a premium apprentice at Doncaster Works and takes us through his time as a locomotive shed master in the London area and as traction engineer at Sheffield and Leeds in the 1960s, concluding with a selection of amusing and fascinating anecdotes. A keen and accomplished photographer throughout his career, Tom Greaves also provides a treasure chest of rare steam and early diesel photographs.

Railway Memories No.28 features a whole range of memorable scenes from the famous expresses of the East Coast main line to the humble, dirty coal trains that ground their way unceasingly around the local network, from the world's oldest railway only a few years from its 300th birthday to Tyneside's pioneering electric commuter services,from the great bridges and magnificent stations to engine sheds and wayside halts. Besides the main line railways, the area's second rail network, just as extensive but less well known is also featured - that of the National Coal Board, descended from the earliest wagonways, which bound the pits to each other and to riverside staiths and the main line system until becoming extinct in the late 1980s. Railway Memories No.28 opens with informative text which tells the story of Tyneside's rail systems from the world's earliest forms of rail transport in the 1600s to the Metro and electrification of the East Coast main line in the 1980s. Locations featured include: Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Whitley Bay, Tynemouth, Ponteland, Gateshead, Jarrow, South Shields, Dunston-on-Tyne, the Tanfield branch, Blaydon, Wylam, Hexham, Allendale, Haltwhistle, Alston.

Follows the usual Railway Memories style illustrating the railways in the Chesterfield area of North Derbyshire as they used to be mainly in the 1950s and 1960s when the olde worlde market town of Chesterfield was surrounded by a tangled mass of collieries, coke works, iron works and railways. Begins with in-depth descriptive text.

Through 215 nostalgic black and white photographs plus track plans and operating data, this latest addition to the Railway Memories series takes us back to the time when Sherwood Forest was a bustling hive of coal mining and railway activity, when such places as Mansfield, Worksop, Retford, Shirebrook and Tuxford were busy railway hubs, when Retford was graced by the most famous steam-hauled expresses, when colliery branch lines meandered into the depths of the forest in search of modern 20th century collieries, and when steam was king. Some more recent scenes which have also passed into history are included.

In the usual Railway Memories style, this bumper book is the biggest yet in the series. I takes us back to a time when Yorkshire's pre-1974 East Riding was served by a comprehensive railway network. Starts with text describing the railways' growth, their place in the varied landscape, their passenger and freight services including coverage of the countless steam-hauled summer Saturday expresses going to Butlins' holiday camp at Filey, and the railways' decline, largely at the hand of Doctor Beeching, to a point where only those around the perimeter survive. Along with the 286 photographs including those on the colour cover, is a wealth of operating data, track plans, memories and anecdotes. This book does not include Hull which although in East Yorkshire is not in the East Riding - see our other book Kingston upon Hull. Images of a Rich Transport Heritage. 9781871233308.