|
Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain Volume 7 The West Midlands MAP
A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain Volume 7 by Rex Christiansen
Hard Cover with Dust Jacket
Copyright 1983
305 Pages FOLD OUT MAP INCLUDED with 32 plates, 12 illustrations in text, 7 maps and folding map
Contents:
I CHARACTER OF THE REGION page 13
Shape of the Book . `Workshop of the World' . Routes : through and diversionary . The Commuter Network . Rails to Wolverhampton . The Great Birmingham Cut-off . Charm of North Shropshire . Introducing the North Staffordshire
II BIRMINGHAM : `PREMIER' LINES 27
Grand Junction . Why the newspapers were wrong . London & Birmingham . Suburban branches . Sutton Coldfield branch . Harborne Railway . The Soho Line . New Street Station . The LNWR network today
III BIRMINGHAM : THE `MIDLAND' MAKERS 48
Birmingham & Derby Junction . The Stonebridge Railway . Formation of the Midland . Birmingham & Gloucester . Birmingham West Suburban Railway . Direct Line and Lifford Curve . The Midland System today. Birmingham Cross-City Line
IV BIRMINGHAM : BROAD AND NARROW GAUGE 63
The Birmingham & Oxford . The Birmingham, Wolverhampton & Dudley . `As Pretty a Move ...' . The GWR takes control . Decline and decay . Closure of Snow Hill . Birmingham & North Warwickshire . The Route to Bristol . `Beautiful Borderlands' . The Changing Pattern
V WOLVERHAMPTON : GWR LINES 80
Shrewsbury & Birmingham . Robert Stephenson v Brunel . Delays in construction . Forcing passage south . Court of Inquiry . s & B : the breakthrough . Wolverhampton Junction Railway . Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton . The Kingswinford branch
Stafford Road Works . Road competition
VI WOLVERHAMPTON : LNWR AND MR 103
Birmingham, Wolverhampton & Stour Valley . Legal battles drag on . Wolverhampton & Cannock Chase Railway . Wolverhampton & Walsall Railway . `Trouble and Anxiety' . Brownhills branch . Wolverhampton railways today
VII BLACK COUNTRY ROUTES 112
Railways of Stourbridge . Stourbridgc Town branch . Dudley & Oldbury Junction . Railways of Halesowen . South Staffordshire Railway . Race to Dudley . Extension to Cannock Coalfield . LNWR branches . Cannock Mineral Railway . NSR takeover attempt . Cannock Chase Railway . Cannock Chase & Wolverhampton Railway . Change at Walsall
VIII THROUGH VALLEYS AND ACROSS PLAINS 134
Trent Valley Railway . `Conducive to the public benefit' . Problems & Progress . the Trent Valley today . Railways of Rugby . Lines to Coventry . Coventry Loop line . Coventry & Great Western Junction . Railways of Leamington . Warwick & Leamington Union . Rugby & Leamington Railway . Weedon, Daventry & Leamington Spa branch . Junctions at Nuneaton . GNR in the West Midlands
IX SHROPSHIRE NETWORKS 154
GWR in Coalbrookdale . Wellington & Severn Junction . LNWR competition . Shropshire Union Railways & Canal Company . Projected routes . Routes to Market Drayton . Shrewsbury & Crewe . Motor bus services
X CHESHIRE 168
Grand Junction : the latter days . Over & Wharton branch . Chester & Crewe . Manchester & Birmingham Railway . Telescopes & goalposts . Mid-Cheshire Battleground . Cheshire Lines Committee . Northwich and Winsford . Classic legal battle . The Whitchurch branch . Future of disused lines . Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast Railway
XI NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE RAILWAY 189
Little known line . Canal and Tramroads . First lines . Railways of the valleys . Battles with the LNWR . Striking west from Stoke . the Immortal Loop . Leek & Manifold Valley Light Railway . Years of decline . Nationalisation . Benefits of electrification . Surviving branches
XII IN DERBYSHIRE HILLS 211
Cromford & High Peak Railway . Stockport, Disley & Whaley Bridge Railway . Euston clashes with the Midland . Ashbourne & Buxton . The Peak Rail Scene Today
XIII WORKING THE LINES 217
Labour relations . Accidents . Private sidings . Operating: LNWR . Forgotten services . Birmingham-London battle . Mixed gauge trains . GWR standard gauge routes . GWR: Birmingham-Bristol-South Wales . Suburban and rural services . Steam finale . Midland operating . North Staffordshire operating . North Staffordshire goods . Train running in Cheshire . Freight-general . Freight at Crewe . Modern operating . Diversionary routes
XIV FRINGE BENEFITS AND FRILLS 248
Private locomotive builders . Carriage and wagon companies . A memory of steam . Mid-railwayana
Xv POSTSCRIPT: `The Age of the Train?' 255
CHRONOLOGY 267
BIBLIOGRAPHY 291
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 295
INDEX 297
At the hub of this complex and fascinating region is, as ever, Birmingham, 'city of a thousand trades'. It is also BR's passenger hub for a large slice of territory and much of Britain's Inter-City network, which now includes Coventry-Leamington Spa, a single-track branch brought back from the cold. Other imaginative projects to win back passengers are the Birmingham Cross-City Line, built at a low cost of some , and Birmingham International, a major new station also developed with the West Midlands PTE.
Historically, in Birmingham and the Black Country, the traditional pattern of railway history was reversed: industry came first-railways later. The Industrial Revolution had long been cradled in Coalbrookdale, and Birmingham was well-established as Britain's second city and 'workshop of the world' before they arrived. Eventually three major companies, the London & North Western, Great Western, and Midland, developed highly-individual and competitive systems and fought classical battles-as at Wolverhampton, where railway history was smeared with blood when a policeman wielded his cutlass to separate rioting navvies.
The West Midlands defined in this volume has broader than generally-accepted boundaries, following the West Coast main line from Rugby through Crewe to Weaver Junction and embracing the Derbyshire Peak District and the Potteries. South and West of Birmingham the boundaries in this edition have been extended to incorporate the PTE network.
All pictures are of the actual item. If this is a railroad item, this material is obsolete and no longer in use by the railroad. Please email with questions. Publishers of Train Shed Cyclopedias and Stephans Railroad Directories. Large inventory of railroad books and magazines. Thank you for buying from us.
Shipping charges
Postage rates quoted are for shipments to the US only. Ebay Global shipping charges are shown. These items are shipped to Kentucky and then ebay ships them to you. Ebay collects the shipping and customs / import fees. For direct postage rates to these countries, send me an email. Shipping to Canada and other countries varies by weight.
Payment options
Payment must be received within 10 days. Paypal is accepted.
Terms and conditions
All sales are final. Returns accepted if item is not as described. Contact us first. No warranty is stated or implied. Please e-mail us with any questions before bidding.
Thanks for looking at our items.
| 
