Impermanent Ways Special 1: Somerset & Dorset Line Fifty Years O

Key Points

• A nostalgic look at the closed line between Bath and Bournemouth

• Popular nostalgic railway series with strong local history interest

• Heavily illustrated with previously unpublished photos

Description

1966 was a bad year for the thousands of fans of the erstwhile Somerset & Dorset route when, after more than 100 years of service there would be no more trains over this picturesque line between Bath and Bournemouth.

In the years building up to that dreadful time, railway management had done everything they could to make the railway less attractive, diverting trains and rescheduling services so as to make connections difficult if not impossible, at the same time ‘asset stripping’ so as to reduce to a minimum the service this once proud railway could offer.

Half a century later much of the route has disappeared but before it did and whilst in moribund state, Jeffery Grayer recorded the scene witnessing the demise of a line and a way of life that has rarely been portrayed before. Containing much new material this book will rekindle memories of what once was and what we have now lost forever before. Much of the material to be seen is previously unpublished and will rekindle memories of what once was and what is now lost forever.