Nottingham & Notts Books


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Steam, Diesels and On-Track Machines - from Colwick to Derby via the East Coast Main Line by  John Meredith.

 

The memories of a railway engineer born in Aslockton. Starting with his childhood memories of Radcliffe-on-Trent he relates the start of his career as an apprentice fitter at Colwick shed in 1954. After spending time at Doncaster Works two more chapters tell of his further experiences at Colwick before moving on to various places on the East Coast Main Line, Toton and Derby. Includes several photos in and around Nottingham.

 

An A5-ish size paperback of 240 pages published by The Oakwood Press in 2011, I should think it's still in print.

 

Front cover shows 67756 at Colwick:

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Back cover:

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Having bored everybody with first some of my old football programmes followed by some old theatre programmes I thought I'd now start a new series about books which I have accumulated over the years an

I've just been for lunch in the old town in Nice and thought I'd have a wander around (which is not quite as easy for me as it is for some, being stuck in a wheelchair) but, anyway, that's beside the

Great to see others like collecting books. I have a fairly good collection of Nottingham and Notts books including many by Douglas Whitworth, also stories by Alan Dance, Joy James and Joan Wallace - a

Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire - volume 23 in the British Railways Past & Present series. By Chris Banks, published by Past & Present Publishing in 1996 and reprinted in 2001.

 

Softback book of 160 pages with only about one third of them featuring locations in Notts.

 

Don't know if it's still in print but it should be easily obtainable.

 

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Back cover shows the area covered by the book:

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Volume 57 in the Past & Present series dealt with Nottinghamshire on its own.

 

By Paul Shannon, published by Past & Present Publishing in 2007.  This is probably still in print. A must for anyone interested in the railways of Notts.

 

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Back cover:

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The Great Central Then and Now by Mac Hawkins.  Published by David & Charles in 1991,

 

'Past and present' photo of the Great Central main line from Sheffield to Marylebone with about 50 pages of it covering the line through Notts.  Apart from the photos with their extended captions, track plans and maps make it of fascinating interest for the Nottingham section especially.

 

Out of print I should think, but ought to be still obtainable without too much trouble.

 

Front and back cover illustrations are of the Brackley area.

 

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Back cover:

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One of the best books ever on the ex GC. Along with Main Line Lament !

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A Pictorial Record of Midland Railway Architecture by V. R. Anderson & G. K. Fox. A large-size book published by the Oxford Publishing Co. in 1985.

 

A total of about ten pages are devoted to the county in this book, but are of interest in that most of them date back to Midland Railway days (pre-1923). Of especial interest are two full page photos of Basford Vernon station and those of the Nottingham 'New' station (plus one of its predecessor).

 

I should think this could be obtained second-hand one way or another.

 

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Back cover:

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Hi

Plantfit   just a quick thank you for your post of 1st October that you have the book Bill of Bulwell. A few days later I saw the book for sale ,so I brought it , I found it very easy to read ,it was  as Bill spoke, It took you back to the very early days of life in Bulwell , and the stresses and strains of life in those days. It also made me more appreciative of the standard of life now, food of a good quality and quantity , central heating just to mention a few. I will try to get my 21 year old grandson to read it to understand what life was previously like, he is the one who struggles to understand how we managed without a mobile phone. I will now have to buy some of the other books mentioned in this topic as I enjoyed this one that much.

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I agree trogg,I wonder if in a hundred years time people reading about our lives through these pages and other sites will think we had it tough?

 

Rog

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Nottinghamshire Railway Stations on old picture postcards by Brian Lund. No. 6 in the 'Yesterday's Nottinghamshire' series, published in 1991.

 

Covers the whole county so only a few Nottingham pictures.

 

I should think this is still available.

 

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Back cover:

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Just started re reading Weiss's book on the Leen Valley. Absolutely fascinating, and so sad that so much industry has been obliterated.

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The East Midlands volume in the Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain series. By Robin Leleux, published by David & Charles in 1976.

 

There is a 22-page chapter covering Nottingham, with the following headings:

The Midland Counties Railway

The Lincoln Line

The Southwell Branch

The Grantham Line

The Mansfield Line

The GNR Expands

The Midland Main Line

The Great Central

Midland and Modern Services

 

Nottinghamshire is also covered in a chapter: The North Midland Coalfield

 

The book of course only goes up to the mid-1970s.

 

I don't know if this series of books is still in print, but it should be obtainable second-hand.

 

Front cover shows Derby station:

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Back cover;

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A Traveller's Guide to the Robin Hood Line published by The Railway Correspondence & Travel Society (RCTS) in 1998.

 

An A5-size booklet of 28 pages.

 

A description of what you can see from trains - e.g. '...the train continues through a built up area. On the right can be seen Gerards "INO FLAKES" soap factory and "Shipstones" Brewery. Both have long been taken over by other groups.'

 

Plenty of photos old and new and  diagrammatic maps with locations of interest marked.

 

Published, of course, before the trams appeared so is now out of date and therefore I assume is no longer available new.

 

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Back cover:

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Nottinghamshire Railways - The Age of Steam by Steve Huson. Published by Countryside Books in 2010.

 

128-page paperback. Quite good for history and includes a page or so on the central station that was proposed for Nottingham some years before Victoria was built.

 

This should still be available.

 

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Back cover:

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80-page softback book published in about 1987 or 1988 by Milepost Publications.

 

Fairly detailed histories of the following:

 

Nottingham - Mansfield

Radford - Trowell Jn.

Basford Jn - Bennerley Jn.

Pye Bridge - Kirkby

Sutton-in-Ashfield

Mansfield - Worksop

Pleasley J. - Westhouses

Cresswell - Barrow Hill

Doe Lea Valley

 

Probably could be found second hand.

 

If there ever was a volume 2 I've never come across it.

 

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Back cover:

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Rail Centres: Nottingham by Michael A. Vanns. Published by Ian Allan in 1993, a later edition appeared later with a different cover design, and I think this is the one most likely to turn up second hand.

 

I think this is still the best all-round history of the railways of Nottingham although of course only up to the time of its publication. It not only includes the details of the proposed central station for Nottingham (pre-Victoria) but includes a map showing where it would have been:

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Back cover:

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On 16/10/2017 at 8:09 AM, plantfit said:

Has there been any books published about old Nottingham other than railways?

 

Rog

I have bookcase full the earliest being 1803 I do have one dated 1744 but that is a reprint.

My collection includes 20 directories(earliest 1832) & about 25 on railways :)

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