Description
Phil Braithwaite’s book takes the reader back to those more gentle times through his experiences and passions of the railways, personal stories and his early attempts at photography and processing, backed up by photographs, tables, logs and diagrams.
He explains the intricacies of the many different parts of the railways such as signal boxes, turntables, track work, points and signals etc. Described are the service depots, coaling plants, water columns and troughs. Lovingly portrayed are the men and women who operated them in their everyday life, the station staff, engine drivers and firemen, the guards and porters and of course the passengers.
Phil describes the demise of the steam engines, its effects on the workforce and the public during those last days of steam on the railways in August 1968. This era, although sad bringing a tear to his eye, was in many ways an undeniably more romantic period in the history and memories of a great railway.
It is How ‘he’ remembers it.
Paul Doggett (verified owner) –
“How I Remember It”
I really enjoyed this book ,it brought back many happy memories for me. The author is a good photographer although the matt format of the book doesn’t show his excellent photography to the best advantage. The author started serious trainspotting in the late fifties, mainly around the Warrington area. He was fortunate to have good friends at his school who were also interested in railways and made some lifelong friends there. As he grew older his area of trainspotting grew. He was fortunate to have a father who encouraged his trainspotting. so covered much of the country. My father unfortunately thought it was a waste of time and money so reading other peoples railway adventures is always interesting. The author lists numbers and names of the engines that he saw on his various trips around the country, together with the dates. I always find these very interesting
There are a couple of ‘Shed Bash’ records of what was in engine sheds at certain times. These are very good and contain useful data, but whether or not it is copyright infringement or the book is printed in computer format they don’t come out as well as the originals. The author also visits a few unused stations to photograph interesting station buildings. He also visited signal boxes and this is also mentioned in the book, especially the welcome that he generally received from the men manning the signal boxes if they were in isolated areas
All in all at under £12.00 this is definitely worth checking out.
Paul Doggett October 2024.