In March 2021, Tony Jervis, an on-line acquaintance, sent me some photographs from visits that he made over the years to the inclined plane at Coalport. These are shared below with his kind permission.
https://rogerfarnworth.com/2021/06/10/co...endum-2021
Tony comments: "The site has been tidied up somewhat since I was first there, with more clearance of overgrowth at the summit, but has there been a landslip pushing the tracks sideways partway down? The Gorge area has been prone to landslips for years. ..... Much work has been done in recent years to landscape and stablilise the area."
Some further suggestions for holiday reading .....
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2021/09/09/hol...ding-again
Two more books which are worth taking with you on holiday:
Chris Arnot; Small Island by Little Train; ISBN 978-0-7495-7849-7.
Tom Chesshyre; Slow Trains to Venice; ISBN 978-1-78783-299-2.
An addendum to earlier posts about this short line. .....
https://rogerfarnworth.com/2021/09/09/th...-once-more
While on holiday in September 2021, I was reading older copies of the magazine BackTrack from the turn of the millennium, from, at that time, Atlantic Publishers. (More recent editions are published by Pendragon Publishing.)
Volume 14 No. 3, March 2000 included an article by Jeffrey Wells [1] about the Micklehurst Loop (p142ff).
Recently, reading old copies of BackTrack magazine, I came across an article which included memories from an Army engineer of time spent in Iran in the early 1940s and in the same issue of the magazine a short note about the involvement of the GWR in Iran.
These seemed to be fitting items for an addendum to this series of articles. This is the link to the new post.
https://rogerfarnworth.com/2021/09/14/ra...n-addendum
Humphrey Household included a short chapter about the Forest in his 1984 book about the railways of Gloucestershire in the 1920s
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2021/09/17/the...n-addendum
While on holiday in the Forest of Dean in September 2021, I picked up a secondhand copy of "Gloucestershire Railways in the Twenties" by Humphrey Household. [1] It consists of a review of the development of the railways in Gloucestershire supported by a series of photographs which were predominantly taken in the 1920s by Humphrey Household. The photos are a significant resource. The text of the book is well-written. Its final two chapters were of real interest to me.
This is a short post about the Cheltenham end of the tramroad. It highlights exuberant reflections on the Leckhampton Quarries by Humphrey Household. ....
[URL unfurl="true"]http://rogerfarnworth.com/2021/09/16/the-gloucester-and-cheltenham-tramroad-an-addendum/[/URL]
While on holiday in the Forest of Dean in September 2021, I picked up a secondhand copy of "Gloucestershire Railways in the Twenties" by Humphrey Household. [1] It consists of a review of the development of the railways in Gloucestershire supported by a series of photographs which were predominantly taken in the 1920s by Humphrey Household. The photos are a significant resource. The text of the book is well-written. Its final two chapters were of real interest to me.
I have just finished reading Roy Davies', Wennington to Morecambe and Heysham (via Lancaster) which was published as one of the Middleton Press Albums. The review is below:
[URL unfurl="true"]https://rogerfarnworth.com/2021/10/10/wennington-to-morecambe-and-heysham-via-lancaster[/URL]
"Roy Davies has just published (July 2021) an album in the popular Middleton Press series which calls itself the Ultimate Rail Encyclopedia (International). Like many people, I own a number of these volumes which never seem to disappoint.
Roy Davies book focusses on the former Midland line which followed the valley of the River Lune from Wennington to Lancaster and then turned to the Northwest heading for Morecambe and Heysham.
The line was was a pioneer of electrification. The Midland Railway Board decided in 1906 to electrify the Lancaster-Morcambe-Heysham lines which it had acquired on 1st June 1871 when it absorbed the Morecambe Harbour and Railway Company and the 'little' North Western Railway (not to be confused with the 'large' LNWR)."
Recently, I have read another book by Michael Williams - "On the Slow Train." It was written a decade or so ago. It is an excellent, entertaining, gentle read bought cheaply secondhand with chapters of just the right length to read at the end of the day!
http://rogerfarnworth.com/2021/10/29/mea...her-routes
Quote:So, those of us who feel a nostalgic affinity for the heady, halcyon days when there was a branch-line to almost anywhere outside of major towns and cities, are back in vogue! We are, perhaps fortunate that not all of those wonderful old lines have disappeared. Writing around a decade ago, Michael Williams takes us on twelve ‘slow train’ journeys scattered across the UK in his book, ‘On the Slow Train’.
A recent gift (December 2021) from a valued colleague, to mark my pending retirement and my move to Telford, was 'Railways of Telford' by David Clarke
https://rogerfarnworth.com/2021/12/26/th...ook-review
This is my review of the book which, as you will read, should become a primer for me for exploring Telford and Wrekin and the wider area of East Shropshire!