For many years I have been working on the ultimate transport guide to the Beamish collection.

This is still some way off, and other books will jump the queue, but thanks to the involvement of Roger Darsley and Middleton Press, there is now a book to cover the collections and give a historic overview of the Beamish railed collections and development of the tramway and railways over the last 40 years. Middleton Press has published our book ‘Beamish – 40 Years on Rails’ as part of the Great Railway Eras series and it is superb! They have done a wonderful job, like Roger, in bringing this, and my chaotic and long winded initial drafts to fruition. The book is mostly in colour and features the developments at Rowley, the Colliery, Waggonway and Electric Tramway along with other activities (such as narrow gauge, visits away and the trolleybuses). Each area is covered, mapped and follows the developments in chronological order. There are about 49 tramway photos, the rest are railway, so a good balance is featured. The J21 and other engines that have left also play a part in the story.

We should have it on sale in the shop shortly (£15.95) or it is available from your usual source of Middleton Press titles…