TO many of us of a certain age, journeys to holiday coastal destinations usually meant travel by train to the West Country, and thus were by courtesy of BR’s Western Region, or for those of an even more certain age, the GWR, writes Geoff Courtney.
Travelling on the London Midland Region to access the seaside was not a rarity, but neither was it the norm, unless perhaps to Blackpool, and so this latest publication from the combo of Transport Treasury Publishing and Jeffery Grayer may lead some to fear that the contents may be somewhat lacking. But fear ye not, for under the stated aim of‘reviving the memories of yesterday,’the three main coastal areas of the Midland Region – North Wales, Lancashire and the Cumbrian coast bordering the Lake District – provide enough substance to satisfy the appetite of steam enthusiasts. It goes without saying, but I will say it anyway, that it helps if that enthusiasm includes an interest in William Stanier’s ‘Black Fives,’for they are inevitably the pictorial and Princess Coronation Pacific No. 46235
