A new picture book has been launched by former Chairman of Bath and North East Somerset Council and local railway heritage expert, Neil Butters, showing fascinating photographs never seen before of Bath’s railways in the last years of the era of steam.

The book includes a historical introduction and is fully captioned. It draws from the remarkable collection of the late John Way, who had bought a house for his family right next to the former Somerset and Dorset Railway line at Egerton Road, Bath.

The book has been produced by Stenlake Publishing and shows many fascinating full-size photographs of both the Somerset and Dorset and former Great Western lines. These include a fine shot of the last-ever Pines Express before diversion away via Reading in 1962.

It was launched at the recent dinner held at Green Park Station to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the closure of the station and the former Midland and Somerset and Dorset Railway lines that ran into it.

The book is entitled: Bath’s Railways ? in photographs by J.C. Way and is obtainable from local bookshops. It includes a Foreword by John Way’s three daughters ? Janet, Anne and Susan. Anne is shortly to appear in a Michael Portillo programme about the line, which will feature some of the photos.

Two further, similar, books are in the pipeline ? covering Exeter and Penzance.

Neil Butters’ involvement with the nation’s railways has now spanned fifty years. It began with a holiday job with the Motorail services in 1966 at Kensington Olympia ? where special trains ran to Wembley Stadium for the World Cup, and steam trains ran to Clapham Junction. He later became a Traffic Management Trainee in BR’s West of England Division, Assistant Area Manager at Swindon, then rising many posts later to run The Grove Management Centre, near Watford ? the former headquarters of the LMS Railway during World War II.

From 1985?87, he was seconded to work as an Assistant Director of Bath Enterprise Ltd, at Green Park Station ? where he helped small businesses grow and even sold tickets. The latter years of his career were spent as Heritage Officer for the British Railways Board and Secretary to the (national) Railway Heritage Committee.

He is currently a Member of the Science Museum Group’s Railway Heritage Designation Advisory Board ? the successor body to the Railway Heritage Committee.