Author: Gordon RushtonPublisher:
ISBN: 9780957145603
Category : Narrow gauge railroads
Languages : en
Pages : 448
Book Description
This is the story of the unique struggle to restore a railway lost to time in Snowdonia National Park.
Rebuilding the Welsh Highland Railway
Author: Peter JohnsonPublisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473869919
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 573
Book Description
THE REVIVAL AND RESTORATION of the Welsh Highland Railway is one of the greatest heritage railway achievements of the 21st Century, yet its success followed more than one hundred years of failure.Supported by public loans, its first incarnation combined the moribund North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways, some of the abandoned works of the Portmadoc, Beddgelert & South Snowdon Railway and part of the horse-worked Croesor Tramway. Opened in 1923, it was closed in 1937 and the track was lifted in 1941.Serious talk of revival started in the 1960s but restoration did not start until 1997, with the neighbouring Ffestiniog Railway at the helm, supported by generous donors and benefactors, the Millennium Commission, the Welsh Government and teams of enthusiastic volunteers.Author Peter Johnson steers a course through the railways complicated pre-history before describing the events, including a court hearing, three public inquiries and a great deal of controversy, leading to the start of services between Caernarfon and Porthmadog in 2011. A postscript describes post-completion developments.
The Snowdon Mountain Railway
Author: Peter JohnsonPublisher: Pen and Sword Transport
ISBN: 1526776103
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 388
Book Description
The Snowdon Mountain Railway is one of the great narrow gauge railways of North Wales, with thousands of visitors travelling to the summit of Mount Snowdon along the line each year. This book covers the history of this historic and interesting line from its beginnings in the 1890s through to the present day. The author Peter Johnson has been writing about narrow gauge railways for many years and has a deep knowledge of the lines in North and Mid Wales. The Snowdon Mountain Railway is an important part of the tourist industry in North Wales and plays a vital part in providing transport in this popular and much visited area. This volume looks at the narrow gauge railway's history and development, taking in the present and future development of this fascinating line's operation.
Narrow Gauge Locomotives
Author: Anthony CoullsPublisher: Amberley Publishing Limited
ISBN: 1445675579
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 132
Book Description
Britain’s narrow gauge railways are host to some of the oldest, most charming, varied and extraordinary locomotives to be found anywhere. This book is a fascinating survey of these appealing engines.
The Corris Railway
Author: Peter JohnsonPublisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1526717557
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 387
Book Description
An extensively illustrated history of this Welsh railway—and the effort to restore it. One of Wales’ oldest narrow gauge railways, the 2ft 3in gauge Corris Railway was built to carry slate from several quarries in the Dulas valley to wharves on the river Dyfi. At first forbidden to use steam locomotives or to carry passengers, it overcame these obstacles and became an essential part of the community that it served. It was also a forerunner in encouraging tourists, offering inclusive tours to nearby Talyllyn, with passengers traveling on the train and on railway-operated road services. Taken over by the Great Western Railway in 1930, the railway was closed by British Railways in 1948, apparently for good. Fortunately, the last two steam locomotives and some rolling stock was saved by the nearby Talyllyn Railway, where it played an essential role in that railway’s preservation. Eventually, the thoughts of enthusiasts turned to reviving the Corris Railway, and, after many twists and turns, the first passengers were carried on a short section in 2002. In this book, historian Peter Johnson has delved into many sources to uncover the intricacies of the railway’s origins, development, operation, and revival.
Festiniog Railway: The Spooner Era and After, 1830–1920
Author: Peter JohnsonPublisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1473869889
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 334
Book Description
Festiniog Railway 1836–2014 describes the history of the worlds first steam-operated narrow gauge railway to carry passengers. It covers the history of the railway from its beginnings as a horse-worked tramroad in 1836, through its technical developments with the introduction of steam locomotives, Fairlie articulated locomotives and bogie carriages through its twentieth-century decline, to closure in 1946, and then to the preservation era and its development as a major twenty-first-century tourist attraction.Built to serve the extensive slate industry in the Ffestiniog area of North Wales by carrying slate from the quarries to the port at Porthmadog, from 1865 the railway also operated a passenger service to serve the local community, which also attracted tourists. Closed in 1946 the railway was revived in stages from 1955, when a prolonged compensation claim was mounted against a major state-owned company for land taken to build a power station. Volunteers from all over the world came together to restore and operate this important piece of world industrial heritage, including the construction of the 2 mile deviation needed to bypass the power station. Services were resumed between Porthmadog and Blaenau Ffestiniog in 1982.The Festiniog Railway runs through some of the most beautiful countryside in North Wales, with spectacular views of mountains and lakes. The railway also has a very impressive collection of modern and historic motive power and rolling stock. It is one of the most successful tourist attractions in Wales and is one of the most important industrial history sites in the world.
Tracks to the Trenches
Author: Moseley Railway TrustPublisher: Mainline & Maritime
ISBN: 9781900340694
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 80
Book Description
The Moseley Railway Trust, at its Apedale Valley Light Railway base in Staffordshire, has amassed a collection of narrow gauge railway equipment that is unique in the UK, and of national significance. As part of the World War One commemorations, the Trust put on three hugely successful 'Tracks to the Trenches' events, each with a different theme, in 2014, 2016 and 2018. This fully illustrated album is a collection of images from all three events, and provides unique coverage of not just the collection, but the outstanding dioramas recreated by the visiting re-enactors.
British railway enthusiasm
Author: Ian CarterPublisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1526129744
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 329
Book Description
Now available in paperback, this is the first academic book to study railway enthusiasts in Britain. Far from a trivial topic, the post-war train spotting craze swept most boys and some girls into a passion for railways, and for many, ignited a lifetime’s interest. British railway enthusiasm traces this post-war cohort, and those which followed, as they invigorated different sectors in the world of railway enthusiasm – train spotting, railway modelling, collecting railway relics – and then, in response to the demise of main line steam traction, Britain’s now-huge preserved railway industry. Today this industry finds itself riven by tensions between preserving a loved past which ever fewer people can remember and earning money from tourist visitors. The widespread and enduring significance of railway enthusiasm will ensure that this groundbreaking text remains a key work in transport studies, and will appeal to enthusiasts as much as to students and scholars of transport and cultural history.
Author: James I. C. BoydThe Skye Railway
Author: John ThomasPublisher:
ISBN: 9780946537488
Category : Highland Region (Scotland)
Languages : en
Pages : 181
Book Description
The railway to Skye between Inverness and Kyle of Lochalsh has a fascinating and noble past. The narrative in this volume begins in the days when feudal overlords fought like fury to keep the railways out of the glens, and ends with the line's devoted public fighting just as determinedly to prevent its closure.
