Chris Banks (2)

An odd book, in a way; unlike most railway histories or photographic collections, this details a line which had no separate independent corporate or geographical identity. The railways involved form what is now a heavily-used commuter route between two Midlands cities, but the railways themselves were neither conceived as a single route nor built as one, and certainly not initially operated as one.

There is nonetheless a lot to interest here, as some of the railways depicted are attractive in their own right; also, the author has chosen photographs that are a little different to the norm. Thus (for example) we see Birmingham New Street station in the throes of rebuilding from a fine Victorian glass-and-iron edifice into the concrete monstrosity we see today (and that is due to be swept away very shortly).

There are a lot of pictures of engines taken at the key sheds on the line - Saltley, Nuneaton and Leicester - and given that these served other lines as well, I did find that to be a bit irritating. I would have preferred to see more photographs of the intermediate stations and trains on the route. But that might not be possible (although photographs like this do exist). Some pictures of the more unusual workings of the late BR period - such as the Birmingham - Skegness services in the middle 1980s formed from loco-hauled stock and powered by two Class 20s, engines more usually considered freight engines only - would have been nice.… (plus d'informations)