New Books

[RichardCoulthurst]

Earlier this year I posted the following query here:

I have just been looking at the Brecon to Newport volume in the Lost Lines of Wales series by Tom Ferris (Graffeg Publishing) again. On page 35 there is an undated photograph of an unidentified GWR 14XX 0-4-2T running bunker first at the head of a freight train apparently heading southwards near Talybont. I don't recall having seen a photograph of this class of locomotive on this line before. The usual locos were 0-6-0PTs. Were 14XX tanks in use regularly on this route or was this something unusual? I would have thought that hauling a freight train up the Seven Mile Bank to Torpantau would have been a challenge to one of these diminutive locomotives. Any thoughts?

The location has now been positively identified as Bullock's Mill Crossing on the Leominster to Kington/New Radnor branch. The locomotive will be 1420 and the photograph was taken in 1964. The water course in the foreground is not the Brecon and Abergavenny Canal as stated in the caption and the bridge in the background crosses the River Arrow.

[RichardCoulthurst]

I have just come across this book from a small Welsh publisher:

The Story of the Irish Mail by William Davies, published by Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, paperback, 215 x 138mm, 200 pages, 100 b/w photographs, maps and plans.

Just a reminder to all RCTS members to post details of new books here particularly those, like this one, from smaller publishers which might otherwise be overlooked.

[RichardCoulthurst]

This is not actually a new book as it was published last year but I haven't seen a previous reference to it. It is not a railway book as such but the slate industry clearly had an impact on the development of railways in North & Mid-Wales.It is quite expensive but previous books from this author and publisher have been excellent. You might be able to pick one up on the second-hand book market.

WELSH SLATE - Archaeology and History of a Industry, David Gwyn, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, hardback, 291 pages, 284 x 226mm, ISBN 978 1 871184 51 8, £45.00.

[RichardCoulthurst]

The following books from smaller publishers may have escaped wider attention:

The Story of the Irish Mail by William Davies.
Paperback, 200 pages, 215 x 138mm, 88 photographs, 10 maps.
Published in 2016 by Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, Ysgubor Plas, Llwyndyrys, Pwllheli, Gwynedd, LL53 6NG – ISBN: 978 1 84524 254 1 - £8.50 (plus £2.50 p&p)
Publisher’s website is http://www.carreg-gwalch.com.

Rails in the Dales by David Joy
Paperback, 96 pages, 245 x 170mm, 53 colour & b/w photographs, map, list of opening & closing dates, bibliography, index.
Covers railways in eight Yorkshire dales including Wharfedale, Ribblesdale, Dentdale, Garsdale, Swaledale, Wensleydale, Costerdale and Nidderdale.
Published in 2017 by the Railway & Canal Historical Society, 4 Broadway, Lincoln, LN2 1SH –
ISBN: 978 0 901461 65 0 - £12.50 (post free in the UK)
Publisher’s website is http://www.rchs.org.uk.

[RichardCoulthurst]

Lost Lines of Wales
Graffeg Publishing of Llanelli have announced four more titles in their “Lost Lines of Wales” series which are due to appear in July this year. They are:
Vale of Neath (ISBN 9781912050666)
The Mid-Wales Line (ISBN 9781912050673)
Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth (ISBN 9781912050680)
Chester to Holyhead (ISBN 9781912050697)

All the books are by Tom Ferris. They are 64 page hardbacks (laminated boards, 150 x 200mm) and contain about 30 photographs with an essay on the history of the line. The cover price will be £8.99.

The same publisher is also producing a Lost Lines of Wales Calendar for 2018 (ISBN 9781912050796) containing 12 photographs (page size 200 x 200mm) at a price of £7.00, which is due out in June.

The publisher’s website is http://www.graffeg.com. I suggest that you check the books’ availability before ordering as the first titles in this series seemed to be somewhat delayed beyond the originally announced publication date.

[RichardCoulthurst]

The following books are either already available or will be out very soon. They are not "Railway Books" as such but guides to the Cambrian Coast area and encourage the use of the railway. They are obviously available from on-line suppliers but if you have a local bookshop please use that.

Cambrian Coast Train Walks, Des Marshall, Paperback, 160pp, 210 x 148mm, Sigma Publishing, ISBN 9781910758274, £8.99
The Cambrian Coast 1 – Pwllheli to Harlech, Ioan Roberts, Paperback, 150pp, 149 x 157mm, Llygad Gwalch Cyf, ISBN 9781845242442, £5.95
The Cambrian Coast 2 – Harlech to Aberystwyth, Ioan Roberts, Paperback, 150pp, 149 x 157mm, Llygad Gwalch Cyf, ISBN 9781845242459, £5.95

They seem very reasonably priced to me.

[RichardCoulthurst]

Another new book from a smaller society that may be of interest to members:

William Fairbairn – The Experimental Engineer (A Study in Mid 19th Century Engineering) by Richard Byrom. Published by the Railway & Canal Historical Society. Hardback, dust-wrapper, 440 pages, 191 illustrations (several in colour). ISBN 978 0 901461 64 3.
Price: £40.00 but an introductory price of £30.00 till 31st May 2017 (Post free in the UK – for international destinations see the RCHS website). Order from the Railway & Canal Historical Society website (http://www.rchs.org.uk) or by post from RCHS Books, 4 Broadway, Lincoln, LN2 1SH (cheques payable to ‘RCHS’).

William Fairbairn (1789 – 1874) was one of the greatest 19th century engineers yet is strangely overlooked. This is the first definitive biography for 140 years. It covers his many achievements as the leading experimental engineer in the middle quarters of the 19th century, including:
Building some 500 railway locomotives;
Constructing over 1000 iron railway bridges, including the first on a main-line railway (the Liverpool and Manchester) and the research for the Britannia and Conway tubular bridges;
Experimental work on canal boats, leading him to advise that canals could not compete with railways for passengers;
Invention of the tubular crane, one of which was the most powerful crane of its day and another the prototype of the railway breakdown crane;
Building early iron steamships including the Iron Duke – the first to cross the Atlantic.

[RichardCoulthurst]

Three books, all with a Welsh theme that may be of interest to RCTS members:

The Swansea Vale Railway – A Midland Railway Outpost by John Miles, Keri Thomas & Tudor Watkins, hardback, 2017, 264 pages, b/w illustrations, Lightmoor Press, ISBN 978 1 911038 19 1, £30.00
A greatly expanded edition of a book first published in 2004 by the Welsh Railways Research Circle which describes (among other things) the Midland Railway’s attempt to tap into the traffic of South Wales. Their terminal at Swansea (St. Thomas) was probably the grottiest of any of the major railway’s city stations!

The Tredegar Company – One of the South Wales Coalfield’s ‘Big Three’, by Leslie M Shore, hardback, 2017, 208 pages, b/w illustrations, Lightmoor Press, ISBN 978 1 911038 20 7, £25.00
Not a railway book as such but the Tredegar Iron & Coal Company was closely connected with the railways as it supplied rails and steam coal as well as being dependent on the railways to transport their output to the ports. Profusely illustrated with many photographs featuring railways, wagons and the company’s own locomotives.

Festiniog Railway: the Spooner era and after 1830-1920, by Peter Johnson, hardback, 2017, 208 pages, Pen & Sword, ISBN 978 1 47382 728 8, £30.00
Well-illustrated history

[RichardCoulthurst]

Just come across this book published a little earlier this year.
The Great Trains of Wales Explored, Arfon Haines Davies, softback, 128 pages, 150 x 95155mm, Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, ISBN 978 1 84524 260 2, £5.95
Colour photographs of the standard gauge and narrow gauge’heritage’ lines in Wales. Probably intended as a tourist souvenir but nicely presented nevertheless.

[newportphotoman]

hello Richard
I was very pleased to see your posts on all these unusual books. I used to get a lot of unusual books from the Ian Allan Bookshop in Cardiff, but this has closed now along with some of the rest of the Ian Allan "Empire". it is very useful to know about books from other sources.
regards
Paul Sheppard