British Trolleybus Systems - Yorkshire

By Peter Waller
Imprint: Pen & Sword Transport
Pages: 144

This is one of four volumes covering the history of British Trolleybus systems. This book looks at the networks in Yorkshire. Bradford and Leeds were the pioneering systems in the country and, more than six decades later, it was Bradford that was to the final bastion of this once important form of transport.

The author is an authority on tram and trolleybus systems, with a series of books already published on the history of British and Irish tram networks.

This volume covers the history and background surrounding the networks looking at the reasons why they were opened and why they eventually closed down.

Transport Recalled: North and Mid-Wales

By Martin Jenkins, Charles Roberts
Imprint: Pen & Sword Transport
Pages: 192
Illustrations: 160 colour illustrations

This book takes readers on a spectacular journey across North and Mid-Wales in the thirty-year period from the mid-1950s onwards. In full colour, it features scenic railway main lines and branches; ports, canals and shipping including the Liverpool & North Wales Steamship Company; cable and electric tramways; all manner of connecting bus and coach services in urban and rural settings; and a few surprises along the way. Highlights include superb views of the trams owned by Llandudno & Colwyn Bay Electric Railway; long-gone branch lines; much-loved locomotive types; very rare colour views of some Crosville bus types; and a remarkable assembly of horse drawn, steam-powered and electrically-operated narrow gauge railways which survived in industrial locations barely changed in well over a century. These include the imposing slate quarry settings of Dinorwic and Penrhyn, recorded by intrepid photographers, who captured the arduous and dangerous working conditions of the miners as well as the hustle and bustle of the internal rail systems and their links to the coastal ports. The historic nature of these sites has now been recognised globally, with the awarding of UNESCO World Heritage status to the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales. With the authors drawing on their own early personal memories, this book should evoke nostalgic memories for local residents as well as for those who were fortunate enough to have holidays or arrive as day-trippers. It will also hopefully encourage today’s travellers to seek out the spectacular coastlines, dramatic hills and mountains, rolling countryside and farmland – not to mention the Great Little Trains of Wales – for which the region is renowned.

Vorbestellung per Mail an Bestellung@region-im-modell.de

Glasgow Trams (Hardback)

A Pictorial Tribute

By Martin Jenkins, Geoff Price
Imprint: Pen & Sword Transport
Pages: 192
Illustrations: 160 colour & black and white illustrations & a system map
Published: 30th July 2022

This book has been commissioned to mark the 60th anniversary of the closure of Glasgow’s remarkable tram system, when over 250,000 people lined the city streets on 4 September 1962 to watch a final procession of some 20 trams representing different periods in the history of the undertaking. Using a wealth of previously unpublished photographs, the book shows as many areas and aspects of the city as possible. The trams are once again back where they belong, right in the heart of the city and its suburbs with people, period buses, cars and lorries, shops, churches, theatres, cinemas, parks, shipyards, factories and even steam and electric locos running on the tram tracks. Furthermore, the coverage goes way beyond the city boundary to encompass Airdrie, Coatbridge, Cambuslang, Rutherglen, Barrhead, Paisley, Renfrew, Clydebank and Milngavie. Over the years many locations have changed beyond recognition whilst others remain instantly recognisable. There are scores of photographs of the long-lasting Standards (some even in Glasgow’s legendary coloured route bands), trams acquired from Paisley including those cut down to single-deckers, Kilmarnock bogies, modern Coronations and Cunarders, ex-Liverpool cars, one-offs and also works cars. For those who still remember the trams, we hope you enjoy looking back as much as we have and for those who have no memory of wires and rails in the street, we hope this will recapture a lost way of life when services were frequent and fares relatively inexpensive.

by Gavin Booth

Published by the LRTA 2022

Portugal’s first-generation electric tramways reached their peak in the 1950s, with five systems providing a significant proportion of public transport in their localities. They had been introduced over a 20-year period, starting with Porto in 1895, followed by Lisboa in 1901, Sintra in 1904, Coimbra in 1911 and Braga in 1914. Both Braga and Coimbra closed their tramways in 1963 and 1980 respectively. The Sintra tramway led a chequered life with cutbacks at both ends of its single route as well as changes of ownership and periods when it did not operate at all. Recent investment has ensured that its future is more secure.

When the author first encountered Portugal’s remaining tramways in 1985 they were looking tired and there were fascinating glimpses of abandoned track that were reminders of the heyday of these systems. Since then he has witnessed their renaissance and, reassuringly, the introduction of two totally new systems. In 1960 Portugal had five active tramways; by 1985 this number had dropped to three, including Sintra that was barely functioning at the time. Today, following the introduction of the Metro do Porto in 2005 and the Metro Transportes do Sul in 2007, the tally has returned to five and the future looks bright for all of them.

A4 Hardback landscape format comprises 144 pages Fully illustrated in colour
 

By Geoffrey Skelsey & Yves-Laurent Hansart
Published by the LRTA 2008.
Geoffrey Skelsey, having worked in Brussels several years, knows the city well and has assembled this definitive history covering 1946 to the present day.
Specialist chapters on rolling stock, the Expo (1958), the final SNCV years, the arrival of the Pre-Metro and Metro.
Also covered: destination signs, depots and much more.
Specially updated fold-out Gillham track map.


Comprises 184 pages A4 size (160 b/w and 24 colour), around 210 photos, 40 maps – glossy hard cover.

By Geoffrey Skelsey 2015
Geoffrey Skelsey has put together this new book to tell the story of the two additional tramlines in Nottingham, which opened on 25 August 2015 to more than double the size of the existing NET system dating from 2004.

A4 softback; 96 pages, 100+ colour pictures and several maps.

By George Atkins 2013
The author brings together his personal memories of riding on north London trams before the late-1930s trolleybus conversions with a comprehensive history of the Metropolitan Electric Tramways and its predecessors.
Evocatively illustrated in black & white with numerous maps and depot layout drawings, the days of horse, steam and electric traction are brought to life.
The iconic “Feltham” cars are described and their subsequent disposal in 1952 is also covered.
A4 softback; 196 pages, fully-illustrated in black & white

Martin Jenkins aqnd Charles Roberts 2021

Few books have been written laying out in detail the run-down of a great British tram system. This is an attempt to do just that by bringing together all the known information by following, in diary form, the detailed decline of one of the finest city tramways in the country. Despite investing in hundreds of new trams and opening an extension as late as 1944, the City Council approved a complete conversion programme the following year. What led to this sudden change of policy? How far were powerful, local politicians involved? Were the figures produced by The Transport Department an entirely accurate representation of the post-war alternatives? Did they include the cost of track removal and road resurfacing? Had trams been built, and extensions laid, to the highest standard? Was there a breakdown in communication between different areas of the Transport Department? Did wartime neglect and post-war shortages lead to the inevitable? Why was so much track re-laid after the war only to last a few years? Could/ should any part of network, with its miles of segregated ‘grass tracks’ have been retained?

Martin Jenkins has a life-long interest in the tramways. He has written many other transport books and, for some years, he directed and voiced over 100 transport- related DVDs which raised thousands of pounds for vehicle restoration projects. In his professional life, he was with the British Broadcasting Corporation for some 30 years during which time he travelled extensively. Today, he works as a free-lance director, lecturer and drama teacher and is delighted that one of his grandsons shows a keen interest in trams!

Co-author Charles Roberts was born and brought up in Merseyside, trained as a Chartered Mechanical Engineer and worked in the bus industry around the time of deregulation and privatisation, before embarking on what he refers to as his ‘career break’ in the academic world. He ran the Maritime and Logistics degree programmes at Liverpool John Moores University until 2017. His interest in all forms of transport dates back to a very early age and has been taking slides - nowadays digital images - since 1973. He has been involved in OTA since its inception and has served as secretary, treasurer and now chairman. He is the co-author of three transport books based on material in the Archive.



Published by the LRTA – A4 softback; 232 Pages; 624 mainly black & white pictures; 19 maps

Britain's Preserved Trams (Hardback)

It is almost 100 years since the first tram was preserved in Britain. In the century since then a great variety of trams have been saved from tramway systems small and large.

Some trams were purchased directly out of service and others were acquired after many years alternative usage, some being summer houses or homes, while others were used on farms or allotments where they served as sheds and out buildings, before being lovingly restored over many years.

The story of tram preservation is not wholly positive. In the early days many trams suffered from being stored in the open at unsafe sites, where the historic vehicles were often subjected to acts of vandalism and suffered badly from the weather.

This changed to a large extent in 1959 with the acquisition of the site of the future National Tramway Museum at Crich in Derbyshire, where a comprehensive collection of trams from all over Britain and also foreign tram networks has been assembled to secure a collection of tramcars for future generations.

There are also today fine collections of trams in other museums in Britain and Ireland, which cover much of the rich history of this once common form of public transport.

This book looks at almost 200 of these trams when they were in service, through historic photographs, prior to their withdrawal and eventual preservation.

By Peter Waller
Imprint: Pen & Sword Transport
Pages: 160
Illustrations: 250 colour & black and white illustrations
Published: 31st August 2021