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THE SOMERSET & DORSET REMEMBERED Part. 2 - HIGHBRIDGE TO BOURNEMOUTH by Hugh Ballantyne.

Published 2007 by Book Law Publications, price £19.99 ( + £2.50 p&p). A4 landscape format, casebound. 80pp, 74 full-colour and 3 black and white pictures. ISBN 978-0-19-0145989.

The second volume of Hugh Ballantyne's colour coverage of the Somerset & Dorset Joint Line has been eagerly awaited, to judge from enquiries at Washford since the first part appeared. It has now arrived and does not disappoint.

The first volume covered the Bath Extension, difficult to work but highly scenic and beloved of enthusiasts and photographers. This companion work covers the original Somerset & Dorset route from Highbridge to Broadstone, and on over the former LSWR to Bournemouth West. The 'boundary' of the S&D is marked by three photographs in black and white, taken in 1914 and the 1920's in the Broadstone area by the late W H C Kelland.

Once again the quality of both the photographs themselves and the reproduction by The Amadeus Press is excellent. As one would expect, they are reproduced one to a page to match Part 1, and belie the often held view that the southern section of the route was not very interesting. Format and price are likewise the same as the earlier volume, and if that already graces your bookshelf, you will need this one to keep it company.

The Somerset & Dorset Remembered, Part 2 is available from Washford Shop when open, SDRT Sales c/o The Railway Station, Washford, Watchet TA23 0PP or the SDRT Online Shop, accessible on the Trust's website.

George Moon, Sales Officer

Now Available

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

Recently Released

Reviewed by George Moon

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.

Buy it now!

Running time approx 75 minute
Buy it now! £12.95 plus p/p 40 years ago a legendary railway passed into history - or did it?! Mike Arlett takes us on a journey to recall the S&D by means of some of the events held in March 2006; visiting the SDRT headquarters at Washford, the return of No. 53809 to Bath Green Park, an open day at Midsomer Norton station and, of course, the West Somerset Railway S&D Gala. Mike set out to find what it is about the S&D which still attracts so much interest all these years after closure. This special DVD also includes more than 10 minute of archive film, and is accompanied by a 20 page all-colour booklet.

A new illustrated account of post-closure events.
Buy it now! £9.95 plus p/p

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