Bøker av Patrick Bennett

The latest in this heavily illustrated series looking at Britain's pre-Grouping joint railway lines focusing on Eastern and Southern England.

The final volume in this heavily illustrated series exploring the pre-Grouping joint railway lines of Britain focusing on the Midlands, Wales and the South West.

Lavishly illustrated throughout, this book tells the story of the North of Britain railways in locations across the north of Britain that were once served by more than one station - and then, eventually, by none.

Lavishly illustrated throughout, this book tells the story of the South of Britain railways in locations that were once served by more than one station - and then, eventually, by none.

The first volume in a series looking at the joint lines of Britain's pre-Grouping railways focusing on Scotland and Northern England.

Previously unpublished photographs, here the author tell the story of the railways around Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

Exploring terrific, previously unpublished photographs documenting the history of railways in Sussex.

No fewer than sixteen pre-grouping companies were represented within Cumbria's borders, seven of these in Carlisle alone. To the east of the mountains are the great Anglo-Scottish lines of the London and North Western and the Midland. Venturing across the Pennines were the transversal routes of the North Eastern Railway, from Newcastle to Carlisle, and Darlington to Tebay and Penrith. The Cumbrian coast presents a completely different picture. Here the multiple competing companies were concerned principally with the transport of coal and mineral ores to serve the huge industrial complexes to the west and south. The two principal coastal lines were the Maryport and Carlisle in the north and the Furness in the west and south. In the Whitehaven/Workington hinterland there was a number of other railways, all concerned with mineral extraction and transport. Lines penetrating the interior of the Lake District were the Coniston, Lakeside and Windermere branches and the Cockermouth, Keswick & Penrith Railway that crossed the Lake District from west to east. In the north were the Caledonian with its main line to Carlisle and the short-lived Solway Junction Railway, and the North British with the Waverley, Port Carlisle, and Silloth lines. The Glasgow and South Western also ran trains into Glasgow. The history, development, and in some cases closure of each of these lines is described in turn, illustrated with a selection of photographs from different periods in their history.

Derbyshire is a county of contrasts, and the development of the railways reflect this. In Limestone Country in the west the LNW held sway with its railways from Ashbourne and Cromford to Buxton involved in the extraction of limestone. Meanwhile, in the east of the county, no fewer than four different companies fought over the lucrative business of coal carrying in the huge North Midlands Coalfield. From the historic railway town of Derby, the Midland Railway had routes south to London, west to Birmingham and north to Sheffield. In the north of the county was the MR's Hope Valley route, which included two of the longest tunnels in Britain. Further north still was the Great Central's Woodhead route carving its way through the gritstone. Altogether no fewer than six railway companies were represented in the county, including the Great Northern penetrating from the east, the North Staffordshire in the south-west and the Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast Railway with its transversal Chesterfield-Lincoln line. A complex but fascinating story, told using previously unpublished photographs, this book charts the development of the county's railways from the earliest days.

England's second largest county contains a wealth of railway history. The county was dominated by two companies - the Great Central in the north and the Great Northern in the centre and south. The county was also penetrated by the Midland Railway and there were no fewer than three joint lines. In the south the Midland & Great Northern Joint passed through from west to east, while the Great Northern & Great Eastern Joint ran north to south. In the far north-west of the county was the Isle of Axholme Railway, jointly owned by the North Eastern and the Lancashire & Yorkshire. The East Coast Main Line passes through the west of the county and this stretch includes the major railway centre of Grantham and Stoke Bank, where Mallard made its record-breaking run. Other important railway junctions are Sleaford, Boston, Spalding and Lincoln. On the coast are the seaside towns of Skegness, Mablethorpe, Sutton and Cleethorpes, which in the tourist season would see the arrival by train of thousands of holidaymakers. Further north is Grimsby, which provided numerous fish trains. So important was this traffic that the Great Central had a class of engine commonly used on these trains known as 'Fish Engines'. Next comes the important port of Immingham, Britain's busiest, which sees some 240 train movements per week. On the north Lincolnshire coast is New Holland, from where the railway-owned ferry used to cross to Hull. Further west is the steel-making town of Scunthorpe, which has its own railway system and is another important customer of the railway. There were other railways too: the Immingham Electric Railway, the Alford steam tram, and the potato railways - one system of which extended to more than twenty miles. RAF Cranwell had its own branch line. There are three tourist railways, one standard gauge and two narrow gauge. Using a wealth of rare and previously unseen photographs, Patrick Bennett documents Lincolnshire's railways.

1980 to 1995 was an extraordinary time for the railways of Britain, especially the freight sector. In 1980 there was a unified, monochrome railway. Freight traffic was still abundant, with marshalling yards active and many branch lines still operating. There were hundreds of collieries. In the early 1980s, Sectorisation arrived. The freight division was separated from the passenger side and further sub-divided into different freight sectors. New locomotives were introduced, and the older types started to disappear. As the eighties progressed, the freight sector was constantly changing. The mixed freight train became a thing of the past but new traffic flows developed, particularly in containers and aggregates. The coal sector steadily declined and branch lines became disused. In the early nineties three new freight companies were created in anticipation of privatisation and then finally privatisation itself arrived, with all freight traffic being taken over by an American company. It was a period of enormous change and adaptation, and the story is told here through the images of two photographers who were keen observers of the railway scene throughout the whole of this fascinating period.

The Chilterns consist of a band of chalk hills to the north-west of London stretching from Oxfordshire to Hertfordshire. It so happened that these hills were directly on the routes of five major companies' routes to the North and Midlands. These were: the Great Northern, the Midland, the London & North Western, the Great Central and the Great Western. As well as the main lines there was a large number of branches, now nearly all closed. To complete the picture, to the north of the Chilterns was the Oxford to Cambridge transversal route, part of which remains open, and part of which is being actively restored. This book relates the story of these lines and their branches, through their construction and operation, the closures of the 1960s, to the situation today. Illustrated throughout with historic and modern photographs, maps, diagrams and timetables.

A nostalgic look back at a time of great change on Britain's railways in the north of England and Scotland.