BOOK REVIEW: THE SOMERSET & DORSET RAILWAY 1935-1966

A4 hardback, 192pp. 200 plus black and white photographs.

Published by Lightmoor Press 2008 (ISBN 9781899889310)@ £22.50 (plus £3 postage and packing)

and available from SDRT Sales and Washford Shop.

Many members will have read or purchased Mike and David’s earlier book,The Somerset & Dorset In Colour, of his late father Norman Lockett’s colour photographs of the line, taken in the late 1950’s and 1960’s, often in the company of Ivo Peters. It is well known that the two photographers met by chance in the early 1950’s, became firm friends and often went together on railway photographic excursions, Ivo working in black and white or 16mm cine, and Norman in colour. What is not so well known, till now, is that Norman Lockett began photographing the S&D in black and white as early as 1935, sadly just too late to catch the end of the ‘blue period’ but in time to see the 7F’s in their prime, the arrival of the first ‘Black Fives’ and the last of some of the more ancient relics that frequented the line. He used a quarter-plate camera taking its images on glass plate negatives, which with a couple of cases of unexposed plates and a reserve camera represented quite a heavy load to carry about without the convenience of a car. Consequently his locations and viewpoints were carefully selected and his output limited – but the quality of the results reflects the care and preparation put into them.

This book is an album of some 200 of Norman Lockett’s black and white images, scanned at high resolution from the original glass plates. Where in a few cases the original plate negatives were damaged, they have been repaired digitally and this is acknowledged in the relative captions. The same process has been used for the few photographs taken on film. The speed of the original emulsion is not quoted but was probably pretty slow, resulting in fine grain, which coupled with a large format allows some of the images to reproduce quite happily over a double page, permitting study of fine detail and background which would not be possible in a smaller picture. The care of the publisher in bringing out the quality of the original photographs is acknowledged and is justified, for this is an excellent collection of mostly unpublished work – perhaps the largest archive to come to light in recent years.

The pictures are arranged in chronological sections covering the 1930’s, the post-war period until nationalisation, 1948-52, ‘Five Halcyon Years’ 1953-57, 1958-1962: ‘A Hidden Agenda?’ and Rundown and Closure 1963-1966. Within these sections photographs are arranged by theme, for example ‘1938 Ancient and Modern’, ‘Highbridge Church Street Crossing’ and ‘The Arrival of the 9F’s’. Thus the subjects are portioned up into manageable bites, for this is not a book to be read straight through from cover to cover, but to be dipped into and the images perused and savoured at leisure. The captions are extended and informative, with in many cases additional comments from Mike highlighting points of interest. In the later periods, photographs have been selected that do not duplicate those taken by Ivo Peters when the two were together.

Frankly, I find it difficult to avoid superlatives in reviewing this book. It makes a worthy companion and supplement to Ivo’s volumes coveringThe Somerset and Dorset in the Fifties and Sixties, but with the benefit of 21^st century printing and reprographic techniques. Although not cheap, it is excellent value for money. Persuade your loved ones to give you a copy for Christmas, or failing that, order one for yourself or come to Washford and buy it during the Midwinter Steam Festival on 28-29 December (NB - NOT 27-28 as stated in the WSR timetable leaflet) or at the Trust’s Annual Model Railway Exhibition at Edington the following weekend.

George Moon.

Heyday of the Somerset & Dorset Railway by Alan & Christine Hammond.

This excellent new book Heyday of the Somerset & Dorset Railway is a large format jacketed hardback and presents a wonderful range of over 230 Somerset & Dorset Railway photographs, many unseen before. It has been foreworded by Prince Michael of Kent. There is also a splendid selection of memories from former staff and enthusiasts, which brings back those wonderful days on this much loved railway. There is also a comprehensive history of the line. This book is a limited edition of only 2,500 copies which are all hand numbered. The previous S&D book by Alan went out of print within a short period of time, so maybe get your order in quickly, which of course will benefit our Trust.

Price: £20.00

THE SOMERSET & DORSET REMEMBERED Part. 1 - BATH TO EVERCREECH JUNCTION by Hugh Ballantyne.

Published 2006 by Book Law Publications, price £19.99 ( + £2.50 p&p). A4 landscape format, casebound. 88pp, 84 full-colour pictures. ISBN 1-901945-45-6.

The only previous full-length colour album of the Somerset & Dorset Line was Mike Arlett and David Lockett's The Somerset & Dorset In Colour, published by Oxford Publishing Company back in 1991 and, sadly, long out of print. That book contained the work of David's father, the late Norman Lockett; this new volume features the colour photo-graphy of Hugh Ballantyne, happily still with us.

Hugh Ballantyne's name is well known in railway circles; a native of Bath, he started to photograph the line in black and white in about 1950, venturing into colour in 1961. In this first volume he concentrates on the route from Bath to Evercreech Junction, with a mixture of station and lineside views, each reproduced one to a page and with extended and informative captions and dates. Many of the locations will be familiar from the published work of the aforementioned authors and the late Ivo Peters, but each photographer stamps his individual style on a view so that those in this book are fresh to the eye, and the quality of both the photographs themselves and the reproduction by The Amadeus Press is excellent. The cover picture, not repeated inside, is a real stunner of our own 'No. 88' on a short goods train in Lyncombe Vale in 1962. Book Law Publications have established a reputation with some earlier colour albums and the forty-volume Yeadon's Register of LNER Locomotives, and this new album is well up to the quality expected. Whilst £19.99 is not cheap, 'you gets what you pays for' as the saying goes, and if you get this one, it will give a lot of pleasure. Better still, put it on your list as a present for Christmas or Easter. Recommended.

Running time approx 75 minute
Buy it now! £12.95 plus p/p