NEW BOOKS as reviewed by Tony Wright
BRITISH RAILWAY HISTORY IN COLOUR VOLUME 8: WARWICKSHIRE WESTERN REGION LINES PART 1: FENNY COMPTON TO SNOW HILL, by Andrew Britton, Lightwood Press. PRICE: £30.000
his is the first of Lightwood Press’ books I’ve reviewed, and a very impressive whole package it is, too. We’re taken on an all-colour pictorial journey in three sections – Fenny Compton to Warwick, Budbrook to Solihull and finally Solihull to Birmingham Snow Hill; all in 304 mouth-watering pages. The reproduction is first class, largely helped by the quality of much of the original imagery; there is the work of some top photographers of their day present, the late Michael Mensing, for instance. I’d query the title slightly, because it’s really British Railways’ history of the line that’s illustrated, there being nothing from GWR days (just its inheritance). In fact, it’s quite a tight time period described – the late-‘50s through to the introduction of the first-generation diesels and the demise of steam. Given that the volume is allcolour, I suppose that’s inevitable. Anyway, since steam predominates (and not just ex-GWR classes), it’s right up my street because I saw much of what’s shown (though further north in the case of the A better comment might be to have mentioned that the locomotive now has a double chimney and larger tender, different from when it was built. He also believes that Crosti boilers were still carried by ten 9Fs into their working lives on the WR, when the images show the pre-heaters to be removed. However, my comments above should not detract from anybody enjoying this work. Though three quarter shots of trains predominate, there are also marvellous images of the period railway infrastructure (much, now long-gone) and shed scenes, complemented by maps and tables. There are also working timetable extracts and paraphernalia describing the named trains that ran over the route. All in all, a very useful addition to any enthusiast’s library, particularly those who make models, especially where weathering is concerned. The final views of the downgraded mighty station at Snow Hill are particularly poignant, but at least the route southwards survives un-electrified, complete with the majority of its overbridges. All in all, excellent value for money and highly-recommended.
