Mapping Britain's Lost Branch Lines: A Nostalgic Look At Britain's Branch Lines In Old Maps And Photographs

Description

Today there is a nostalgia in Britain for the golden age of the railways, a period usually defined as the first half of the 20th century. Steam was king, and Britain still enjoyed a remarkably comprehensive railway network, a network whose tentacles connected towns, villages and even hamlets across the entire country. At its heart were rural routes and branch lines, the latter often the creation of small companies driven by local needs and local finance. Firmly at the centre of British life, these lines were, for so many remote areas, a social and economic lifeline. Today, branch lines are part of a lost world, an era when railway maps of Britain showed lines crisscrossing every county - many of which had distinctive, but also lost, names. By bringing together old maps, images of old branch lines and modern photographs of relics that can be discovered today, this book celebrates a Britain of fond memories.

Author description

Paul Atterbury is a long-time expert on BBC TV's Antiques Roadshow, and has written on railways, Victorian culture and arts, as well as many other topics. He is also the author of Along Country Lines, Branch Line Britain, Along Lost Lines, Life Along the Line, Paul Atterbury's Railway Collection and Paul Atterbury's Wonder Book of Trains. Paul lives in Weymouth.

Table of contents

SOUTHWEST ENGLAND 1. Cornwall, Devon 2. Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire SOUTHERN ENGLAND 3. Hampshire, IOW, Berkshire 4. London, Middlesex 5. Surrey, Sussex, Kent EASTERN ENGLAND 6. Hertfordshire, Essex 7. Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Norfolk WALES 8. Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Breconshire, Glamorganshire, Monmouthshire 9. Cardiganshire, Radnorshire, Merionethshire, Montgomeryshire 10. Anglesey, Caernarvonshire, Denbighshire, Flintshire CENTRAL ENGLAND 11. Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire 12. Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Huntingdonshire 13. Shropshire, Staffordshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire 14. Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland, Lincolnshire NORTHERN ENGLAND 15. Yorkshire (West, East and North Riding) 16. Lancashire, Westmorland 17. Cumberland, Northumberland, County Durham SCOTLAND 18. Edinburgh, Haddington, Berwickshire, Pebbles-shire, Selkirk shire, Roxburghshire 19. Wigtownshire, Kirkcudbrightshire, Dumfries-shire 20. Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, Linlithgow, Glasgow, Dumbartonshire 21. Stirlingshire, Perthshire, Clackmannanshire, Kinrossshire, Fife 22. Argyllshire, Inverness 23. Nairnshire, Elginshire, Banffshire, Aberdeenshire, Kincardineshire 24. Ross, Sutherland, Caithness FEATURES These will be between the seven regional chapters, on subjects such as: Military lines Goods lines Industrial lines Branch line stations Branch line trains Branch line posters/promotion