The Country Railway

Everyone loved the country railway with its neat stations and colourful gardens, the shining brasswork of its tank engines, viaducts daringly built over gushing rivers, embankments carpeted with flowers, and guards whose appearance and voice as well as the traffic they carried in their vans reflected exactly the character of the terrain being served. Basing his work on deep historical research and rich personal experience, David St John Thomas lovingly portrays the branch and cross-country railway in all its nostalgic, technical and commercial aspects. He tells of the days of high expectation when the local promoters first met and chose the architectural style for their stations, sees the navies at work hacking through the countryside, reports the arrival of the first trains, recalls the troubled realism when traffic receipts failed to provide enough for dividends. Stations, signalboxes, engines and their men, coaches and trucks, cattle docks and railway pubs, junctions and termini, varied landscapes, special occasions and disasters ..

In words and pictures here is a unique study for railway enthusiasts and for those who just miss the passing of the country train.