LOCKDOWN WEEDS:
While out for my daily socially-distanced walk on June 24, I took this shot at Cwm Ffoes level crossing on the Ogmore Vale extension (between Tondu and Margam in South Wales). The line is not regularly used at the best of times – but after three months of uninterrupted growth, the rails are now largely hidden and at first glance this appears to be a meadow.
Published by Pen & Sword Publishing www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
270 pages, black & white, hardback. £30
THERE’S a steam loco on the front cover, two-thirds of the book relate to the steam age, and yet this is still something we can recommend to modern tractions fans. The reason? Well, the final third takes a fascinating look at the electrified Woodhead Line between Manchester and Sheffield.
The entire book is well researched and packed with detail. It covers development of the Great Central Railway in the city, with initial chapters on the main line out to Godley, the line to Stalybridge, and to Manchester Central station. It is structured around an impressive collection of photographs backed up with in-depth captions that tell the story of infrastructure, trains, locomotives and people – all told by an author who grew up in the area in the post-war ‘Baby Boomer’ era.
The Woodhead section includes some great images of the DC locos that plied the line from the 1950s until it closed in the early 1980s, as well as construction of the new Woodhead Tunnel and the electrification works.
Even for experts of this muchmissed line, this work is bound to offer some new insights.