Locomotives of the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway

A Definitive Survey, 1854–1966

Tim Hillier-Graves

• Publisher: Pen and Sword Transport
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN:
  9781526748386
• Print ISBN:
  9781526748355

Although closed to traffic in 1966, with most of its infrastructure swiftly destroyed by British Railways, this unique railway line still lives in the minds of many, some too young to remember it in its heyday. For more then a hundred years it courted disaster and could on a number of occasions have succumbed to overpowering financial pressures, but it survived with the help of partnerships with larger, more secure companies, namely the Midland Railway and the London & South Western Railway. Later on, after the grouping in 1923, the line came under the control of the L M S and the Southern Railway. It was unfortunate that the line suffered in later years, from inter regional rivalry between the Western and Southern Regions of British Railways, which led to its eventual closure. The variety of companies involved in its running meant that during its lifetime the small pool of locomotives needed to service the line was supplemented by the best each partner could offer. So from the beginning to the end there were a myriad number of types of locomotive running over the Mendips providing a lively variety of motive power. This heavily illustrated book traces this unique and fascinating history and brings to life this singular, much missed and loved railway.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Book Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• CHAPTER 1 A LINE CREATED ANDREMEMBERED
• CHAPTER 2 LOCOMOTIVES IN THEEARLY YEARS (1854 to 1875)
• CHAPTER 3 THE MIDLAND YEARSPART ONE(1876 to 1903)
• CHAPTER 4 THE MIDLAND YEARSPART TWO (1904 to 1922)
• CHAPTER 5 THE LMS YEARS(1923 to 1947)
• CHAPTER 6 A LONG GOODBYE(1948–1966)
• REFERENCE SOURCES
• INDEX
• BACK COVER