Backtrack

RAILWAYS IN RETROSPECT No.7 “The Grouping was unnecessary, its conception flawed, its planning muddled, and its execution clumsy.” That’s the controversial conclusion reached in this new publication from Pendragon Publishing, the first history of the

As in the previous parts of the ‘Forgotten Branches of North Wales Wales’ articles, the initial incentives to construct railways in these areas of difficult terrain were primarily to transport the varied mineral products of the area’s numerous mining

The 5th Earl Fitzwilliam owned Wentworth Woodhouse, Britain’s longest stately mansion, and had enormous wealth increasing by the week. The Honourable Lady was his sister-in-law Isabella Ramsden, whose family famously claimed to own the whole of Hudde

Photographs from the author’s collection unless otherwise stated. “On Monday last [5th October] pursuant to public notice, the great and important line of railway opened for the conveyance of passengers from Leeds to Hebden Bridge – thus completing,

Special Trains Notices are a fascinating source of information for the railway historian, providing access to, amongst other things, details of additional trains and alterations to normal services which would otherwise have gone unnoticed. One recent

FROM THE PENDRAGON ARCHIVES

In Part One of this article (November) I regaled readers with the story of the lines and routes worked by Ipswich crews which opened up to 1859. In this concluding part I will bring the story of the East Suffolk line up to date and deal with the othe

The relationship between trains and boats goes back a long way. In that cradle of railways, North East England, the very earliest plateways and tramways were built to move coal from the mines to either a canal or direct to the coast for onward transp