In the Tracks of the "Ace"

Following the boundary changes the WR took control of the lines west of Wilton from January 1963 - they would now have control of both the former main line and branches from Salisbury to Exeter as well as the numerous SR routes west of Exeter. Like the famous train the destinations it once served were also now threatened. Changing transport needs allied to the oft quoted phrase for the time, 'profit before service' meant the rural communities once served by the railway would soon witness their rail links severed. Whole areas were left with no alternative but to use road transport, although little more than a generation later the wisdom of these earlier decisions is at last now being questioned. Drawing on material most of which has never been seen before, Jeffery Grayer - author of the highly successful 'Sabotaged and Defeated' volume, has put together a remarkable album, certain to invoke memories.