The Cleobury Mortimer and Ditton Priors Light Railway, by M.R.C. Price
Book published by The Oakwood Press in 1995, 88 pages. Paperback (N6385)
This book tells the fascinating history of this unusual railway which lay in rural southern Shropshire. The railway’s course runs parallel with the Severn Valley Railway, which lies to the east of it. The junction was Cleobury Mortimer which lay on the GWR’s Tenbury Wells-Bewdley line. Ditton Priors, appeared on the railway map at a rather late stage, the line was not opened until 1908. Originally the line was worked by two Manning, Wardle 0-6-0STs. The line was absorbed into the GWR at the Grouping in 1922. The main freight traffic was stone from the quarries in this part of the Clee Hills. Passenger traffic ceased in 1938, and goods in 1939. However, the railway was not yet set to disappear into oblivion. At the outbreak of the Second World War a Royal Naval Armament Depot was opened at Ditton Priors, ensuring the line’s survival into the 1960s. At this stage the pannier tank steam locomotives were fitted with their distinctive ‘balloon stack’ spark arresters. The RNAD also had diesel locomotives of its own.
The condition of the book is generally very good. The covers are clean and bright, the spine is intact, and all pages are clean, intact, unblemished and tightly bound.
| Condition | New |