Rob Shorland-Ball's Books

The Minor Railways of East Anglia

Development Demise and Destiny

By: Rob Shorland-Ball

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The Minor Railways of East Anglia

Development Demise and Destiny

By: Rob Shorland-Ball

A look at the minor railways in eastern England that were once busy transport links and made vital contributions to the social and business heritage. Rob Shorland-Ball is a former teacher and a born storyteller and so is well aware of the strong local loyalties in East Anglia. Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex are considered to be very different separate and independent areas by their inhabitants. When the author worked in Suffolk he explained that he came from Cambridge which he believed was the front door of East Anglia. An elderly Suffolk man to whom he was speaking paused for a while and then said, with unarguable finality, “Here in Suffolk if Cambridge exists at all, it is a back door and rarely used.” By the 1950s and 60s, when the author explored the minor railways illustrated in this book, they were rarely used, so needed to be recorded and their stories told before they were forgotten entirely. To bring this book up to date, the final section is called Destiny because some of the track beds have survived and flourished with new usage as restored heritage railways, footpaths and cycleways and one route as a busy busway. “A nostalgic look back at long forgotten minor railways in East Anglia . . . Highly recommended.” —Branch Line & Light Railway Publications Flyer “A brief history of each of the lines together with maps and period photographs that make this an interesting read for those unfamiliar with the minor railways of East Anglia.” —Great Eastern Railway Society Newsletter

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Page Count

245

Publisher

Pen and Sword Transport

Published Date

ISBN 10

1526744821

ISBN 13

9781526744821

Railways and Industries in North East Wales & Deeside

By: Rob Shorland-Ball

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Railways and Industries in North East Wales & Deeside

By: Rob Shorland-Ball

Rob Shorland-Ball's researches for this book, and several visits, convinced him that he was putting together a jigsaw of facts. No previously published account of the area have brought together these stories of iron & steel making, limestone quarrying, coal mining, terra cotta, lead mining, and the railway systems they all needed to move their products to market. There were narrow and standard gauge railways – 80 miles of tracks in the Shotton Steel Works; industrial sites like Brymbo Iron and Steel Works; and since 2003 the Airbus factory which makes 100ft long wings for Airbus 380s that are too long to be moved by rail! A jigsaw indeed and this books puts together the pieces.

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Page Count

240

Publisher

Pen and Sword Transport

Published Date

ISBN 10

1526753782

ISBN 13

9781526753786

The Southwold Railway 1879–1929

The Tale of a Suffolk Byway

By: David Lee,Alan Taylor,Rob Shorland-Ball

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The Southwold Railway 1879–1929

The Tale of a Suffolk Byway

By: David Lee,Alan Taylor,Rob Shorland-Ball

A journey through the history of this railway that brought passengers to the English seaside for fifty years. Includes maps and photos. The Southwold Railway was a delightful example of one of East Anglia's minor railways: A 3ft gauge railway, single track, just over eight miles long from Halesworth (connections to London) across the heathland and marshes of East Suffolk to the seaside resort and harbor of Southwold. This book collates the research and memories of one of the last surviving passengers with maps and pictures to tell a fascinating tale of immaculate passenger service, management from a distant London office, closure at very short notice, and twenty-first century revival.

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Page Count

334

Publisher

Pen and Sword

Published Date

ISBN 10

1473867606

ISBN 13

9781473867604

The Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway to Poppyland

From the Midlands to Norfolk & Norwich

By: Rob Shorland-Ball

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The Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway to Poppyland

From the Midlands to Norfolk & Norwich

By: Rob Shorland-Ball

M&GNJR was a Midlands to East Anglia railway linking towns and villages like a patchwork knitted together by clever business entrepreneurs. It started in the 1850s when there was intense rivalry between railway companies and two rich and powerful companies – MR and GNR – were behind the project. ‘Joint,’ added by a Special Act of Parliament in 1893, confirms this patchwork was the amalgamation of several small independent railway companies plus the MR and GNR. The company was especially interested in stealing a march on the Great Eastern Railway (GER) which believed it was the principal railway serving East Anglia. Poppyland was the nickname created for the Cromer area of the Norfolk coast by Clement Scott, an influential poet, author and drama critic of The Daily Telegraph who first visited in 1883. He claimed that ‘...clean air laced with perfume of wild flowers was opiate to his tired mind.’ Scott publicized his delight and many rich families, and their servants, visited too; the railway business entrepreneurs saw a growing market for their patchwork. The M&GNJR grew eastwards to Norwich, Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and attracted passengers from the Midlands and London. The M&GNJR grew – then withered as cars, buses, overseas travel offered new holiday options. Closure came on 28 February 1959 but North Norfolk Railway – the Poppy Line – has survived as a heritage line so the Joint is not forgotten!

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Page Count

199

Publisher

Pen and Sword Transport

Published Date

ISBN 10

1526790106

ISBN 13

9781526790101

Cambridge Station

Its Development & Operation As A Rail Centre

By: Rob Shorland-Ball

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Cambridge Station

Its Development & Operation As A Rail Centre

By: Rob Shorland-Ball

Why build a Railway to Cambridge? This is the first substantive illustrated book about Cambridge Station which explores the opening of the station in 1845; the four principal railway companies which all worked to and from the station in a tangle of mutual inconvenience; the extensive goods traffic which was handled in the several goods yard around the station; and the way the Station operated from early beginnings, to what Abellio East Anglia and Network Rail offer today. Cambridge Station is renowned for having one of the longest single platforms in the UK, served by Up and Down trains. Ingenious trackwork and extensive signalling could satisfy passengers who were told at the central booking hall entrance: 'Turn left for Kings Lynn or right for London.' The book contains several pictures never before published, showing how the Eastern Counties and then the Great Eastern Railway Companies contrived Cambridge Station and the Engine Sheds, Goods Yards, Signal Boxes and extensive sidings to serve East Anglia. And it tells people stories too, because the author worked on the station in the 1950s and 1960s and knows Cambridge and East Anglia well. He is a geographer and writes with knowledge, wisdom and humour.

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Page Count

297

Publisher

Pen and Sword

Published Date

ISBN 10

1473869064

ISBN 13

9781473869066

Book's by Rob Shorland-Ball

The Minor Railways of East Anglia

The Minor Railways of East Anglia

Railways and Industries in North East Wales & Deeside

Railways and Industries in North East Wales & Deeside

The Southwold Railway 1879–1929

The Southwold Railway 1879–1929

The Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway to Poppyland

The Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway to Poppyland

Cambridge Station

Cambridge Station

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