Warwickshire Western Region Lines - Part 1: Fenny Compton to Snow Hill
British Railway History in Colour - Volume 8
North from Oxford, the construction of the main line from London to Britain’s second city was projected by the Birmingham & Oxford Junction Railway but by the time the first part of it opened, between Oxford and Banbury in 1850, the company had been absorbed by the Great Western Railway. The section covered by this book, north from Banbury to Birmingham, was opened by the GWR on 1st October 1852 and we begin our journey along this route just south of Fenny Compton, where the line crossed the county boundary between Oxfordshire and Warwickshire.
This was a line built originally to the broad gauge that proved eminently suitable for fast running and which, in steam days from the late 1920s, became the preserve of ‘Kings’ and ‘Castles’ hauling crack expresses between London, the Midlands and the north-west. Between Banbury and Birmingham it also served the historic towns of Leamington Spa, Warwick and Solihull, as well as the important industrial and manufacturing region that had grown up on the approach to Birmingham city centre. There was also therefore a plethora of interesting freight to be photographed, with ‘BR ‘9F’ Class 2-10-0s to the fore in the period covered herein but with a varied selection of other types involved as well. Finally, north from Leamington, there were also the stopping services to and from Birmingham, plus some to and from Stratford-upon-Avon via the junction at Hatton.
To add to all this interest, there was a medium sized steam shed at Leamington and a major locomotive depot at Tyseley, both of which we visit in detail, the fearsome 21/2 mile climb of Hatton Bank (requiring a banker for most northbound freights), Rowington Troughs and the sadly now lost GWR city centre station at Snow Hill. Author Andrew Britton grew up in Leamington, trainspotted on the platforms and made regular visits to the shed courtesy of neighbour who was a driver, and now lives in Warwick so is intimately acquainted with the area. Whilst the line and most of the stations within are still open, much has changed, so this is a welcome chance to step back in time and enjoy the sights of a busy ex-GWR main line in the last decade of steam – with Blue Pullmans and a few early diesels – and all in glorious colour!
Hardback, 304 pages, full colour throughout
ISBN: 9781911038849
Most orders are dispatched within two-three working days of receipt of cleared payment. If there is going to be a significant delay (more than 10 working days), we will contact you and, where possible, give you an estimated dispatch time.
Please be aware that advance orders will be sent as soon as the relevant book has been published.
When placing your order, please ensure that you add the correct full shipping address to your order. This includes house number, street name, zip code/post code. If parcels are returned on account of an incorrect shipping address we will contact you to seek the correct address and also ask that you pay a contribution towards posting the parcel to you a second time. Similarly, if a parcel is returned to us because the local mail service is unable to deliver it (or you do not collect it from the designated collection point), we will contact you and ask you for a contribution towards the cost of shipping to you for a second time.
The journey of a book from our shelves to the reader demands careful handling and the appropriate packaging. We recognise the need to ensure that books arrive at their destination in the same condition that they leave us. Our packaging solutions aim to accommodate books of all shapes and sizes. In a society where so much is thrown away, Rail-Books have a policy of reusing packing materials to pack your order wherever possible. Whilst this may generate a small saving in our packaging costs, the impact to the environment is a much greater saving. We also try to ensure that new packaging, such as boxes, book-wraps and envelopes, is made from recycled materials.
UK
All orders for UK addresses are normally sent via Royal Mail 48 Hour (the business equivalent of 2nd class mail) which is not tracked although Royal Mail do confirm delivery of parcels. Orders of £27.50 and over are sent post free while shipping for orders under £27.50 is charged at £1.85 for orders under 500g or £2.25 for other orders. If you require tracking for your order, tracking & courier options are available for a small fee. The appropriate shipping option can be selected as part of the checkout process. If the service that you require is not shown, please get in touch with us and we can quote for your desired service.
Large, bulky or high value orders may be split in to multiple consignments or sent via courier. There is no additional charge for this and you will be advised at the order fulfillment stage if this happens.
Overseas
Overseas orders are charged based on weight, and postage will be automatically calculated at checkout. For a postage quotation, please add the items you want to your cart and proceed to the checkout. All orders are usually sent via Air Mail - this is not tracked. If you required your order to be tracked or sent by a different service, please contact us, preferably before checkout.
Royal Mail will only accept parcels up to 5kg in weight (2kg for Canada). If you are ordering multiple items that exceed these limits, please contact us first so that we can advise you of the appropriate shipping rate.
Due to the high volume of parcels going missing, we are no longer able to send untracked orders via third party mail handling services such as Parcel Motel. We are able to send untracked parcels to bona fide PO Box addresses, friends and family members and to work addresses.
Some countries charge import taxes and other taxes such as VAT; we suggest that in these cases, you asked for your order to be tracked so the local taxation authorities can trace your parcel.
Please note that courier services are unable to deliver to PO Box addresses. If you usually use a PO Box address, you will need to supply an alternative address if you require shipping by courier.
Shipping to the European Union
From 1 July 2021, all EU countries will be imposing VAT on all imports. In the UK, books are zero-rated for VAT proposes so there is no VAT to deduct from the prices quoted on our website. All of our orders are usually sent "DDU" (Delivered Duty Unpaid) using a courier service and the shipping prices quoted are on a DDU basis. However, we are now able to offer limited "DDP" (Delivered Duty Paid) services to certain EU destinations. If you would like to purchase books on a DDP basis, please contact us before making your purchase and we will give you a DDP price.
Therefore all DDU shipments to EU destinations will be held by the relevant customs authority until the customer pays any VAT that is due. We understand that if no payment is received by the relevant customs authority after 30 days, the package will be either returned or destroyed. Rail-Books will not be liable for any loss resulting from the destruction or return of goods where VAT has not been paid.
We recommend that customers in the EU follow the tracking data supplied to them once we dispatch your parcel and once the parcel is showing as arriving in the destination country, make contact with either the postal or customs authorities to pay the appropriate amounts of tax/duty.
Returned Parcels
On rare occasions, parcels will be returned to us. Where this happens we will refund the customer the cost of their order less any expenses incurred by ourselves (e.g. the initial cost of sending the parcel or costs relating to damage incurred in transit). If a customer requests that a parcel be shipped again for a second time, we request the customer to place a repeat order together with shipping costs. Repeat orders to UK customers will not be eligible for free shipping.
Updated: 2 April 2024