Locomotives of the ...

The old Bridgewater Trustees mineral railways were to become the Central Railways of the huge Manchester Collieries concern, which was formed in March 1929. The landscape with its changing, suddenly abrupt and often fierce gradients was to be a cruel one for these colliery locomotives which were worked virtually constantly to their limits. From Worsley to Linnyshaw Colliery, east of Walkden, the average gradient had been 1 in 52 with the occasional 1 in 30 stretch! The locomotives were varied but post-war included many of the Hunslet-designed Austerity, as well as a series of ex-North Staffordshire Railway locomotives. Alan Davies, in a companion volume to his previous work on Walken Yard itself, tells the story of the locomotives that were based there, were maintained and repaired there and that sometimes finished their working lives at Walkden Yard.

The London Brighton & South Coast Railway - also known as the 'Brighton Line' - was an important pre-grouping railway covering a triangular territory with London at its apex and the Sussex and Surrey coast at its base. Many of the early locomotives were acquired through amalgamations with other companies. Under a trio of chief mechanical engineers, including John Craven, William Stroudley, Robert and Lawson Billington, father and son, and Douglas Earle Marsh the company built or purchased well over 1,000 steam locomotives, many of which were handed over to the Southern Railway in the 1923 grouping of Britain's independent railway companies. To this day the former LBSCR lines form the backbone of the south east coast network. This account covers the years 1839 - 1903. This fascinating account of the LBSCR's locomotives was originally published in 1903, and is profusely illustrated with over 140 line drawings.