£10.00
Author: Tom Smith
Published: 2022
Edition: Paperback
Pages: 64
Condition: New
Genre: London Midland & Scottish (LMS)
Status: Available
Synopsis
Station Master on the Settle to Carlisle Railway Line by Tom Smith, originally written in the 1930s, now republished.
Hard work, long hours and small pay might not be everyone’s choice, but they certainly paid off for Tom Smith, who tells in his own words of 45 years on the Settle and Carlisle line, starting as a porter in 1879. He recalls how he saved “a good many lives” at the risk of his own and also of a fatal crash when an express train from London hit a landslide, leaving eight people dead.
Tom looks at how the Settle line came into being, changes to trains, signals and equipment and the goods carried in the days before road haulage, from coal, cattle and cotton to timber, potatoes and milk for London.
However, his book is much more than a tale of life on the line in the early 20th century. It also charts a lifelong romance and a family’s history.
Station Master on the Settle to Carlisle Railway Line is a “must read” for anyone interested in railways, folk from a different era or history in the counties of Yorkshire and Cumberland.