NCC Saga: The LMS in Northern Ireland.
Author: ARNOLD, R. M.
Newtown Abbot: David & Charles, 1973. 231 pages. Illustrated. Hardback.
“Upon its formation in 1923, the LMS inherited, in the north-east of Ireland, the former Belfast & Northern Counties Railway, known since 1903 as the Midland Railway (Northern Counties Committee).
NCC Saga is concerned with the standard gauge (5ft 3in) section of this railway and especially its main line. A ‘tale of heroes’ indeed, this is a railway book with a difference. The author draws on his notes and records, gathered during thirty years of travel over the railway, to provide a story centering around the NCC train crews, the engines they drove and the way the railway served the public—the very stuff of the day-to-day operation of a distinctive railway system. Many other aspects of travel over this efficient and colourful railway over the thirty years up to the steam withdrawal in 1970 are also given detailed coverage, with humour and understanding. Warm in his appreciation of the NCC as it was at the beginning of his story, the author makes no attempt at a dispassionate assessment of the economics of the diesel takeover, preferring to dwell on the gallant fight to maintain steam at its brilliant pre-war level against the inevitable decision to fall into line with Derby developments. Over ninety different engines ran on the NCC during this period and each is given individual attention.”
ISBN: 0715356445
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