NEW BOOK ON THE SMJ - AVAILABLE SHORTLY

[Barry Taylor]

Hi all

I'm pleased to announce that the first volume of my history of the SMJ should be available in the near future - details are as follows:

The Stratford-upon-Avon & Midland Junction Railway Volume One: The years before the S&MJR 1866-1909: The Constituent Companies
Barry Taylor
208 pages. 275x215mm. Printed on gloss art paper with colour laminated board covers

A comprehensive history of the Northampton & Banbury Junction Railway, The East & West Junction Railway, The Evesham Redditch & Stratford Junction Railway, and the Stratford upon Avon Towcester & Midland Junction Railway – up to the formation of the Stratford upon Avon & Midland Junction railway in 1909.

Volume 2 will continue the story through the S&MJR, LMSR, and BR periods through to closure and to the present day.

Black Dwarf Lightmoor Publications - ISBN13 9781911038252 – Price £25.00 + p&p

For more details see the new publications page at: lightmoor.co.uk

The book should be available from Lightmoor as from 14th August, and will be on sale at the O Gauge Guild show at Telford on 1st/2nd September if anyone is going up there.

No date yet for Volume 2 but should be during 2018.

[Simon Dunkley]

I ordered it on the 10th. No sign yet?

Has it been held up?

(Would be entirely appropriate if it had been delayed en route - probably had to stop to allow Milord of somewhere to attach a horse box, or similar...)

[Barry Taylor]

Arrived in the warehouse at Lydney late on Thursday 17th apparently - so first shipments out to pre-orders and trade should have been on Friday. 

Probably got held up on the Midland at Broom Junction for a day or two on the way..................shouldn't be far away now.

[Simon Dunkley]

I will keep an eye out for the postman, then!

[NIGEL]

My copy arrived this morning. Had a quick read of the first few pages, very informative and good detail.

[Simon Dunkley]

Same here: it just arrived (yes, at 3 pm!) but on first glance looks very nice.
NIGEL said:

My copy arrived this morning. Had a quick read of the first few pages, very informative and good detail.

[Simon Dunkley]

Actually, I can and will go further. It is exceptionally well produced and extremely well laid out.

Plus it has some photos I haven't seen before, and given the usual cost of prints sold at shows and on-line (excluding an additional premium for rarity) then the book has actually saved me some money!

If I may add to the information in the book, the photo on page 133 will be number 8: number 9 had 12 H section spokes to its drivers, which were put under number 8 circa 1903/4, as you say. Furthermore, the photo on page 179 of number 8 is intriguing, because the boiler has acquired a vacuum ejector, not present in the earlier photo.

I can only deduce that when number 9 was scrapped, and number 7 was re-boilered with a newer Webb-pattern boiler, number 7's old Ramsbottom boiler was put onto number 8. Number 8 has also acquired brakes on the engine - again not present on the earlier photo! This has not, to my knowledge, been recorded before: it is not in Baxter, nor in the revised edition of Dunn, neither Jordan, nor Riley and Simpson.