From Gloucester to Ledbury: The Daffodil Line

From Gloucester to Ledbury: The Daffodil Line

Until summer of 1959 railway travellers between Gloucester and Ledbury had the choice of going via Ross-on-Wye and through parts of the Forest of Dean and of the River Wye Valley or by a route through Gloucestershire crossing into Herefordshire just south of Ledbury. The latter route, opened in 1885 and closed to passengers in 1959 and then to goods in 1964, is the subject of this new title. The name ’The Daffodil Line’ stems from the Sunday excursions on the line in the spring when the wild daffodils of the ‘Golden Triangle’ (formed by Newent, Dymock and Kempley) were in bloom. The book is divided into three chapters beginning with a historical outline, then a chapter on the operation of the line, with finally a description of a journey on the line from Gloucester to Ledbury in later years. The illustrations, typically of an Oakwood title, include photographs, maps, timetables and diagrams.