Page Text: Railways
The railways were something of an obsession for my father, that much is clear from the huge bias in the collection towards the subject. For me, it's been a difficult area to tackle. There is an enormous amount of interest associated with the days of steam. How could I select the most important photo's from the hundreds available?
Initially, I took the easy route and concentrated on stations. This, I felt, was an area that would appeal to the widest audience. The section on local stations was very interesting to me, especially identifying long gone stations. I used a modern A to Z and my father's 1962 OS map of Birmingham but for a double check on my interpretations I would hop along to the Rail Around Birmingham website - here you'll find modern day pictures that I'm sure many will be interested in. You will find some of my father's railway photographs on the Warwickshire Railways site where Mike Musson provides in depth captions that will be of interest to rail enthusiasts
A couple of stations that should logically have been included in the local stations section were Rubery and Longbridge. However, I discovered that these were part of the long defunct Halesowen Line. There seems to be a lot of interest in this so I have dedicated a few pages to it. My thanks to Andy of Rail Around Birmingham for helping with this section.
Where there were groups of photo's that stood alone, I decided to produce dedicated pages for them. These include the Cromford and High Peak Railway, Ffestiniog Railway, the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway, the Liverpool Overhead Railway, the Severn Railway Bridge and the Clee Hill incline. Similar pages will be added later.
In December 2006 I treated myself to a copy of ' British Railway Steam Locomotives 1948-1968 '. I will use the information from the book to enhance captions for any pictures that feature steam engines.
I would appreciate any feedback about these images that can be provided. Any experts out there, please get in touch!
Do you like my father's railway photographs? Then you may be interested in these books ...
To try and reduce download times I have divided the photographs into various sections. Please select the link of interest.
Includes: Adderley Park, Aston, Blake Street, Bournville, Camp Hill,
Church Road, Dudley, Five Ways, Four Oaks & Gravelley Hill
Includes: Hazelwell, Kings Heath, Kings Norton,
Marston Green, Moseley & Northfield
Includes: Perry Barr, Saltley, Selly Oak, Smethwick (Rolfe Street),
Soho Road, Spon Lane, Stechford, Vauxhall and Duddeston
& Winson Green