Book 17 – A Railway Journey Around South-West England During The Late 1950s & 1960s.
A Railway Journey Around South-West England in the late 1950s & 1960s has been created from photographs taken by the author, his father, plus friends Alan Maund, John Dagley-Morris, and Ellis James-Robertson. Also, through contacts made via B & R Video Productions the author has been able to use images taken by Barry Eagles and Jim Oatway (the latter via his son, Nigel Oatway OBE). Virtually all of the photographs, a mixture of colour and black & white, have never previously been published. Steam is the predominant motive power but modern traction does appear including: gas turbine 18000 in colour, a ‘Hymek’ in ‘just delivered’ condition, ‘Warships’ and a ‘Western’.
Highlights are the 1961-closed Midland & South Western line between Cheltenham and Ludgershall, the Somerset & Dorset north of Templecombe (including the Highbridge branch and Mangotsfield), plus the Eclipse peat works narrow gauge system on the Somerset Levels. Other locations include: Swindon works, Malmesbury, the Calne branch, Thingley Junction, Holt Junction, Castle Cary, Taunton, Hemyock, Sidmouth Junction, Exmouth Junction shed, Crediton, Barnstaple, the North Devon & Cornwall line, Bude, Meldon (quarry, viaduct and halt), Defiance platform, the Liskeard to Looe branch, Bodmin North, Gwinear Road, and concluding with nine colour slides at Wadebridge.