New Vale of Rheidol book - Beyond '68

[Bill Jamieson]

    Pasted in below is the flyer which gives full details of my new book on the VoR, Beyond '68. I first flagged this up at the end of last year in the 'Narrow Gauge Prototype' section but have had similar printing problems to the Colin Gifford Transition book, which took a few months to resolve. Having cleared promoting the book on RMWeb with Andy Y, I think it's worth mentioning it here as well, as I feel that the photographs should be of wider interest than just to NG enthusiasts.

    I would just point out that as well as photographs of the VoR, ten pages are devoted to a selection of steam-worked NG lines on the European mainland. These are integral to the introduction - my interest in the VoR was sparked by seeing working steam NG in Austria and the DDR, not the other way round. These will be to some peoples' taste but not to others.

   The book received a very enthusiastic review from Andrew Charman in the May edition of Narrow Gauge World and if I say so myself, the print quality (in duotone) is comparable with what David Postle has achieved in Transition. 

Bill

 

                     BEYOND  ’68 The Last Years of BR Steam on the Vale of Rheidol Line

 

    During the summer of 2018 a number of events were held to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of standard-gauge steam operation on British Railways. There was naturally extensive coverage of the anniversary in those railway periodicals aimed at the nostalgia market, and a number of  books were published or announced, including notable offerings from Colin Gifford, Stephen Leyland and the Master Neverers Association, the last of these a four-volume magnum opus.

    Continued steam operation of the 1’ 11.5” Vale of Rheidol line beyond August 1968 did warrant a mention in the magazine coverage, but it is probably not widely appreciated that another significant anniversary fell in 2018, both for the line and BR, which actually ran its very last timetabled steam-worked train using one of its own locomotives some thirty years earlier on 4 November 1988, at the close of that year’s Vale of Rheidol operating season. The sale of the line to the Brecon Mountain Railway was concluded a few months later and  normal service was resumed in May 1989, but the line was now firmly in the heritage sector, rather than a part of the national network.

    This album of photographs has been produced to mark a 30th anniversary which otherwise seems to have passed by unremarked, and to redress the photographic neglect (based on a perceived dearth of published photos from the 1970s and 1980s) of a minor but interesting chapter in British railway history. With less than 12 miles of line to cover, this is naturally a somewhat slimmer volume than any of those brought out to mark the end of standard-gauge steam, but hopefully the quality of reproduction and the generous size at which the photographs are used will compensate to some degree for the lower page count.

    For those who, like the author, are interested in narrow-gauge steam on mainland Europe, ten pages are devoted to the photographic results of his forays across the English Channel in search of ‘real’ working steam between 1975 and 2015, and the introductory text relates how his first visits to Austria and East Germany led to a fascinatiom with the Vale of Rheidol line.

    104 pages 292mm x 273mm with 85 monochrome photographs (virtually all one to a page) duotone printed on 170 gsm satin paper.

    Obtainable direct from the author at ‘Sparrow Castle’, 91 Galashiels Road, Stow, Scottish Borders, TD1 2RQ, retail price £27.50 but offered to RMWeb readers at £26 including p&p for orders placed by the end of June 2019. Payment by cheque or BACS (bank details supplied on request).              

T 01578 730262          

E sparrowcastle@btinternet.com

[WisTramwayMan]

Bought a copy of this from the Vale of Rheidol shop today. If the fact it is self-published is putting you off, then don't be; quality and presentation is absolutely superb, and it's printed in the UK ! The nearest I can think of in terms of the quality and presentation is the Winston O LInk books, great quality photos, with all the photo data indexed at the rear of the book. If you care about quality, well worth anyone's £27.50.

 

[Bill Jamieson]

On 26/07/2019 at 21:48, WisTramwayMan said:

Bought a copy of this from the Vale of Rheidol shop today. If the fact it is self-published is putting you off, then don't be; quality and presentation is absolutely superb, and it's printed in the UK ! The nearest I can think of in terms of the quality and presentation is the Winston O LInk books, great quality photos, with all the photo data indexed at the rear of the book. If you care about quality, well worth anyone's £27.50.

 

You've just made my day!

Best regards,

Bill

[Bill Jamieson]

My original post was hardly a roaring success, resulting in almost one order! However the book is reviewed in the current edition of Steam Railway magazine, following which I have supplied it to a few more outlets. so if anyone is interested, but loathe to buy something without seeing it, it should be possible to view and buy from the following:-

 

Ian Allan Bookshop (Waterloo)

Douglas Blades (Ardrossan)

Branchstow Books (Willenhall)

Camden Miniature Steam Services (Frome)

Ffestiniog / Welsh Highland Shop (Porthmadog)

Bill Hudson Transport Books (Matlock)

Robert Humm & Co (Stamford)

Bob Pearman Books (King Lynn)

Titfield Thunderbolt Railway Bookshop (Bath)

Tornado Books & Hobbies (Birmingham)

Vale of Rheidol Railway Gift Shop (Aberystwyth)

 

John Sutton Books (Redditch) did stock it but were down to their last copy at the September Statfold Barn event, so I assume have none left now.

 

And of course I'm happy to supply direct for £27.50 (including p&p) - contact me by email at sparrowcastle@btinternet.com

 

Bill

 

Edited November 24, 2019 by Bill Jamieson

[VOR]

On 26/07/2019 at 21:48, WisTramwayMan said:

Bought a copy of this from the Vale of Rheidol shop today. If the fact it is self-published is putting you off, then don't be; quality and presentation is absolutely superb, and it's printed in the UK ! The nearest I can think of in terms of the quality and presentation is the Winston O LInk books, great quality photos, with all the photo data indexed at the rear of the book. If you care about quality, well worth anyone's £27.50.

 

If it wasn't of good quality I would never had stocked it!