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    The Country Railway
    The Country Railway
    The Country Railway
    Ebook100 pages41 minutes

    The Country Railway

    By Tim Bryan

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    About this ebook

    Britain's towns and cities were famously transformed in the nineteenth century by the coming of the railways, turning their fortunes around and giving urban dwellers new opportunities to travel across the country – yet the effect on the rural population was arguably far greater. Whilst some of the initial trunk lines were designed to link major cities, the network of smaller cross-country and branch lines that followed opened up large tracts of previously remote countryside, providing new markets for agricultural produce and ending the isolation of many rural communities, and such was the pace of development during the Railway Mania period that by the end of the nineteenth century there were few areas of country not served by train. This book tells the story of these railways from golden age to decline in the wake of nationalization and the Beeching Report in the mid-twentieth century – and indeed contemporary efforts to restore and preserve them.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateSep 20, 2013
    ISBN9780747814245
    The Country Railway
    Author

    Tim Bryan

    Tim Bryan worked as curator at the GWR and STEAM museums in Swindon for more than twenty years and is now Director of the Brunel Institute at the SS Great Britain in Bristol. He is the author of several books on railway and heritage topics and has written six titles for Shire. He lives in Swindon, UK.

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      Book preview

      The Country Railway - Tim Bryan

      INTRODUCTION

      WHILE THE COMING OF THE RAILWAYS to Britain’s towns and cities in the nineteenth century transformed their fortunes and gave urban dwellers new opportunities to travel across Britain, the effect on the largely rural population of the country was arguably far greater. The new main lines such as the Great Western Railway and London & Birmingham were designed to link major cities, and so, while they ran through the countryside, they were not truly country railways; initially at least, railway companies were preoccupied with building inter-city routes and so it was the network of smaller cross-country and branch lines that followed which opened up large tracts of previously remote countryside, providing new markets for agricultural produce, and also ending the isolation of many rural communities.

      All the railway companies used images of the places and countryside they served to promote their lines. This leaflet issued by the GWR celebrated places of interest around Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire.

      Such was the pace of development during the Railway Mania period that by the end of the nineteenth century there were few areas of Britain not served by railway. Smaller independent companies such as the Midland & South Western Junction Railway, or the Somerset & Dorset, operated relatively long routes, often serving sparsely populated regions; larger operations too, such as the Caledonian or Great Eastern, also operated rural services, providing a vital link for rural communities. Large areas of Wales were also served by railways, including the Cambrian, whose network included many miles of single-track line across remote parts of the principality.

      This poster image of Hereford is highly stylised but illustrates how railways played a key role in the life of the countryside, linking smaller communities to larger market towns.

      A Southern Railway ‘H’ Class 0-4-4 waits at Paddock Wood station on 27 October 1960 before taking a branch train to Hawkhurst.

      For many railway enthusiasts, however, the country railway is typified by the shorter but nonetheless important branch line. Many of these railways began life as independent companies promoted by local people wishing to ensure their community was linked to the main line, but inevitably they were often taken over by large railways such as the Great Western, but remained an important part of the districts and communities they served.

      No machine tools are in evidence in this view of the excavations for Chedworth Tunnel on the Swindon & Cheltenham Extension Railway, later part of the MSWJR.

      LNWR 2-4-0 No. 2157 Unicorn waits at Whitchurch with a goods train. The cattle wagons show evidence of having been disinfected with liberal amounts of lime.

      Many rural lines proved uneconomic from their earliest days, but, despite some closures in the years before the Second World War, the network remained largely untouched until 1948, despite the increasing importance of road competition, which had reduced already slender receipts on many lines. It was not until after nationalisation and later the publication of the Beeching Report in the 1960s that wholesale closure of rural lines took place, to the dismay of local communities.

      The Somerset & Dorset is remembered as one of Britain’s best-loved cross-country lines. In this image a 7F 2-8-0 is seen at Radstock in May 1958.

      This view of Stow-on-the-Wold station on the Banbury and Cheltenham route shows at least five staff, and the stationmaster’s wife peeping out of the door of the station building.

      While well-known lines were axed, the closure programme also marked the blossoming of the fledgling railway

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