Written by Bob Shorland-Ball and published by Pen & Sword in November 2021, this hardback book measures around 21.59 cm x 27.94 cm, has 144 pages and 200 colour & black and white illustrations, maps, & track diagrams. It has a published price of £25.00, but at the time of writing Pen & Sword are offering it for £18.75 and it can be purchased from Amazon for £18.75.

When reviewing a book, I always start by looking at the author’s credentials on the publisher’s website. Unfortunately, this one didn’t inspire confidence when I read that “In this book he explores a cross-country railway patchwork from the Midlands to Lowestoft, and Norfolk seaside resorts en route”. I wondered what possible connection there could be with North East Wales and Deeside.

Even though the book’s title is Railways and Industries in North East Wales and Deeside, the majority of the book concentrates on the area’s industries. There are passing references to some of the railways in the area, but they are in the context of the industries that gave rise to them, and it would have been more appropriate if the title was An Industrial History of North East Wales and Deeside,

Chapter 5 describes the entrepreneurs who developed the area’s industrial resources that were described in chapter 4, but there is no clear distinction within the chapter of the different entrepreneurs.

Similarly in chapter 6, which covers narrow gauge mineral tramways, standard gauge industrial, and passenger lines, the book would have benefitted from having separate headings for each type of line.

Many of the illustrations leave much to be desired, with several of the illustrations having a pronounced colour cast or having been colourised to print in sepia rather than black and white. This is clearly evident in Figure 01 which is supposed to show a milepost, but because of the colour cast it has been lost in the background.

There are a host of maps in the book, but many of them are similar to each other, such as Fig 32 which is a copy of Fig 30 but supposedly with additional information, although it still shows the same information as on the previous map, whilst Fig 52 is simply a coloured version of Fig 05.

Other oddities include: Fig 35 which refers to a CPAT report, although there is nothing in the book to explain that CPAT stands for The Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust; Fig 96 which is annotated to show the Up line to Chester but has an arrow pointing to a nearby road; and Fig 146 which refers to Holywell Junction station being on the Chester to Holywell Station.., but should refer to the Chester to Holyhead line.

Disused lines in the Brymbo and Wrexham areas are shown on Fig 144, but there is no accompanying text to show the closure dates and the map is basically a copy of Fig 66. It would have been more useful if the map only showed lines that are currently open.

My impression is that very little attention was paid to proofreading the final draft, such as several instances of Edward Watkin, the ‘Railway King’, being wrongly referred to as Watkins, and Brymbo East station being referred to as Brymbo General.

Although most of the railway lines in the area have now closed, there is very little discussion of the Connah’s Quay to Wrexham line and the line from Shotton to Prestatyn where it meets the North Wales coast line, both of which are still open and have an hourly train service each way. With “Railways” prominent in the book’s title, it seems very strange that there are no photographs showing train services along either of those lines.

For some reason, Fig 04 seen below left shows the line between Connah’s Quay and Chester Northgate as running north to south, rather than the geographically-correct west to east. The caption to Fig 05 opposite says that it “illustrates why the WM&CQR was built and why it offered great minerals potential”, but other than an iron works and lime works, it appears to be devoid of anything or anywhere that could be a source of minerals.

Why these pages below have been produced with a sepia tint seems odd, as it has impaired their clarity.

Poor proof reading is clearly evident at the lower-left. The text above the caption to Fig 75 refers to The Railway Correspondence Transport Society, and the caption R&CTS” when the correct titles are The Railway Correspondence And Travel Society and RCTS. Again, the caption below the ticket shown in Fig 74c refers to Fig 47a when it should be Fig 74a.

There is nothing outstanding about the photo at top-right, yet it is a direct copy of Fig 20 complete with the inset, but the date in Fig 20 quotes the date as September 1963 whereas here it is September 1961.

The cut-away diagram below left illustrates well the book’s emphasis on industry.

There are very few details or photographs of the area’s main line railways or the current railway scene. Despite the book’s title, and with a photograph of a Class 66 locomotive prominent on the dust cover, the photographs below taken over 40 years ago are the only representatives of the modern age.

In summary, this is a detailed insight into the industries of northeast Wales and how the ready supply of raw materials were key to their expansion. However, despite the book’s title, there are very few details or photographs of the area’s main line railways or the current railway scene. There are many errors in the text and diagrams that should have been picked up during proof reading. Given the large number of locations mentioned in the text, a serious omission is a lack of an index. Recommended for anyone interested in the area’s industrial heritage.

The book is available to purchase from Amazon and from Pen & Sword.

We would like to thank Pen & Sword for providing RailAdvent with a copy of the book for review.