Book Review: 'Stour Valley Railway Part 2'

Stour Valley Railway Part 2 Through Time: Clare to Shelford & Audley End.  Andy T Willis. (Amberley Publishing, 2011). ISBN 978-1-4456-0473-2. 96 pages, Illustrated. £14.99

Before the Beeching axe was wielded in the 1960s the Stour Valley railway, completed in 1865, ran from Marks Tey to Shelford and Audley End via Bartlow.  This book, the second in the series, covers many locations outside the historic county of Essex.  It provides a collection of comparative photographs in ‘then and now’ variety, for example showing the survival of station buildings at Saffron Walden.  Ashdon Halt was no more than a platform with old railway carriage providing shelter.  The decayed remains remain.  The branch platform building of the branch line at Audley End is now a coffee shop, near the grand mainline station which is unaltered over the passage of time.  It is a record of surviving standard design Great Eastern Railway country stations, overgrown areas (Bartlow), a Tesco building (Haverhill North) and dual carriageway (Pampisford).  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  The supporting text includes a narrative of the rolling stock employed.  A one page introduction provides historical context. 

This item first appeared in the 'Newsletter', Summer 2012