BATH GREEN PARK TO BRISTOL
VIC MITCHELL & KEITH SMITH
MIDDLETON PRESS
96pp HARDBACK - £12.95
ISBN 1 901706362

Whereas the Somerset & Dorset Railway has seen literally dozens of publications record its existence, the line north of Bath through Bitton and Mangotsfield to Bristol has been rather less popular amongst railway authors/historians - this being only the second professional book produced on the line!

This volume compliments rather than competes with Colin Maggs’ book on the Mangotsfield to Bath branch - whereas the latter is largely text but with a fair selection of photographs, the Middleton Press offering is essentially a photographic album of the former Midland Railway route from Bath to Bristol, with 120 plates between the covers.

It’s not just a photographic album however - following the usual Middleton Press format the book intersperses the pictures with maps, gradient profile, timetables (from 1890, 1930 & 1948), tickets from stations on the line and, perhaps most interestingly of all, 25 inch to 1 mile Ordnance Survey plans from the 1903-1905 era. There are fifieen of these in all, covering virtually all the stations along the line, and the scale is big enough to see a great amount of detail - for instance on the Bitton map including buildings as small as the weighbridge and its adjoining huts.

The photographs, of course, form the main part of the book and here again Middleton do not follow the usual practice of just pictures from the fifties and sixties of tank engines on local trains with the occasional express thrown in for fun.

Over forty of the photographs are pre­1950, whilst there is also a selection of what the line looks like now - including ten of the Avon Valley Railway. The BR/LMS photo’s of Bitton and Oldland have all been featured at one time or another in 'Semaphore', although newer members may not have seen some of these. The vast majority of the rest of the photographs, however, were new to me - given that I have amassed a collection of over 200 photo’s of the line, this came as a very pleasant surprise.

Of particular interest, I felt, were those of the Bristol Wagon & Carriage Works at Lawrence Hill, Avonside Wharf and a nice selection of Bristol St Philips, the original terminus for Bath Green Park trains until its closure in 1953. An interesting half dozen pictures portray the shed at Barrow Road, and the book ends with a small selection of Temple Meads photographs.

My only slight grumble with the book is that I would have liked to have seen a little longer and more detailed captions to some of the photographs - a bit more akin to Middleton’s S & D books. This minor gripe apart the book has matched in every way the very high expectations I had for it and, needless to say, is an absolutely essential purchase for anyone interested in the Midland Railway route from Bath Green Park to Bristol. Priced at a reasonable £12.95, if you bring your membership card down to the station our shop staff will sell it to you with a 10% discount - just £11.65.

Return to Book Reviews

Return to Reviews Main Page

This page last updated by Tony Wray on 02/01/2001.