The railway Guides

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Phil Arnott
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The railway Guides

Post by Phil Arnott »

With the development of the railways over a hundred years ago, the railway companies were keen to encourage more passengers onto the railways. One group identified as potential passengers were anglers and a number of well known anglers were approached to write angling guides which described the fishing accessible on the various routes. The importance of anglers to the railway companies can be gauged by the fact that Sheffield anglers had a ticket office based at their club premises.

Some time ago I put together a list of the guides issued by these early railway companies. I thought this might be of interest to some forum members. If there are any omissions I would be pleased to have them pointed out.

I have copies of some of these guides* and will post pictures if there is some interest.



“Haunts and Hints for Anglers” freshwater angling (Great Western Railway 1925

“Haunts and Hints for Anglers” Sea angling (Great Western Railway) 1925 *

“Fishing in the South” (Southern Railway Company) J. W. G. Tomkin 1935 *

“Salmon and trout fishing served by London and North Eastern Railway” - Jock Scott

“The Rail and the Rod” F. Barnes Greville (fenell) 1867

“Salmon and Trout Rivers served by the LNER” circa 1923 Rev, Joseph Adams “Corrigeen”

“Railway and Sporting Guide to the Highlands” various dates circa 1923-29?

“The Border Angler” a guide to the tweed and its tributaries and other streams commanded by the North British Railway,1858 James Glass Bertram

“Twixt Humber and Tweed” (North Eastern Railway) 1913 J H R bazley (coarse)* + F G Aflalo W C Plats (sea), F M Walbran (game)

“Guide to Angling Resorts Great Northern Railway” 1909 J H R Bazley *

“Fishing Resorts on the L & N W Railway” circa 1911 Philip Geen *

Angling Resorts near London the Thames and the Lea 1878 Wheeldon J P (Great Western Railway)

Wandler

Re: The railway Guides

Post by Wandler »

What a fascinating connection between rail and rod! These must be very interesting books to collect.

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Northern Eel
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Re: The railway Guides

Post by Northern Eel »

I've heard about these before, I'm sure I saw a TV program about this quite recently, an angler travelling around the UK by train with a bag & a rod fishing various places mentioned in these guides, I can't remember the name of it but it was on discovery shed I think.
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Mark
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Re: The railway Guides

Post by Mark »

Thank you for that Phil. :Thumb:
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Olly
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Re: The railway Guides

Post by Olly »

One for sale at Coch y Bonddu books!

Very interesting as the old records of the Society I belong to shows how they traveled down from London to the Dorset Stour by train, then by carriage/cart to go to the river & Inn!

Paddex

Re: The railway Guides

Post by Paddex »

and some of them online

"Hunting and fishing in the South" (Southern Railway Company), 1904
https://archive.org/details/huntingfishingin00sout

“The Rail and the Rod” Greville F. (Barnes) Fennell, 1867
https://archive.org/details/railandrodortou00fenngoog

“The Border Angler” a guide to the tweed and its tributaries and other streams commanded by the North British Railway, James Glass Bertram, 1858
https://archive.org/details/borderanglerguid00bertrich

"Angling Resorts near London the Thames and the Lea" J. P. Wheeldon, 1878 (Great Western Railway)
https://archive.org/details/anglingresortsn00wheegoog

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Walkerburt
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Re: The railway Guides

Post by Walkerburt »

ImageImageImageImage

Two Scottish railway guides, and I’ve included some land agents as well

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Jeremy Croxall
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Re: The railway Guides

Post by Jeremy Croxall »

What fabulous illustrations!
"Oh for want of rod and line I'd fish this stream serene, sublime".

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Walkerburt
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Re: The railway Guides

Post by Walkerburt »

Jeremy Croxall wrote: Mon Jan 21, 2019 10:33 pm What fabulous illustrations!
To be honest, Jeremy, that’s what first attracted me to them, and they’ve become a collection within a collection. They can’t have been very economical to print (relatively small batches), and posting would have been steep even then.

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Beresford
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Re: The railway Guides

Post by Beresford »

Northern Eel wrote: Thu Oct 31, 2013 8:28 pm I've heard about these before, I'm sure I saw a TV program about this quite recently, an angler travelling around the UK by train with a bag & a rod fishing various places mentioned in these guides, I can't remember the name of it but it was on discovery shed I think.
I'll trawl You Tube for that – it sounds fabulous. I wrote a piece for Waterlog about rivers dancing with railway lines but never submitted it in the end.

The railways had a good line in commissioning some fabulous illustrators, painters and designers. Some of their output is very much of its time and some slightly ahead.
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