THE EAST COAST MAIN LINE 1939‑1959

A new angle on a famous subject. A lot of material not relevant to the ECML.

PRICE: £18.99 RATING:

You wonder what fresh material will be found in a new book on such a famous stretch of railway. But while streamlined expresses have received lots of attention, this book claims to fill a gap by delving into the detail of ECML operations during the Second World War and early BR era. Despite restricting its timescale to the 20 years between 1939 and 1959, that’s a huge subject, but the book covers it quite well. In addition to a description of the route, its passenger and excursion traffic and freight flows, it also covers such interesting side topics as how the infamous 20-coach trains of wartime were dealt with at King’s Cross, or the effects of aerial conflict on the route. To put all this into context, it begins with a chapter on the difficulties faced by the railway system during the war and into the 1950s – all useful enough information, but also a huge chunk of content that isn’t directly relevant to the ECML. That space would have been better used for maps, gradient profiles, or a more in-depth look at the motive power and how it was used – the latter is rightly stated to have been covered elsewhere, but is still a big part of the picture that, let’s be honest, the majority of enthusiasts find most interesting… All in all, however, it does a good job of documenting its subject, both in words and archive photographs, and is one that many LNER aficionados will want on the shelf. (TJ)