East Lancashire Railway in the 1990s

AUTHOR: Doug Birmingham

PUBLISHER: Amberley Publishing

ISBN: 978-1-44568-840-4

PRICE: £15.99

WEBSITE: www.amberleybooks.com

FOLLOWING AMBERLEY Publishing’s tried and tested formula of releasing mainly photographic books, I had high hopes when this book landed on my desk for review.

The East Lancashire Railway is a heritage line I know very well, having worked there for many years as a volunteer and I was there throughout the 1990s, so I knew this book would rekindle some fond memories.

Doug Birmingham is a well known photographer whose images I have admired for a long time, so I was not disappointed with his selection. Packed with some very good images covering the period that the railway adopted a ‘big engine policy’, the line hosted many large and prestigious steam locomotives on its route between Bury and Rawtenstall during the period being covered in the book. The book is mainly dedicated to steam, but ends with 15 pages focusing on the railway’s diesel locomotives and visiting modern traction, largely using images sourced from a couple of other photographers. Doug Birmingham is undoubtedly an excellent steam photographer and the book is packed solid with some fantastic images of steam locomotives working along the railway. However, the coverage of diesel locomotives appears to be a bit of an afterthought and perhaps the publisher should have stuck with steam traction for this book and published a separate volume featuring modern traction. As with several other Amberley titles, the cover image appears to have been printed darker than it should be, which could put some buyers off looking inside, but the reproduction of images inside is very good.

The 96 page softback book is printed on good quality paper, with colour images throughout and it is priced at a very reasonable £15.99.

Overall this is an excellent record of what was perhaps the ELR’S

‘golden decade’ and I would happily recommend it to anyone interested in the heritage line.

(AMC)