This book describes one of Britain’s most scenic routes, the short branch line from St. Erth to St. Ives, which was the last broad gauge line to be built in the UK.

Published in July 2022 by Pen & Sword and written by Richard C. Long with a foreword by Tim Dunn, this hardback book measures around 28.6 cm x 22.4 cm, is 184 pages long, and has 90 colour and black-and-white illustrations and maps.

It has a published price of £25, and at the time of writing it can be obtained online from Pen & Sword for £22.50 and Amazon for £24.37.

Unlike most other branch lines the St Ives branch did not close in the 1960s and survives to this day.

This well-researched book describes how the railway enabled a town once renowned for the inescapable smell of fish to become one of the most UK’s popular tourist resorts.

With nine chapters, this book covers the entire history of the line. An excellent foreword by television presenter Tim Dunn is followed by Chapter 1 Early Proposals, which deals with early proposals in 1844 for a branch from St. Erth, and Chapter 2 Building the Railway which describes the construction of the four-miles line to the fishing port of St. Ives.

Chapter 3 The Route Described details how the line hugs the coast of St. Ives Bay via sand-dunes at Lelant, bracken-covered cliffs at Carbis Bay, to St. Ives where the terminus is high above the town.

The years between the line’s opening in 1877 until the first world war are described in Chapter 4 The Early Years, while Chapter 5 The Impact of Tourism looks at how tourism quickly became a major source of traffic, including day trips, holidays, especially to the Great Western Railway‘s Tregenna Castle Hotel overlooking St. Ives, and the effect on the line by the artist colony that grew up in and around the town.

Chapter 6 The Beeching Era describes how small steam locomotives were replaced by diesel multiple units, and increasing car ownership led to rumours about the line’s closure. Chapter 7 1970’s – the Age of the Car tells how a Park-and-Ride station at Lelant was opened to encourage car users to use the line.

Chapter 8 From ‘Skippers’ to ‘ Sprinters’  tells how different types of lightweight diesel units were tried but each encountered a range of problems, from curves being too tight to the age of the units.

The Privatisation Era in Chapter 9 describes the latest developments that have contributed to an amazing turnaround in the branch’s fortunes.

It is fitting that as the branch was the last one to be built in the broad-gauge era, the book includes a number of photographs of the time, such as the one on the left below showing St. Ives station high above the town. Standing on the Up platform at St. Erth is the milepost seen on the right below, denoting 321 miles from Paddington, but equally it could be counting down 3-2-1 to the start of one of Britain’s most scenic branch lines.

The broad-gauge theme appears again with the photograph below of one of the broad gauge locomotives that used to operate serviced on the line.

These pages also give a good indication of the level of detail in the book’s narrative.

The Great Western Railway’s publicity department is to be congratulated for the imaginative poster seen below that it produced to encourage tourism to the line. For many years services on the branch were entrusted to Small Prairies, such as the one on the right waiting at St. Erth.

The coast-hugging nature of the line is clearly shown by the photos below, while the photo at the bottom right gives a good impression of how St. Ives station stands high above the town.

After the end of steam, services on the line were in the hands of diesel multiple units, one of which was repainted in the ‘chocolate and cream’ livery of the erstwhile Great Western Railway.

This book excels with plenty of details, from its inception in 1877 to the present day, and is well illustrated throughout. It tells the story of the rise, fall, and rebirth of the line in broadly chronological fashion, and has obviously been well researched.

This book tells the full story of the line from the initial proposals, through the broad-gauge era, to the present day. With a line just four miles long it would have been a challenge to select a good collection of photographs, but the author has done a fine job with a commendable selection that together help to tell the story of the line and shows why it is so popular.

Written in an easy-to-read style that is full of historical details but not bogged down with minute technical details, the book provides a detailed, historical, and photographic record of the line from its beginnings to the present day.

Details of the planning and construction of the line are covered in detail, supported by historical photographs, maps, and plans. Plans in 1965 to close the line are covered in detail, as well as the ensuing inquiries and eventual reprieve to become today’s success story. These are followed by a good description of post-1970s rationalisation and post-privatisation.

The reproduction is superb, enhanced by the chapter titles being included in the appropriate headings and the inclusion of a detailed index. The only real criticism is that because the branch is an ideal length for railway modellers, there are no track plans.

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

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