Not always a fan of Kestrel production I was knocked out by this one.Admitedly the area is far from boring,the author has packed it with detail yet still makes it flow,not always easy.Photographs,maps and diagrams.great appendices,its all there,and well laid out.How about another one Howard about 2 or 3 miles north? ( )

This book concerns the nearest railway to where I grew up, on the outskirts of the town of Belper, in Derbyshire. Whilst the Midland main line ran through Belper, in the next valley to the east was the Midland branch to Ripley. It was a strange survivor, regular passenger traffic having ceased in 1930 but freight continuing well into the 1990s in connection with an opencast coal site at Denby. Indeed, when I was commuting into Derby by bus in the period 1979-85, I would regularly be delayed by two class 20s bringing a coal train out of Denby and negotiating the various level crossings in the village of Little Eaton. This book is a comprehensive look at not only the railways in the area, but also their predecessors the plateways. Indeed, I learnt from this book that a plateway ran from Kilburn, via inclined planes to the Belper Potteries, running past the end of my road and (probably) through the site of the last school I attended in the area! Having moved away from that area 25 years ago, I find it amazing that I am still finding out new things about the railway history of my own area! ( )