£15.00
By David Occomore. Published by David Occomore Books, softback, 108 pages with B/W photos and maps.
The Settle & Carlisle Railway was built to a main line standard for fast express trains using largely the same construction techniques as the two previous routes through the northern fells over the previous 30 years. Picks and shovels, horses and carts, dynamite rather than gun powder plus copious amounts of (relatively) cheap man-power were used to build tunnels, viaducts and embankments of some considerable scale over harsh terrain often against the backdrop of atrocious weather in order to provide better gradients for fast running.
But who were the engineers and contractors responsible for building the railway – where did they learn their trade and acquire their expertise and what other railway projects were they connected with? This book seeks to provide answers to some of these questions by using contemporary accounts from newspapers and books all written at the time the line was built.
Available on back-order
