| 150 years ago, in 1859, the first train departed from the new Fisherton Station in Salisbury for Gillingham on the initial stretch of the Salisbury & Yeovil Railway line. This was later incorporated into the Southern Railway, and eventually connected to Exeter.
Sadly, the stations at Wilton, Dinton and Semley have all now closed but Tisbury and Gillingham remain in active use and this book celebrates the history of this section of the line, which passes through some of southern England's prettiest countryside.
There are many photographs of locomotives and railway buildings, of course, but also numerous shots of the more intimate side of railway life - the men and women who ran the line, and often came from families with generations of railway service, are seen here at work and play, posed and relaxed, in uniform and out.
And to accompany the images there are several stories written by people connected with the railway. Drivers and firemen (including the first female driver to work on British Rail), guards and signalmen, not forgetting passengers, including two who met as commuters and describe their growing romance and resulting marriage.
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