The GWR Bristol to Taunton Line

Sorely neglected by railway authors, the line between Bristol and Taunton was part of the Bristol & Exeter Railway. A fascinating line, it was built to serve a moribund coalfi eld and a grand harbour scheme which proved a dismal failure. The line had many interesting features: two short dock branches, one of which had a telescopic bridge; several industrial concerns with their own locomotives; vital wartime factories; the busy holiday and excursion traffi c to Weston-super-Mare, which required a special station. Wind strength had its effect on the railway, as on the horse-worked Weston-super-Mare branch, when an adverse wind blew it was quicker to get out and walk. The line has also had more than its fair share of accidents and mishaps. The B&ER favoured express tank locomotives, some magnifi cent specimens with 9-foot-diameter fl angeless driving wheels. The human side is not to be ignored, however: there are details of navvies' lives and deaths, of a spat between Brunel and his resident engineer, and the daring robbery of a mail train. Colin G. Maggs, one of the country's leading railway historians, covers all these details and more in this gripping and well-researched story, illustrated with over 200 images.