Used good condition. 1961 edition ex library. Tear at the bottom of one of the title pages.
1734
A Regional History of the Railways
VoL. 1-The West Country
By David St. John Thomas
WITH 56 HALF-TONE ILLUSTRATIONS, 3-COLOUR FOOLDING
MAP AND MAPS AND PLANS IN TEXT 8 x sl1 3os. NET.
As with volume two, this book is a complete work in itself, forming part of
the comprehensive project to cover the whole of Britain's railway system
under the editorship of two well-known railway authorities, David St. John
Thomas (general editor) and C. R. Clinker (historical editor). Each volume
is written by an expert.
Energy, vision, enterprise, these were the key factors aanifested by the
western counties in laying this railroad, and the story is taken to nationaliza-
tion stage and beyond. Much of the material is new, the fiull stoty ofa number
of lines appearing in book form for the first time.
Much of the West Country is difficult terrain for railways: htly, broken
with rivers ; with marsh and moor to be negotiared, Solid rock to be blasted,
wild ravines to be bridged. We reasd of feats of imhginatio and daring by
civil engineers pursuing new, untried idcas: ot legal syuabbles between
promoters and landowners, of the "battle of the gaugg" of rilways and
locomotives in their daily work. Inevitably the old (3.W.R. and & S.W.R.
play an important part in the book. But here, too, e the stories of many
smaller private companies like the Cornwall Railwiy, the poverty-stricken
Somerset & Dorset, the prosperous Salisbury & Yeovil and the narrow-gauge
Lynton & Barnstaple. Even the small mineral lines in West Cornwall and the
Isle of Purbeck in Dorset have their own fascinating little histories. Into this
book the author has poured years of study, of writing, and of love and
enthusiasm for railways.