The Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Light Railway: The Rise and Fall of a Rural Byway
by Peter Johnson (hardback, Pen & Sword, 240pp,
£38, ISBN 978-1526776-17-4). AUTHOR and historian Peter Johnson has written many books on Welsh lines, including the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways. Here, he moves on from his 2008 atmospheric book on the Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Light Railway: this much meatier edition, while following a similar layout, contains much more information in each chapter and therefore has almost double the number of pages, writes Dana Wiffen.
This packed book starts with a full map of the S&MLR showing all 19 stations, and then goes on to offer a fully comprehensive history of the railway, including its predecessor the Potteries, Shrewsbury & North Wales Railway (Wern Las to Llanymynech) and its ups and downs from 1869 to 1891.
The first 200 pages cover the early railway history, with the struggles to compete with low freight numbers and various accidents causing delays and fatalities, plus the lows of the receiverships of 1873 and 1891 to closure through to the revival of the Colonel Stephens years (1911-1941).
His involvement from 1906 saw him make several attempts to revive a 20-mile section of the line from Shrewsbury to Llanymyrech & Criggion. There were constant delays in reaching an agreement on finance and the need to relay track, rebuild derelict stations and reinstate bridges, and approval was finally given by Shrewsbury and Oswestry councils allowing reconstruction to start on July 21, 1910, with the first train running on April 13, 1911. The revised railway was named the Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Light Railway.
Further chapters cover the interwar years, the War Office railway until Nationalisation, and final closure in 1960, when a notice of closure statement from the commercial office of British Railways Western Region said: “The S&MLR has been fighting a valiant but losing battle for many years, and although the scars of the early occupation were partially healed by the present occupiers, this last engagement was decisive and it is sad to think that its demise will be without medals.”
No stone is unturned as the book even includes photographs of headstones of most of those involved along the way, with newspaper cuttings highlighting the struggles and accidents, many maps, and pictures dating from 1864 onwards, with the bulk of these in the Colonel Stephens section from page 109. Evidence of what is left is also included, with mentions of the refurbishment of Shrewsbury Abbey station and the locomotive Gazelle, now preserved at The Colonel Stephens Museum in Kent.
Those who like finite details will particularly enjoy the 40-page appendices offering a wide range of information on stations and sidings, staff, and figures from 1866 to the War Office years, not forgetting the various Acts of Parliament and locomotives and rolling stock, with additional photographs as well.
The turbulent years of this railway, known as the Potts Line locally, has not seen its memory fade, while its adoration by locals and enthusiasts alike should see this book sell well. COMPREHENSIVE PORTRAIT OF A COLONEL STEPHENS CLASSIC