CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE

The story of building the Settle to Carlisle Railway from newspapers of  the time

By David Occomore

HERE is an unusual book with a ‘different take’ on our railway history.

David Occomore has produced a very interesting piece of documentary historical research. He uses contemporary local and national newspaper reports to tell the fascinating story of the building of the Midland Railway’s 72-mile-long Settle to Carlisle route to Scotland during the 1870s.

At the time this was an enormous civil engineering project given the challenging terrain that the line traversed – entailing the construction of numerous bridges, 14 tunnels and 22 viaducts, including the 24-arch Ribblehead Viaduct, which is nowadays the most famous of these structures.

The author charts the progress in the construction of the line and the lives, dangers and accidents that befell the workforce of 6,000 or so navvies. The route is described together with the opening in August 1875 for goods traffic and April 1876 for passenger trains.

This is the first collection of contemporary accounts to tell the story – forming an almost monthly diary of events taking place at the various construction sites along the route.

The newspaper reports speak for themselves. They cover the period 1865–1908, including the planning, construction of the route and the early years of operation.

The book is generously illustrated with contemporary photographs, engravings, maps and documents to create an excellent account of this major part of our railway route development.

All with an interest in railway history and the Midland Railway will find this volume a valuable addition to their collections. Recommended. RSS

Hayloft Publishing Ltd, 2 Staveley Mill Yard, Staveley, Kendal, LA8 9LR www.hayloft.eu Softback; 190pp; 245x185mm; ISBN: 978-1-910237-43-4; £15.00