CAMWELL'S BIRMINGHAM: One Man's Transport Perspective

The front cover shows Six Ways Aston in July 1949, one of hundreds of junctions you will encounter in this book where alterations have transformed the scene beyond recognition. The photograph is taken from the open front balcony of tramcar 343 in Lozells Road and the back cover shows Steelhouse Lane taken from the middle of the crossroads at Bull Street and Snow Hill. William Arthur Camwell, born 1906 in Handsworth, known as 'Cam', joined the Light Railway Transport League in 1938, later to become the Light Rail Transport Association. Apart from his interest in trams and trains, he also took an interest in motor buses, trolly buses, aircraft and canals and also served the railway cause through his membership of the Stephenson Locomotive Society. His greatest memorial is his photography of transport subjects. After securing a Rolleiflex camera in 1934 he was able to record the transport scene in a manner which few have equalled in atmosphere, clarity and scenic interest. Here we can enjoy the earliest Birmingham photographs with views of the Harborne Branch Railway, long forgotten stations, the tramway network in a vast map, contemporary advertising, termini such as Perry Barr, old public houses, services used during football matches, the Dudley Terminus, the closure of depots and tramway fleets, superb details of wooden buildings long since gone, coach trains by number and trains right through to 1973 like the Western Champion from Walsall to Birmingham New Street. 112pp, over 200 quality archive photographs in a Birmingham Transport Historical Group publication.