The Decline of British Railways in Bury & Rossendale

My latest offering is currently being printed and may be of interest to anyone with an interest in the East Lancashire Railway route and the railways of the surrounding area, including the Bury to Manchester line, which has had little written about it over the years.

The decline of British Railways in Bury & Rossendale is the title of a brand new 244-page book about the run down of the British Railways network in Bury and Rossendale, focusing on the demise of five local railway lines:

•Bury to Holcombe Brook
•Stubbins Junction to Accrington
•Bury to Bacup
•Bolton to Rochdale
•Bury to Manchester (via Prestwich)

The book aims to capture the feelings and efforts of the local community in fighting the infamous Beeching Report - The Re-shaping of British Railways, which was published on 27 March 1963.

The Bury to Holcombe Brook line had closed to passengers before the Beeching Report was published, but the Bury to Bacup line (which included the Bury to Rawtenstall section of the ELR), Bolton to Rochdale (including Bury to Heywood), Stubbins Junction to Accrington line were all eventually closed as a result of the Beeching proposals.

However, a successful campaign saw the Bury to Manchester line reprieved from closure, surviving under BR operation until August 1991, when it was closed to allow its conversion to become the first part of the hugely successful Metrolink light rapid transit system.

The book includes lots of monochrome and colour photos - and plenty of photos of various steam locomotive classes (L&Y Aspinall Tanks aplenty), Class 40s, Class 105 DMUs and the Class 504 EMU's and is priced at a bargain £17.50. All profits earned from the sales of these books will be split equally between the East Lancashire Railway Preservation Society and the East Lancashire Railway Holdings Co Ltd - both of whom support the preservation of the ELR route from Heywood to Rawtenstall.

More information can be found at www.buryrossendalerails.com, along with ordering details.

Regards


Andy Coward

PS: The book is currently being printed, with delivery expected at some stage during next week. All orders received prior to delivery will be sent out as soon as they arrive.

 

The books are being delivered tomorrow afternoon and I hope to get all copies that have been ordered in the post on Wednesday, so anyone who has ordered a copy should have it by the end of the week. Many thanks to everyone who has shown an interest in the book. Copies can be obtained from www.buryrossendalerails.com, the ELR will also have copies on sale from this weekend and Ian Allan Bookshop in Manchester will also be stocking copies.

Regards

 

I am delighted to say that there are now less than 200 copies remaining of the book, The Decline of British Railways in Bury and Rossendale, and I have been pleased with the positive response to the book from those who have bought a copy. Due to printing costs, it is unlikely that there will be sufficient demand to justify the cost of a reprint, so once the remaining copies have been sold there is unlikely to be an opportunity to purchase the book again.

If you would like a copy, they are available online (with free postage) from www.buryrossendalerails.com or on ebay (have to charge for postage on ebay copies though due to ebay fees), or copies can be obtained from the East Lancashire Railway in Bury, Ian Allan Bookshop in Manchester (other branches of Ian Allan also had copies, although I don't know if they still have copies), Lamberts Mill Shop in Rawtenstall or the Loco Shed Model Shop in Prestwich.

All profits from the sale of the books are being split equally between the East Lancashire Railway Preservation Society and the East Lancashire Railway Holdings Company Ltd (the charitable arm of the ELR). Please note that once they're gone, it is unlikely that the book will be reprinted, so please get it while you can.

Due to the positive response to the book, I am now planning on producing two further volumes to accompany, with these telling the story of the formation and growth of the East Lancashire Railway. No work has yet been started on these books, but they will follow a similar format and there is currently no target for when they will be published, but I would imagine it will be at least 12 months before they appear.

Regards