Shed Side in South Lancashire and Cheshire

In the 1950s and 1960s south Lancashire and Cheshire was criss-crossed by a web of railway lines, servicing the various needs of local industries. The region was a haven for railway enthusiasts who pursued the hundreds of steam workhorses based at British Railways depots in 'chemical towns' such as Warrington, Widnes, Wigan and Sutton Oak, besides Southport and Northwich. While these facilities appeared less glamorous than larger counterparts in Liverpool or Manchester, the stories of the engines, trains and the men who were based at the depots in these towns was no less fascinating. Shed Side in South Lancashire and Cheshireprovides a fascinating portrait of the daily operations of the freight and passenger trains of the region during the final decade of Britain's steam era. It evokes a period of grimy, metal-clattering, smoke-filled industry, and of an era forever etched in our industrial heritage.

Kenn Pearce spent his youth in Liverpool and nearby Widnes, where a gift of an Observer's Book of Locomotives aroused untapped interest in British Railways in the late 1950s. Together with like-minded schoolmates, he explored the grimy, sulphurous but enchanting 'steam sheds' that serviced locomotives in and around Merseyside. Now resident in South Australia, he has forged a career in journalism and had a family. Throughout his interest in railways and in particular steam has been a continuing theme.