The Strawberry Line

[Craigw]

The East Somerset and Cheddar Valley Railways by Richard Harman (Published by Lightmoor Press)

 

I noticed someone else mentioned this book and I just received it (in Australia) via Kevin Robertson books.

 

I must confess to liking the railway histories published by Lightmoor Press, they are fully up to the standards set by Wild Swan perhaps even exceeding them in some areas.

 

This book is laid out in fairly conventional form, with an overview and the history of the line being covered, followed by a description of the line. The description details all the stations on the lines and most are very well illustrated - the photos by J. Moss in particular are stand outs. There are also scale drawings of several buildings, my only disapointment being that there are no drawings of any of the goods sheds.

 

As mentioned, the photo coverage is very thorough with most periods illustrated although the majority of the photos are taken in the mid - late BR Steam period. The quarries in the area are also featured, with a number of very nice photos of both private owner wagons and also some of the narrow gauge locos used.

 

In summary, I really do like this book a great deal. If your interests are GWR branches, or this region then it would be a very worthy addition to your bookshelf

 

regards,

 

Craig Warton

[Lord of the Badgers]

It looks to be a nice book, it's on my xmas list (fingers crossed).. the Cheddar line is "my railway" after the Weston Clevedon & Portishead (the third is the Wye Valley)..

 

Already have "steaming through the cheddar valley" which is full of photos, probably more pages, but the book in this discussion does have those nice scale drawings as you mention - that really appeals to me as future scratchbuilding projects - and it definitely has some different photos.

 

Does it include anything from the Wrington Vale Light Railway ("Steaming.." does)?

 

 

Message me if you don't have details on the book I mention