Lambourn Branch
£18.95
Stock type: -
Stock reference: 112.048
£18.95
Stock type: -
Stock reference: 112.048
The very fact that the Lambourn Valley Railway existed at all owes much to perseverance and the will to succeed against considerable odds.
Always very much a local railway, it took several schemes, from the original tramway proposal to the final contract, a full 25 years of frustration and despair, before the inaugural service arrived at Lambourn in April 1898 amidst the cheers of the gathered crowds. One man above all deserves the accolade for this, Col. Archer-Houblon, the chairman of the LVR, who person-ally financed much of the necessary capital and eventually had to purchase the rolling stock, and later the line's motive power, on behalf of the concern.
The independent little company managed to struggle on for seven years, owing much to the generosity of the chairman, until it was finally forced to sell out to the GWR in 1905. Much of the individual charm of the line disappeared under the considerable upgrading work undertaken by the GWR following their acquisition and for the major part of its existence it became yet another Great Western branch.
This account chronicles the events from the earliest years of the line's history, through to the final developments of the 1950s when a new military line gave part of the branch an extension of life, postponing its final demise until 1973.
In producing their intimate account, the authors have spent many hours of painstaking research, bringing together much original information from numerous sources however remote or obscure, including discussions with many of the surviving members of staff.
Contents:
· Introduction
· Chapter 1 - The Early History - 1873-1898
· Chapter 2 - The Independent Days - 1898-1905
· Chapter 3 - Under The Great Western - 1905-1948
· Chapter 4 - Operation
· Chapter 5 - A Journey On The Line
- The Stations
· Chapter 6 - The British Railways Regime - 1948-1973
· Appendices:
- 1. Welford Park Military Line
- 2. Boards of Directors
- 3. Financial Capital of the LVR Co.
- 4. LVR Timetable for 1898
- 5. LVR By-laws and Regulations
- 6. Inaugral dinner Menu
- 7. LVR Mileage
- 8. LVR Receipts
- 9. Goods rates Lambourn to Paddington 27th June 1903
- 10. LVR Locomotives
- 11. LVR Passenger Stock
- 12. Goods Stock
- 13. Return of Working Stock 1898-1904
- 14. Fuller's Auction of LVR Stock
- 15. The disposal and subsequent history of the locomotive and rolling stock of the former LVR
- 16. LVR System of Passenger Receipts
- 17. LVR Improvement Costs 1908
- 18. Staff
- 19. Locomotives allocated to Lambourn
- 20. Gradient Profile
- 21. Signalling Diagrams
- 22. Architectural Drawings
- 23. Traffic dealt with at Stations
· Acknowledgements
By Kevin Robertson & Roger Simmonds
Hardback. 220x280mm. 172 pages
203 black & white photographs. Drawings. Plans
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