The Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Light Railway, was one of the lines managed and operated by Colonel Holman Fred Stephens from his office in Salford Terrace in Tonbridge Kent.

It was a revival of the long disused Potteries Shrewsbury & North Wales Railway, a railway that went bankrupt shortly after opening in the mid 1860s and was left derelict for forty years.

The railway reopened in 1911 to much local rejoicing, however the company was in financial difficulties by the 1920s and withdrew its passenger services in the early 1930s.

During the Second World War the army took over the railway, constructing ammunition and stores depots along its entire length.

After the war the railway continued to be operated by the army until closed in 1960, when it was handed over to the Western Region of British Railways for demolition.

The author has researched the history of this fascinating bucolic railway over many years. In this new book he presents much previously unpublished information and many fascinating insights into the railway’s complicated history.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Acknowledgements and Sources
• Chapter 1 Setting the scene – the mania and the railway’s origins
• Chapter 2 The Potteries, Shrewsbury & North Wales Railway
• Chapter 3 Receivership and abandonment
• Chapter 4 The Shropshire Railways
• Chapter 5 Another receivership
• Chapter 6 The Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Light Railway
• Chapter 7 Trains Running Again
• Chapter 8 The inter-war years
• Chapter 9 The War Office Railway
• Chapter 10 Nationalisation, the finale, and closure
• APPENDICES
  • Appendix 1 Acts of Parliament
  • Appendix 2 Locomotives and rolling stockAPPENDICES
  • Appendix 3 Potteries, Shrewsbury & North Wales Railway and the Shropshire Railways – capital
  • Appendix 4 Potteries, Shrewsbury & North Wales Railway – statement of receipts, etc. 1866–80
  • Appendix 5 Potteries, Shrewsbury & North Wales Railway – revenue account 1874–75 – extracts for half year ending 30 June
  • Appendix 6 Potteries, Shrewsbury & North Wales Railway – traffic and receipts 1866–79
  • Appendix 7 Potteries, Shrewsbury & North Wales Railway – employees
  • Appendix 8 Shropshire Railways – estimate of expenses, 1888 Act
  • Appendix 9 Shropshire Railways – finance requirement 1889
  • Appendix 10 Shropshire Railways – estimate of expenses, 1891 Act
  • Appendix 11 North Shropshire Light Railway – estimate of expenses
  • Appendix 12 Shropshire Light Railways – estimate of expenses
  • Appendix 13 Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Light Railway – traffic and receipts 1913–38
  • Appendix 14 Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Light Railway – traffic handled 1938–40
  • Appendix 15 Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Light Railway – War Office survey of facilities 1940
  • Appendix 16 Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Light Railway – approximate mileage and method of working 1940
  • Appendix 17 Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Light Railway – rolling stock survey by War Office personnel, October 1940
  • Appendix 18 Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Light Railway – employees subject to transfer to War Department, January 1941
  • Appendix 19 Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Light Railway – passes issued to employees, July 1941
  • Appendix 20 Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Light Railway – tonnage and receipts 1939–47
  • Appendix 21 War Department – tonnage and receipts, 1939–47
• Bibliography