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Publications - Newcomen books
Books currently out of print
- Early Railways 1 (published 2001)
- Early Railways 3 (published 2006)
- Early Limestone Railways (published 2001)
Early Railways
This book, edited by Andy Guy and Jim Rees, contains twenty-two important and previously unpublished papers from the First International Early Railways Conference (September 2001), examining aspects of the railway from 600 BC to 1840 AD.
These new studies reaffirm the railway's origins in the classical world, and provide original research revealing the complex, fascinating and inspiring story behind the pioneers of steam locomotion and mechanisation.
It includes major papers on:
The book was sponsored by the Newcomen Society, Beamish - the North of England Open Air Museum, The Locomotion Trust, The Institute of Railway Studies and the North-East England History Institute.
Early Railways, published by the Newcomen Society, price £29.50.
This volume contains 17 papers from the Third International Early Railways Conference which was held in the National Railway Museum, York, in September, 2004. The conference theme was easily determined by the bicentenary of Richard Trevithick's achievement at Penydarren and by the happy coincidence of the quatercentenary (or thereabouts) of the first recorded use of a waggonway in Great Britain.
After the keynote address by Andrew Scott, head of the National Railway Museum, the papers are divided into three groups: history, development and mechanical. In the first group, Dr Michael Lewis poses two major questions about the history of the waggonway in his paper, 'Reflections on 1604.'
In his paper, Colin Mountford sheds light on the Hetton colliery railway, designed by George Stephenson for steam locomotives and largely ignored by railway historians.
In the section on development, Bill Withun reveals the decision-making involved in the abandonment of the Stourbridge Lion and Winifred Stokes discusses the importance of the north east viewers in the development of early railways and locomotives.
In the mechanical section, Jim Rees and Andy Guy suggest that current perceptions about Richard Trevithick are flawed. In the same section Peter Davidson and Dr John Glithero analyse the performance of the three locomotives at the original Rainhill trials in 1829 and compare them with the performance of their replicas at the restaged trials in 2002.
The book The volume was published by subscription by Six Martlets Publishing on behalf of the conference sponsors: Beamish, the North of England Open Air Museum, The Institute of Railways Studies and Transport Hisory, The Locomotion Trust, The Newcomen Society, The Railway and Canal Historical Society.
Early Railways 3, published by Six Martlets Publishing, price £29.50. Out of print as of November 2006.
An investigation into the development of railways which served the iron furnaces of South Wales. This thorough and thoughtful work is essential reading for all those interested in Britain’s early industrial history.
Background In contrast to their maturity, the formative period of railways has received relatively little attention from historians, and their permanent way has been particularly neglected. When the first railways were built in the area, they still consisted of traditional wooden rails. But by 1787 South Wales had pioneered edge rails made entirely of iron. The resulting railroads dominated the local scene until around 1800, when they were largely superseded by tramroads with angled plates. The region, having experimented with these tramplates since 1788, only a year after their invention by John Curr at Sheffield, now developed the tramroad into its highest form with a complex variety of innovative designs.
The book His detailed investigations are set out clearly and logically in chapters on Abersychan, the Blaenavon area, South Clydach and Clydach, Disgwylfa, Llangattock, Trevil, Twynau Gwynion, Morlais (East and West), Gurnos, Penderyn and Glyn Neath. Conclusions draw the whole story together with outline drawings of track types, tables and summaries.
Based on documentary sources and on very extensive fieldwork, the book is illustrated with 21 maps and 117 meticulous drawings by Michael Blackmore, and by 43 photographs of present day features and recent discoveries.
Early Limestone Railways, published by the Newcomen Society (2001), price £27.50. Out of print as of March 2007.
Out of print as of March 2003
Early Railways 3
edited by Michael Bailey
The papers are, in the main, richly illustrated and the format is the same as the first two Early Railwaysvolumes, so that the three make a handsome set. The book has 320 pages,
Early Limestone Railways
by Dr John van Laun, with a foreword by Sir Neil Cossons
In the second half of the eighteenth century South Wales attracted an iron industry which, from the 1790s to 1840s, was the largest in Britain. To feed the furnaces with raw materials and to carry finished products to the ports there developed a network of railways more extensive than any except perhaps in the North eastern Coalfield.
The Author sketches the industrial background of the area and gives an overview of how railway pioneers used innovation and sheer hard work to carve out a place for themselves in the industrial history of the world. He examines the history of railways in the area and especially the evolution of their permanent way from about 1786, and offers for the first time a detailed account of the earliest all-iron edge rails in the world and a provisional typology of plate rails as a contribution to an essential part of early railway history.
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