British Railways The First 25 Years Volume 3: The North West J. Allan and A. MurrayThis is the third in a series of books covering the first twenty-five
years of British Railways, which will eventually cover the whole of
Great Britain.
This volume explores the North West of England, through
the county of Lancashire to the open fells of Westmorland. Travelling
mainly over former L&NWR, L&YR and Furness Railway lines, our
journey begins just north of Crewe and heads north along the West Coast
main line to Warrington. We visit Merseyside, Liverpool and the Docks,
including the Liverpool Overhead Railway, before continuing north to
Wigan. We pay a visit to the Vulcan Foundry at Newton-le-Willows, the
Central Wagon Company at Ince and the sheds at Wigan, Springs Branch and
Lostock Hall before negotiating the complex series of junctions leading
into Preston. The countryside opens up beyond Preston and we detour
west to explore the Fylde Coast and the holiday resort of Blackpool,
before resuming our journey north to historic Lancaster and the famous
station at Carnforth, where the old Furness Railway line branches off to
serve the southern Lake District. We then visit Morecambe Bay,
including the holiday resort of Morecambe and port of Heysham. The
branch stations at Windermere and Kendal are recorded before we regain
the main line and pass through the picturesque Lune Gorge to Tebay,
finally climbing over Shap summit to complete our journey at Penrith.
The atmospheric photographs cover steam, diesel and electric traction,
express, freight and humble shunting engines. Everything from
‘Coronations’, ‘Royal Scots’ and ‘Jubilees’ to the now long-forgotten
electric units on the Lancaster to Morecambe and Heysham line. There is
extensive coverage of freight working, including the rarely photographed
lines around St. Helens, finishing off with a study of the final year
of steam operation around Carnforth. There is a mix of action and depot
pictures, as well as plenty of unusual and ‘quirky’ shots, backed up by
extensive and informative captions – all in all a perfect companion to
the previous volumes in the series.
240 pages. 275x215mm. Printed on gloss art paper, casebound with printed board covers.