BOOKS
The New Railway To Scotland The story of building the Settle to Carlisle Railway from newspapers of the time
By David Occomore
HERE is an unusual book with a ‘different take’ on our railway history.
David Occomore has produced a very interesting piece of documentary historical research. He uses contemporary local and national newspaper reports to tell the fascinating story of the building of the Midland Railway’s 72-mile-long Settle to Carlisle route to Scotland during the 1870s.
At the time this was an enormous civil engineering project given the challenging terrain that the line traversed – entailing the construction of numerous bridges, 14 tunnels and 22 viaducts, including the 24-arch Ribblehead Viaduct, which is nowadays the most famous of these structures.
The author charts the progress in the construction of the line and the lives, dangers and accidents that befell the workforce of 6,000 or so navvies. The route is described together with the opening in August 1875 for goods traffic and April 1876 for passenger trains.
This is the first collection of contemporary accounts to tell the story – forming an almost monthly diary of events taking place at the various construction sites along the route.
The newspaper reports speak for themselves. They cover the period 1865–1908, including the planning, construction of the route and the early years of operation.
The book is generously illustrated with contemporary photographs, engravings, maps and documents to create an excellent account of this major part of our railway route development.
All with an interest in railway history and the Midland Railway will find this volume a valuable addition to their collections. Recommended. RSS Hayloft Publishing Ltd, 2 Staveley Mill Yard, Staveley, Kendal, LA8 9LR www.hayloft.euSoftback; 190pp; 245x185mm; ISBN: 978-1-910237-43-4; £15.00
The Evolving Railway 1951-1976
By Brian Morrison
THIS is a magnificent collection of top-quality monochrome images chosen for this publication by one of our most distinguished railway photographers.
Brian Morrison has been an assiduous recorder of our changing railway scene formore than 60 years since he began railway photography in March 1951.
This personal selection of his favourites, drawn from more than 200,000 images, concentrates on the years 1951 to 1976, and in consequence reflects the huge changes our railways have seen in the transition from steam to diesel and electric traction.
The author has captured a huge amount of long-lost railway infrastructure in these terrific photographs of our evolving railways.
Nowadays, we can only lament the loss of steam-age structures and signalling that feature so powerfully in the author’s superbly composed and dramatic images.