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Last Days Of Steam In Gloucestershire A Second Selection By Ben Ashworth w/ DJ
Last Days Of Steam In Gloucestershire A Second Selection By Ben Ashworth
Hardbound With Dustjacket
Copyright 1990
136 Pages
Introduction
Although this second collection of Gloucestershire railway scenes is contemporary with the previous volume, I have tried as far as possible to achieve a reasonable geographical spread without repeating too many of the better known or previously published views. Nearly thirty years ago, I was not to know that I would now be searching through my files wondering how I managed to miss recording several significant parts of the local rail network. This was probably the result of being more engrossed in seeking out the pictorial, as opposed to the strictly record type of photograph.
On the whole photographing trains in the more frequented areas was accepted with an amused tolerance by onlookers. In remoter parts though, a more circumspect approach was generally advisable and the chosen viewpoint best approached unobserved in order to avoid suspicion or even belligerence. I clearly remember an incident some twenty five years ago now: while walking rather precariously along a bridge parapet a passing motorist slowed and shouted vehemently, 'If you had to work on the b- things you wouldn't be so b- keen.' That is as maybe, but I had no intention of letting that prevent me from recording the end of an era to best advantage.
Interest in steam railways shows no sign of waning in spite of such a change in the railway scene, with much written on the subject in recent years. In the days when I used to take my bicycle on the Chalford railcar from Gloucester, intent on reconnoitring the Stroud Valley, a railway photographer was an object of curiosity, and not once did I come across another like-minded person - though it has since become evident that such people did actually exist.
What an institution the Chalford railcar was, serving stations and halts over the seven miles from Stonehouse (Burdett Road) to Chalford. Even at weekends it coped with the shopping bags, prams, pushchair-s-and bicycles, unlike some of today's Sprinters which in any case provide no stopping service at all up the valley beyond Stroud. The thrill of being propelled down past Naas crossing at 70 mph by a quaint and diminutive tank engine lives on as just a memory. It is interesting that today's Sprinters are allowed twelve minutes from Stonehouse to Gloucester, yet on the railcar it was not unusual to record around eleven minutes on the same journey. Let us hope a time will come when the motor car finds less favour and the wayside stations once again appear.
Ben Ashworth
Following on the success of the firSt volume, The Last Days of Steam in Gloucestershire, here is a second superb collection of photographs depicting the railways of Gloucestershire during the revolutionary period of 1959 to 1966. At the beginning of this period, steam was still dominant, branch lines were still operating and stations and halts were prolific. By 1966 diesel power had usurped the steam locomotive, many of the branch lines were closed and only a small number of stations remained in daily use.
In his new book Ben Ashworth has provided over 200 evocative and atmospheric photographs which capture the changing world of Gloucestershire's railways, including a section on Gloucester Docks . Many of the pictures have been never published before, and the book will provide a permanent record of interest to railway buffs, social historians, and anyone with an enthusiasm for the age of steam.
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