Dick Richardson

Just when you think you've seen it all, something new pops up. The railways through Derbyshire's Peak District attracted photographers from the earliest days, and there have been many books published on the subject. (I've contributed to that pile myself.) And then I came across this book in a National Trust property just outside Derby, and I was struck by the fact that here were photographs, many of which I hadn't seen before.

Sadly, hardly any of the pictures are credited to a photographer, though it is quite possible that this information has been lost (although in the case of the few pictures I was familiar with, I would imagine that the information could be more easily available). But there are a number of pictures of station and locomotive shed staff which may well have been passed on down the generations and the photographer's name lost in the mists of time.

There are some interesting pictures; Great Longstone was little visited, but there are some interesting platform photographs of station furniture and staff; there are pictures of Royal Army Medical Corps soldiers at Hassop during World War I; some interesting pictures of a contractor's railway during reservoir construction at Hayfield; Monsal Dale station, which closed in the 1930s; and, perhaps most fascinating of all, a North Eastern Railway Fletcher '901' class 2-4-0 locomotive photographed at Rowsley. This picture is remarkable, but sadly the caption has almost no information. In pre-grouping days, such a 'foreign' locomotive would be almost unheard of; the engine is carrying a numbered headboard, suggesting that it might have been in charge of one of a number of special trains travelling to some event or other at nearby Chatsworth, but this is a subject for further research.

Sadly, the book is marred by some inaccuracies; one of the pictures of RAMC troops at Hassop is mis-identified as being taken during the Second World War; a photograph of Rowsley goods yard appears twice, and the locomotive designer Samuel Kirtley has his name mis-spelt. Still, it is an interesting volume and well worth acquiring for anyone with an interest in the railways of the area.… (mais)