Narrow Gauge Railways: England and the Fifteen Inch (1989)

 This evocative book describes six narrow gauge railways visited and photographed during their heyday in the late 1920s, when Humphrey Household was employed by the London & North Eastern Railway, and a seventh first visited in 1949.

In particular, he traces the history and development of the 15-inch gauge pioneered by Sir Arthur Heywood and first used at exhibitions and holiday resorts. He describes how it came to be adopted for the carriage of passengers and freight, and how it developed successfully on the two popular tourist lines of today, one of which has been a pioneer in the adoption of new methods of train control. Nostalgic pictures from the early days of these two lines - the Ravenglass & Eskdale amid the glorious scenery of the Cumbrian Mountains and dales, and the Romney Hythe & Dymchurch, a line designed and equipped as the perfect example of a large scale model railway and built across Romney Marsh - are complemented by more recent pictures of these two survivors.

Also recalled are memories of four abandoned lines: the much-loved and well remembered Lynton & Barnstaple; the little known and short lived Sand Hutton Light Railway, from its beginnings as a 15-inch 'pleasure' line to its use as an 18-inch estate railway; and the almost forgotten Harrogate Gas Company's line and the Reservoir Construction Railway in Colsterdale, North Riding.

The companion volume to Narrow Gauge Railways: Wales and the Western Front, this absorbing book, packed with anecdote and historical detail and illustrated with over 120 original photographs, will appeal to all Humphrey Household's regular readers and will win him many new ones.

Hardback with dust jacket, 178 pages, black & white photographs