Even back in the days when we had had superb railway routes a-plenty, there were same lines which stood out, way above the rest. Everyone had heard of the Settle & Carlisle (S&C) line long before the tussle over its future through the 1970s/80s. The Somerset & Dorset (S&D) was another that was on everyone’s minds and continues its legend-like status despite the fact that Beeching closed it in 1966. These were railways which did more than just provide a transport link from one place to another. They had ‘something special’ and usually it was an unrivalled and unspoiled view of the countryside through which they ran, and a challenging gradient profile for steam locomotive crews to master. That: was certainly true of both the S&C and the S&D.
One well-known line which was high on the list of those that interested me was the Central Wales line, which linked Shrewsbury to Swansea. As Dent and Ribblehead are synonymous with the attractions of the Settle and Carlisle, so Knucklas and Sugar Loaf drew me, and countless others, to the Central Wales line.
Having been part of the LNWR then LMS, it had become part of the Western Region of BR at nationalisation, which was never good news for a line built by one of the
