Overview

With images and vivid recollections, we journey away from the main line to valleys, quarries and factories. Industries as diverse as slate, iron, paper, glass, food and tourism relied on dozens of small railways to keep people and goods moving. At quarries, factories and picturesque rural stations, Brian and Ian Reading explore scenes, many of which have now changed beyond recognition. This photographic tour includes the Isle of Man Railway, Stewarts & Lloyds Minerals at Corby, British Industrial Sand at Middleton Towers & Leziate, the Wissington Light Railway, Richard Garrett Engineering Leiston Works, Bowater’s Railway at Sittingbourne, Kemsley & Ridham Dock, the Vale of Rheidol Railway, the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway, Dinorwic Quarries (Padarn) Railway, Penrhyn Quarry Railway, the Talyllyn Railway and the Festiniog (Ffestiniog) Railway. People, machines and landscapes are crystalised on film for future generations; reawakening memories for those who lived through this time of change and offering a fascinating insight for those who are too young to have been trackside during this intriguing period of railway history.

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9781398100121

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'A real plus point is the inclusion of maps of each location/railway, with markers to show where photos have been taken from – an excellent idea. Thoroughly recommended.' -- Steam Railway Magazine, August 2023

Author Information

As the curtain closed for mainline steam traction, Brian captured with film and vivid memories, the sights, sounds and smells; the last acts of great mechanical and human railway personalities. Close friends with railway workers, Brian was a member of Alan Peglar’s original Flying Scotsman support team, helped restore Bressingham’s Thundersley, and ran with the A4 Sir Nigel Gresley. Brought-up with lathes, mills, the smell of cutting oil and steam, Ian developed a passion for science and engineering. Designing an LNER B17 steam replica as a teenager, he pursued a career as a professional engineer. Ian retains an admiration for the generations of engineers whose imagination gave birth to modern industry and transportation.

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