NARROW GAUGE RAILWAYS 1950-1965 Steam Rail History NEW Colour Photographs Album

From the wilds of the west of Ireland, through the mountains of North Wales to the rolling countryside of the east of England ironstone fields, the narrow gauge railway provided an invaluable service for around a hundred years. Valuable minerals were carried from quarries and mines to seaports for onward transport, whilst remote areas that were without any transport connections were connected to the outside world for a fraction of the cost of a full size railway, their inhabitants no longer isolated from the benefits of travel and trade. However, as roads improved and the motor vehicle gained the upper hand, this way of life began to come under increasing threat and by the 1950s the narrow gauge systems that remained faced a bleak future. A few were fortunate to attract the attention of a new breed, \u2018preservationists\u2019, pioneers in a new field who initially just wanted to save something of what was about to be lost forever but who also recognised the potential of the lines t!