Great Britain’s Heritage Railways: The Rise of the Railway Preservation Movement

Over the past 26 years Silver Link have for been working closely with many of Britain’s Preserved Railways publishing many books featuring lines the length and breadth of the country. We are therefore very pleased to have agreed to prepare the official guide books for The West Somerset Railway and The Severn Valley Railway as part of an exciting new concept in railway book publishing. David Mather has written a delightful easy reading volume recounting the story of the rise of Britain’s Standard Gauge Heritage Railway scene from its early beginnings in the 1960s through to the present day. In the first section of the book David tells the story from his own personal perspective drawing on recollections of the lines he visited and the many trips he took over the years in pursuit of steam. He records the use of heritage steam locomotives on the main line and at events. In the second section David illustrates the growth of the movement through a selection of preserved lines ‘biographies’. In a book of this size it is of course not possible to include every line in the country in this section, however…In what we believe is a first in railway book publishing this title is being released on a multiple edition and regional basis. The editions will vary with the inclusion of official guide books from a selected railway in each edtion. This is The Severn Valley Railway edition.