Railways Around Rugby: Pre-Grouping to Rail Blue tells the story of change on the railway network in the Rugby area, covering a period spanning from before the Grouping of the Railways in 1923 to the BR Rail Blue era of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, The London & North Western Railway, The Great Central Railway and the Midland Railway all operated in and around Rugby. Rugby was served by two stations, Rugby and Rugby Central. The latter closed in 1969 and was an important railway junction on what became the West Coast Main Line, with routes to Birmingham and the North West and Scotland in one direction and to London Euston and Northampton in the other. The Great Central route from Sheffield and the East Midlands ran to London at Marylebone. By the 1960s, the West Coast Main Line was electrified around Rugby and the Great Central closed in the same decade, as well as the lines to Leamington, Leicester and Peterborough and the engine sheds at Rugby. In this book author Robert Hendry portrays the changing face of the railways around Rugby, utilising a wealth of rare and previously unpublished images.
