Eastern Electric Author:John Glover Although overshadowed by the developments on the Southern Railway and its constituents in terms of the development and scale of the use of electric traction, there were significant pockets of investment by the constituent companies of the LNER which were equally significant. Most notable of these were the two schemes produced by the North Easter... more »n Railway - the Tyneside suburban services and that serving the heavy industry of Tees-side. The next major scheme, the pioneering main line scheme represented by the plan to electrify the Manchester-Sheffield via Woodhead main line, was started by the LNER but only completed in the mid-1950s; this plan was to see, for the first time in Britain, the conversion of a heavily-used main line to overhead electrification and was to set the pattern for developments over much of the railway network. The LNER also started the conversion of its suburban services out of Liverpool Street, a process that was continued by British Rail. By the time that BR was broken up by privatisation, much of the railway network of Eastern England had been electrified, bringing electric services to York, Norwich, Ipswich and Doncaster for the first time. In Eastern Electric, John Glover examines the history of electric services throughout Eastern England. Starting with the pioneering work of the NER, he examines the importance attached by the LNER to its Woodhead and suburban schemes, before discussing in depth the various schemes brought to fruition under BR. Apart from the main line schemes, he also examines other systems, such as the Great Central Railway's Grimsby & Immingham line, which closed only in 1961, and the Tyne & Wear Metro as successor to the old Tyneside suburban services. Alongside the author's erudite text the book is supported by some 175 illustrations portraying the various schemes and rolling stock associated with them.« less