Cygnet Magazines

A superb feature on Bow ended carriages, Newbury goods yard, part 6 of Snow Hill, part 4 of Castles in traffic, labelling passengertrains, Blunsdon Road Crossing in pictures and letters - it will be missed!

Part two of Castles in traffic and the fourth part of traffic at Snow Hill are the major articles in this issue, in addition to John Lewis on the manufacture of gas for coach lighting. Two other delightful articles are Chris Turner recounting the story of Bob Ashton and his family at Brittania Crossing on the Kingswear Branch and Richard Watts recalling schoolboy memories of the Abingdon branch, featuring a shotgun, hot dogs, bangers and pagodas.

Part 2 of Worcester Shed and part 3 of goods operations Banbury continue from earlier issues while Stourport on Severn, banana traffic at Avonmouth and wartime on Hatton bank are new subjects.

Four main features in this issue, two delightful explorations of Liskeard and Newbury, junction stations set in very different locations, Tyesley Locomotives and their work in the Birmingham district and a third part of ROD locomotives in traffic. As my life passes by and the more I look at pictures such as those in this issue of Great Western Railway Journal, the more I find myself thinking of Adrian Vaughan's assertion; "end of steam, end of civilisation". Overly pessimistic for sure and I expect that the two are unconnected, but it makes you wonder...