Lost Lines of England

The 55 mile rail route between Birmingham and Oxford is still an important artery for the Nation's passenger and freight traffic. Trains from the north of England routed through Birmingham can gain direct access southwards to Reading, and thereby to the south coast. The photographs in this book, though, recall a time up to the mid-1960s when it was an altogether different railway. These were the dying days of steam and of equipment and working practices developed from Victorian times.

Come for a nostalgic journey along the scenic Cotswold route between Stratford-upon-Avon and Gloucester. This was a late addition to the GWR network and was important for freight flows to docks as well as holidaymakers to southwest beaches. Closed in 1976, after just 70 years of use, the line fell to dereliction, but since the mid-1980s 14 miles has been resurrected into a successful heritage railway. This is the story of the route up to closure.

The Yatton to Witham line was one of the prettiest and beat-loved railways in Somerset and is remembered with great affection by locals and railway enthusiasts alike. It ran along the edge of the Mendip Hills through Cheddar, Wells and Shepton Mallet. Today, walkers and cyclists enjoy stretches of it as the Cheddar Valley path. This nostalgic journey along its tracks uses many previously unseen photographs and will bring back memories of the line in its heyday, picturing the trains that once ran on it.

Here we recall the Ryde to Cowes railway line, a route that joined the two principal Isle of Wight steamer ports with the county town. Taking a rather circuitous and hilly route from Ryde to Newport, it then turned north along the west bank of the River Medina to reach its Cowes destination. With rural stations some distances from their villages, continual green landscapes and vintage trains, the line possessed an ever increasing charm as the years progressed.