Beckton’s
Railways and Locomotives
by Dave Marden
Those who lived in the
era when town gas was produced in local gasworks will remember them as
devilishly grim and grimy places, covered in a film of coal dust and emitting
pungent odours. But, to enthusiasts of
industrial railways, they were sheer heaven.
Many had their own private lines for transporting coal for the process
of extracting gas from it, and some had both standard- and narrow-gauge
systems. In general, gasworks ceased
production in the mid- to late-1960s, when natural gas from the North Sea began
to be pumped ashore and distributed around the national network.
There can be few
railway enthusiasts who have not heard of Beckton gasworks, as it was the
biggest in Europe with a huge internal railway operated by numerous and
distinctive cut-down locomotives running throughout both the gasworks and the
adjacent products factory. Beckton’s
railways lasted for a century, during which time around a hundred locomotives
came and went, working ceaselessly around the clock to provide heat and energy
for London.
Beckton’s railway
system and its locomotives are all covered in the book, as are details of the
neighbouring outfall and sewage works that had its own railway, and saw a host
of contractor’s engines that were engaged there over the years. Beckton’s Railways and
Locomotives gives a marvellous insight to this
fascinating aspect of London’s industrial past.
Uniform with London’s Dock
Railways Part 1 and London’s Dock Railways Part
2
“Thoroughly
recommended” SLS Journal
Softback: 136 pages with 160 photographs and maps
273 x 215mm
978-1-905505-38-8
£17.95
|