Introduction
For many years now it has been my ambition to produce the definitive historical guide to the railways of North West England. I commenced my research in my mid teens, continued through my 20s and finally faltered sometime around my 30th birthday. I abandoned the project for a number of reasons, not least of which was the disillusionment I felt following my dismissal from my job as a train driver with British Rail. In recent years my interest has been rekindled and now, with the advent of the internet, everything has changed. Whereas a book needs to be published complete, a web site can be an ongoing project.
I originally envisaged the object of my research as being to present an accurate snapshot of the railways around Manchester as they were c.1960. Why 1960? There are 3 reasons really; firstly, I think that the early 1960s represent one of the most fascinating periods in the history of Britain's railways. Steam was still much in evidence, the modernisation plan was in full swing, and the Beaching plan was yet to be implemented. Secondly, I was born in the early 1960s - so that makes it interesting for me - and, last but not least, October 1st, 1960 is the date that British Rail released a new issue of the 'Sectional Appendix', a hugely useful document upon which much of the information found in this site will be based.
I originally intended to stick to Manchester, with the occasional foray into other parts of the country purely on the basis of what interested me at any given moment. The reason for this was that I had acquired an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of the railways of Manchester, so why not stick to what I knew? However. as time has gone by, it has become more and more apparent that I wanted to cover much larger areas of the country. I therefore closed down the Manchester site and started afresh.
The Sectional Appendix is probably unknown to many people and, since it forms the backbone of this website, it might be appropriate to briefly explain what it is. Although I have not studied the history of the Sectional Appendix, the earliest examples that I have seen advertised for sale date from 1937 and cover the London Midland Railway. They contain a wealth of information including: signal boxes, distances, running lines, speed restrictions, local instructions and much, much more. Theoretically, armed with an up to date Sectional Appendix, engineering notices and a bit of common sense, any driver worth his job description could safely drive a train over routes with which he is unfamiliar. I should know. I've done it several times! For the railway historian they offer a unique window into railway operations from years gone by.
When you enter the main body of the site from the front page you will find a list of routes taken from the 1960 Sectional Appendices. My collection is not complete. I am still looking for the issues covering Scottish Region (North) and the Bristol and Plymouth Traffic Divisions from the Western Region. This means that there are gaps, but most of the country is covered.