Glory Days: Steam in East Anglia

Glory Days: Steam in East Anglia recalls the era when steam ruled the tracks and the railways conveyed passengers and goods, from the commuter lines of Tilbury and Southend to the rural tranquility of north Norfolk.

This book describes and illustrates the steam trains which ran within Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk and parts of Cambridgeshire between the mid-1930s to the end of steam.  Originally published by Ian Allen in 1999, this edition is copiously illustrated with over 180 photographs, many in full colour.  It tells the story of many of the smaller companies that combined to from the Great Eastern Railway, plus some of those in the regions which continued to have an independent existence.

From the time of its incorporation under the Great Eastern Railways Act of 1862 from a number of smaller companies, the Great Eastern Railway held sway throughout East Anglia with niggling incuersions from other companies in Norfolk and Essex. In north Norfolk the Midland & Great Norther Joint Railway had its line running from Bourne to Norwich, Cromer and Great Yarmouth whilst in the south of Essex the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway spoiled GER’s monopoly.

Contents:

• Introduction
• Background
• Early Steam
• The Holdens, Father and Son
• Alfred Hill and the GER
• Steam Power on the Tilbury Line
• Midland and Great Northern Joint
• East Anglian Steam on the LNER
• The Final Act
• The Rural Idyll.

Apart from the Pacifics, preservation has not been kind to the London & North Eastern Railway and its forbears. There are precious few locomotives left and it is a tragedy that no B17 or Claud was saved – but it is a relief that two Thompson B1s have been preserved.