The railway at Broxbourne dates from 1840, and that at Bishop's Stortford from 1843; the rest of the line was running by 1845. A busy freight route up until the 1980s, it has seen large growth in the passenger business since electrification and the opening of the Stansted Airport branch. Recent investment by Railtrack and later Network Rail has seen resignalling south of Bishop's Stortford as well as providing new passenger rolling stock. This first volume takes a journey over the line fro...

The Manningtree to Harwich railway branch linked the Great Eastern Main line to the ports of Harwich and, later, Harwich Parkeston Quay. From the early days of the railways the management encouraged boat train services to the continent. These peaked in the 1980s. This book is a journey along the line, visiting all the open and closed stations passed on the route of the line. Contained within are older pictures, from the GER and LNER era, plus steam views from the 1950s and shots of the die...

By the end of the nineteenth century the railway had reached most parts of East Anglia, with two main lines reaching out from London to Norwich, Cambridge and Kings Lynn, and plenty of small secondary and branch lines filling in the gaps in between. In this informative volume, Andy T. Wallis uses his fascinating collection of photographs and maps to explore the history of the Wymondham–Wells-next-the-Sea branch line, with stations including Wymondham, Kimberley Park, Hardingham, Thuxton, Y...

The railway at Ipswich dates from 1846 and that at Felixstowe from May 1877. Due to the busy port of Felixstowe the line is still doing extensive business in both passenger and freight traffic today. Like all branch lines the local stations have all lost their goods facilities, but recent investment in the branch has seen new signalling and a loop extension at Derby Road enabling two full-size freightliner trains to pass. In this book we take a journey over the line from Ipswich to Felixst...

This book takes an in-depth look at the small independent railway that was financed and built by the good citizens of Halstead and its surrounding villages in Essex. The CV&HR came into being in 1860 but struggled financially for a number of years before being put into receivership. However, in the late nineteenth century it made steady progress and reached its financial and traffic peak in the years leading up to the First World War. Absorbed into the LNER in 1923, and passing into state ...

The Stour Valley line dates from 1849 and has had a long and turbulent history. Extended in 1865, the line reached the zenith of its fortunes under Great Eastern Railway. Thereafter, changes of ownership and cost-cutting programmes saw many services withdrawn and sections of the line closed. This, the first of two books exploring the history of the Stour Valley Railway, covers the line from Marks Tey to Bury St Edmunds and Cavendish. Stour Valley Railway Through Time takes the reader on a ...

This part of the Stour Valley line dates from 1865 and survived for 102 years; the Saffron Walden branch followed a few months later. From the 1920s, both lines fought a rearguard action against road competition. Busy again during the Second World War and for a short period afterwards, both lines benefitted from new diesel motive power by 1959. By then, the writing was on the wall for both lines, despite Haverhill being designated a London overspill town.In this volume, we look at the line...

The Flying Scotsman is probably the most famous railway locomotive in the world. It first caused a sensation for its beauty and its speed in 1923, and it soon became a national icon. The fastest and most comfortable way of travelling between London and Scotland, The Flying Scotsman only got faster and more luxurious as competition from other routes, airlines, and the motor car threatened. From 1928 it began running non-stop, an achievement that earned it yet more attention. This superbly i...

If you  want to see just how far Liverpool has come since hosting the Capital of Culture Year, there is probably no better place to start than down by the Mersey. The central area of the city has managed to pull off that delicate balancing act of keeping the best of the old while shoe-horning in the latest facilities.   'Liverpool One' shopping complex has attempted to create that most elusive of design tricks - creating street precincts rather than the usual central block ...

Hereford Through Time is a unique insight into the illustrious history of this part of the country. Reproduced in full colour, this is an exciting examination of Hereford, the famous streets and the famous faces, and what they meant to the people of this area throughout the 19th and into the 20th Century. Looking beyond the exquisite exterior of these well-kept photos, readers can see the historical context in which they are set and through the author's factual captions for every picture, ...

If folk were able to travel back in time to visit towns and villages in and around the modern Telford conurbation, these are the scenes they'd see a hundred years ago. Although photographs were then taken in black and white, age has made many adopt a sepia tint. However, most of the images in this intriguing collection were made all the more attractive by studio artists hand painting them to produce colourful miniature works of art to delight postcard buyers of that period...and today's re...

The name Chislehurst literally means a stony place in the woods. These woods are very much apparent today. Chislehurst is surrounded by National Trust woodland, Scadbury Park and the unique central feature of the Chislehurst Commons, which is conserved as open space in perpetuity by Acts of Parliament. The Chislehurst Caves, where many thousands of Londoners sheltered during the Blitz of the Second World War, are also a key tourist attraction. The arrival of the railway in 1865 sparked the...