Today we launch Volume 2 of our Middleton Railway History.

Written by Vice President Ian Smith, who has known the railway since it was first opened by volunteers, the book charts the railway’s progress from its earliest days to the vibrant heritage railway it is today.

Why a history of the MRT now? The main reason is that many of the pioneer members who founded the organisation are sadly no longer with us as we celebrated our 60th anniversary and that pioneering band of volunteers is getting ever smaller. And the story of standard gauge railway preservation would be incomplete without the story of the very first standard gauge railway to open.

The history of the Middleton Railway Trust actually begins in 1958, which was the Bicentenary Year of the original 1758 Act of Parliament.

The book is available now from our online shop, and from our Moor Road headquarters in Leeds.