Stenlake Publishing - Warwickshire’s Lime and Cement Works Railways
Warwickshires Lime and Cement Works Railways
Author : Sydney A. Leleux ISBN : 9780853617372 Cover : paperback Price : £24.95
Profusely illustrated with photographs and maps, discover the delights of the many industrial railway systems operating in the lime and cement works of Warwickshire in this major work. These railways have held a life-long fascination for author Sydney Leleux, indeed his earliest research into these lines commenced in the late 1950s.
The railway systems are described in a generally north-easterly direction, from Stratford-upon-Avon to Rugby, a distance of about 25 miles. The appendices also cover Ardley Quarries, Totternhoe Lime Works & Quarries and Kensworth Quarries (all in neighbouring counties) in detail as well as Napton Brickworks.
The railways were built to a variety of gauges including 1’9’’, 1’11.5’’, 2’6’’, 3’0’’ and standard gauge. Avonside; Aveling & Porter; Bagulay; Hudswell; clarke; Hunslet; John Fowler; Kerr, Stuart; Motor Rail; Manning, Wardle; Orenstein & Koppel; Ruston & Hornsby; Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns; Sentinel; Thomas Hill; and Bagnall provided a rich variety of engines to work on these railways. However, it was the attractive narrow gauge Peckett saddle tanks – many bearing the names (Jurassic, Triassic, etc.) – that have perhaps most captured the attention and imagination of railway enthusiasts over the years.