FEBRUARY 2010 : Latest Issues of Black Dwarf Lightmoor Journals

Archive (Issue 65) and Railway Archive (Issue 26) are now available.

The Wirral Railway and its Predecessors

Price: £24.99

The Wirral peninsula, which forms the top north west corner of Cheshire and sits between the rivers Dee and Mersey, is almost an island and, in many respects, exhibits the characteristics of a region isolated from other influences. This was undoubtedly even more pronounced in times gone past and is a feature that was particularly well illustrated in the development and ‘look’ of the railway company which served the most northerly and populated part of the peninsula – the Wirral Railway....more

NOVEMBER 2009 : Latest Issues of Black Dwarf Lightmoor Journals

Archive (Issue 64) and Railway Archive (Issue 25) are now available.

The Great North of Scotland Railway was a compact system which served the north east corner of Scotland from its headquarters in Aberdeen. Its coaching stock reflected the Company’s chequered development and the perpetual need to keep expenditure to a minimum. Progress in coach design lagged behind many other parts of the country. The majority of passengers were still being conveyed in 4- and 6-wheelers at the time of the grouping, but the bogie coaches for more important services were among the best appointed of their time...more

Private Owner Wagons: Eighth Collection

Price: £19.95

This eighth volume of the series continues toexpand the knowledge of British Private Owner wagons, their owners and their operation. Indeed, within these covers is much new material which has recentlycome into the public domain and which adds greatlyto the understanding of the subject.

As usual a wide variety of owners and operators are covered, with over seventy individual owners and companies being looked at. As with previous volumes it is prolifically illustrated, both with ‘official’ wagon builders’ images and with views of the wagons in service....more

Official railway publications tended to use the term ‘Wells Branch’ to refer to the GWR route between Yatton and Witham. In fact, the line originated as two entirely separate branches, both terminating at Wells and ultimately joined by a short length of Somerset & Dorset Railway metals. At one time, Wells hosted three separate stations on three independent lines, all within half a mile of each other.

The Somerset Central Railway was first to arrive in the city of Wells with a standard gauge line from Glastonbury in March 1859. Three years later, the East Somerset Railway opened its broad gauge branch from Witham to Wells, worked from the outset by the GWR. To the west, the Cheddar Valley & Yatton Railway reached Wells in April 1870. Establishing passenger train connections between the three stations, serving both broad and standard gauge lines, proved a nightmare for the Board of Trade inspectors.....more

SEPTEMBER 2009 : Latest Issues of Black Dwarf Lightmoor Journals

Archive (Issue 63) and Railway Archive (Issue 24) are now available.

Parkend - a Forest of Dean Village

Author :Ralph Anstis

Price £9.99

This was one of the first books put together by Lightmoor Press and  it has now been republished in an extended format with extra  photographs to add to the history of this industrialised village in  the heart of the Forest of Dean. The author looks in depth at the  history of the village which once had ironworks, tinplate works,  collieries and stone works as well as a railway station and tramroad  interchange wharf. The text is supported by many photographs maps,  plans and other ephemera to fully document the fascinating story of  the terminus of the Dean Forest Railway.

The Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway and its Locomotives

Author: Bob Essery

Price £24.99

The Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway came into being in 1893, when the Eastern & Midlands Railway, having over extended itself financially, was jointly taken over by the Midland and Great Northern railways. The E&MR main line linked the Midlands and the North of England with the popular Norfolk coast resorts and its acquisition enabled these two railways to reach deep in to the heart of Great Eastern Railway territory.

Following the joint takeover, the Midland assumed responsibility for the motive power whilst the GN looked after the signalling and permanent way. The line was run by a Joint Committee, the representatives of the MR and GNR giving way to those of the LM&SR and L&NER after the 1923 Grouping. It was only when the line was ceded to the L&NER in 1936, however, that it began to lose its independent identity, with the locomotive department seeing the M&GN and ex-Midland types replaced by those of the L&NER and constituents.

The locomotive history of the Midland Railway has been extensively covered by the author, in conjunction with the late David Jenkinson, in a four volume series published in the 1980s. At that time, it was intended to carry on and cover the locomotive histories of the London, Tilbury & Southend Railway, which came in to Midland hands in 1912, and of the two Joint lines which came under Midland control, the M&GN and the Somerset & Dorset Railway. The former came out in 2000 but the latter two lines still remained to be covered.
 
This detailed profusely illustrated history of the Midland & Great Northern Railway, and in particular its motive power right from the very early days of the companies which grew to form it, therefore fills another important gap in the locomotive history of the Midland Railway. The text includes much new information which has come to light in the last twenty years, adding to the research previously carried out in the 1980s, whilst much of the illustrative content, including numerous detailed plans and a plethora of historic original photographs, has not previously been published.

The majority of the M&GN system was closed in 1959 and, today, the only surviving section is that operated as a preserved line by the North Norfolk Railway, who do much to keep the memory of the old company alive. This volume is therefore a timely addition to the history of this most distinctive of railway’s, which will be appreciated by enthusiasts, modellers and railway historians alike.

Gloucester Docks an Historical Guide

Author: Hugh Conway-Jones
Price: £5.00

This is a timely new guide book from the acknowledged authority on Gloucester Docks, with the further redevelopment of the quays to the south of this well loved inland port. Produced to a similar size and format to our best selling guide to the Anderton Boat Lift, each page deals with a different dimension of the history of the docks, looking at individual warehouses, dock traffic, the railway connections, bargemen and boatmen, and many other facets. The narrative is enlivened with tales of incidents which have occurred throughout the docks’ history, some major and some incidental but amusing. The book is illustrated with a lively selection of pictures, period adverts and maps, many of which have not been published before, and is printed in full colour throughout. It will prove invaluable for visitors to the docks but also provides a useful historical introduction to them for students of canal and waterway history everywhere.

A History of Fuller's Earth Mining in the Bath Area

Authors: Neil Macmillen with Mike Chapman
Price: £15.00

There is evidence of fuller's earth mining in the Bath area from Roman times and the industry only finally ceased in 1980. Indeed, this detailed and well illustrated history of the Bath fuller's earth workings is based on papers which were discovered literally 'blowing in the wind' a few years ago, having escaped from the derelict works on Combe Down. Although this was the final place where fuller's earth was processed in the Bath area, at one time there were also mines and works at South Stoke, in Horsecombe Vale, at Tucking Mill, at Combe Hay and around Wellow. The Somersetshire Coal Canal and the Somerset & Dorset, GW and Midland railways all featured on the transport side, whilst the fuller's earth was won by traditional mining methods. Steam and diesel engines and even a windmill at one stage provided power for the processing works. This was a multi-faceted industry, carried out largely unnoticed for nearly 200 years in the picturesque countryside to the south of the city of Bath.

Few people have ever realised the importance of this obscure corner of the mining industry, or the manifold uses to which fuller's earth can be put, so this new account fills an important gap in the literature of British mining. Fuller's earth is no longer mined and processed anywhere in Great Britain, so this history of the Bath fuller's earth mines and works is timely, documenting as it does another lost industry. There is still a demand for 'this useful earth' but now it is largely Bentonite from the USA.

Frog Lane Colliery – Sixty Years On

Price: £12.00

It is sixty years since Frog Lane Colliery at Coalpit Heath in South Gloucestershire closed but memories of the colliery are still strong. This book takes a look at the history of the colliery; work on the surface and underground; the private railway and the social life of the colliers.

The volume is lavishly illustrated with photographs, many taken in 1906, together with maps and plans of both the surface and the underground workings.

Throughout the work are included reminiscences by men who worked at the colliery and by residents of Coalpit Heath and district who recall the impact of the colliery on life in the area. As such the book forms an extremely valuable piece of social history of interest to social historians and South Gloucestershire residents as well as industrial historians.

This book has been published by Lightmoor Press in conjunction with the South Gloucestershire Mining Research Group (www.sgmrg.co.uk)

Private Owner Wagons of Bristol & District

Price: £18.00

The third volume covering the privately operated wagons of Gloucestershire covers the city and county of Bristol and the areas around Warmley to the east and Avonmouth to the west. The majority of wagons featured were concerned with the coal trade, bringing both housecoal and industrial coals into the city. The City of Bristol also has a long industrial history, thus wagons connected to such diverse businesses as the chemical industry, pottery and fireworks will be found within these covers.

Wherever possible a short history of the business concerned has been given, as with the previous volumes, in an attempt to indicate the period over which a wagon for a specific owner might have been seen in traffic.

This volume, and the other private owner wagon titles from Lightmoor Press, form an invaluable resource for railway modellers as well as for social and industrial historians.

128 pages, 275mm x 210mm, printed on gloss art paper, case bound with laminated printed board covers.

ISBN 9781899889365

OTHER PUBLISHERS : Twelveheads Press

We've recentltly added some new titles to the Twelveheads Press section including Slate Quarries of Gwynedd by Michael Messenger

Private Owner Wagons: Seventh Collection

Author: Keith Turton
Price: £19.95

This seventh volume of the series continues to add to the knowledge of Private Owner Wagon operations and of their owners and operators. Over seventy more businesses are identified and the text is profusely illustrated as usual with the wagons and their places of work. Each of the businesses is given a short history, together with all known details of their wagon fleet.

A further section looks back over all of the previous volumes and adds new material, both photographic and documentary, which has come to light since the original publication.

As in the earlier volumes, reference is made to where models of the wagons illustrated can be obtained and a full list of sources for the original material used to compile this book is given.

It is not only railway modellers that will find this series of interest but also industrial and social historians seeking details not only of the coal trade but of many other diverse industries once the backbone of British manufacturing.

The Somerset and Dorset Railway

Mike Arlett and David Lockett
Price: £22.50

Norman Lockett began taking black & white photographs in the 1930s, using glass plate negatives, a medium he preferred until the end of steam. A modest man, the vast majority of his output has never been published, despite its superb quality.

Here, in the first volume of a series which will feature the pick of his work, we present over 200 highly evocative photographs of one of the best loved and most picturesque railway lines with which this country was once blessed – the S&D. Whilst Norman had his favourite ‘spots' – such as the Midford Valley and Winsor Hill – he captured some of the lesser known parts, around Highbridge and the Bridgwater Branch, as well. He also looked for viewpoints not appreciated by others.

In order to present Norman's work at its best, the publishers have returned to the original glass plates for the scanning process, rather than use his prints. This has revealed much extraneous detail which had been either lost in the printing process or simply cropped out altogether.

Devotees of railway photography, S&D enthusiasts, railway historians and railway modellers will all find much to enjoy and of interest within these pages, with Norman's pictures being accompanied by a lively and knowledgeable text and captions, written by well known S&D authority Mike Arlett.

There can be few railway photograph collections of this quality still largely unpublished, so this is a rare chance to appreciate the work of a largely ‘unknown master'.

A TALE OF MANY RAILWAYS
An Autobiography & History of Alan Keef Ltd.

Author: Alan M. Keef
Price: £30.00

The firm of Alan Keef Ltd, Locomotive Builders & Light Railway Engineers, based at The Lea near Ross-on-Wye in rural Herefordshire, is well known to narrow gauge and industrial railway enthusiasts all over the world but few know much of its origins and history. Now, as the founder of the company prepares to take a back seat in the business and leave the running of it to younger family members, Alan Keef has decided the time is right to fully document the history of his firm and its products.

This book details the trials and tribulations of building a world-wide business of some renown from scratch. For the steam enthusiast, there are details of the various locomotives that have been overhauled and rebuilt, in addition to those that have been built new. Over 200 photographs, mostly in colour, document the eighty or so new locomotives built up to the time of publication.

Red Panniers
Last Steam on the Underground

Authors: John Scott-Morgan and Kirk Martin
Price: £27.00

This is the story of the thirteen ex-Great Western Railway ‘57XX' pannier tanks that passed into the ownership of London Transport. Based at both Neasden and Lillie Bridge Depots between 1957 and 1971, they handled much of the engineering traffic over surface and sub- surface lines and are particularly remembered for the spoil trains to Watford Tip.

This comprehensive study of the ‘Red Panniers' gathers together many previously unpublished images of the locomotives, including a number taken at night and underground – the usual time and place where the panniers could be found at work. The last three survived in service until the middle of 1971 which made them the last working main line steam locomotives in the country, an often overlooked fact.