At its annual book awards ceremony held at the Abbey House Hotel, Barrow-in-Furness on 26 April 2019, the Railway and Canal Historical Society acclaimed Mike's book An Illustrated History of the Port of Hull and its Railways as the POPULAR TRANSPORT BOOK OF THE YEAR. Mike is seen here being presented with a certificate to mark the occasion by the society's President, Grahame Boyes.
This is the third Irwell Press book written by Mike on ports and railways having previously covered King's Lynn and Goole. His latest book explores Hull's docks and their railways, describing and graphically illustrating the history of the port and its railways from the opening of Queen's Dock in 1778 until the present day.
Mike Fell, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, was in charge of the Port of Hull for sixteen years from 1987 until 2003 and previously was a stevedoring operations manager at the port for three years from 1977 to 1979.
One of the book's chief aims is to dispel the widespread notion that Hull was only a fishing port. The fishing industry was once very important to the city of Hull but it actually formed only a small part of the port's overall commercial activities. Hull's success was founded on its ability to offer excellent facilities to increasingly larger ships which traded worldwide with a great variety of cargoes and the export of coal from South Yorkshire, all of which arrived by train.
Mike said: "Hull is the largest and most important of the ports I have been associated with and it seems entirely appropriate that it should complete my trilogy. I hope the book will be a catalyst for others to research more detailed aspects of the port's past. I am very grateful to Hull City Council for making available the Hull Maritime Museum for the book launch. As the former headquarters of the Hull Dock Company, it was once the epicentre of the port's commercial activity and is a superb venue for the launch".
Councillor Marjorie Brabazon, Chair of Hull Culture and Leisure Limited, said: "We are delighted to host the launch of Mike's book and his latest work which focuses on such a vital part of Hull's maritime past, present and future and are extremely grateful for the wonderful gesture of donating the profits from the sales of his book to help promote and preserve Hull's maritime heritage."
All proceeds from the sale of the book will go towards promoting Hull's maritime heritage.
The book will be available from Wednesday 13 June at the Hull Maritime Museum shop and the Museums Quarter shop inside the Hull & East Riding Museum and costs £22.95.
The launch is being supported by the Hull: Yorkshire's Maritime City project.
ENDS
Book reference:- SBN 978-1-911262-14-5
Mike was also Port Manager at King's Lynn from 1984 until 1987.
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Mike is a former ABP Port Director once responsible for the Ports of Hull and Goole. He retired from ABP in 2003 and then became Chairman of RMS Europe Limited, stevedores, shipping and forwarding agents based at the Boothferry Terminal at Goole.
This is the third Irwell Press book written by Mike G. Fell OBE concerning ports and their railways. The previous two have covered King's Lynn and Goole. Mike, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, was in charge of the Port of Hull for sixteen years from 1987 until 2003 and previously was a stevedoring operations manager at the port for three years from 1977 to 1979. The book describes and graphically illustrates the history of the port and its railways from the time of the opening of Queen's Dock in 1778 until the present day. One of the book's chief aims is to dispel the widespread notion that Hull was only a fishing port. The fishing industry was once very important to the City of Hull but it actually formed only a small part of the port's overall commercial activities. Hull's success was founded on its ability to offer excellent facilities to increasingly larger ships which traded worldwide with a great variety of cargoes and the export of coal from the South Yorkshire coalfield, all of which arrived by train.
Royalties are being donated to a new charitable trust being established by Hull City Council to promote and conserve the port's heritage.
Book reference:- SBN 978-1-911262-14-5
Mike was also Port Manager at King's Lynn from 1984 until 1987.
Available from:-
Last on 6th May 2018.Mike is a former ABP Port Director once responsible for the Ports of Hull and Goole. He retired from ABP in 2003 and then became Chairman of RMS Europe Limited, stevedores, shipping and forwarding agents based at the Boothferry Terminal at Goole.
Mike, who is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, held that position until July 2007 when, following a successful management buyout, he finally said goodbye to the port transport industry after a career spanning 37 years. He has become a prolific transport author, specialising in the history of railways and docks.
His latest book is a graphic, informative and personal portrayal of the Port of Goole since its opening in 1826 until the present day and includes the history of its railway connections, past and present. Mike was Assistant Port Manager at Goole during 1983 and 1984.
Goole was a mere hamlet prior to the coming of the port. It was the original port owners, the Aire & Calder Navigation, who built and developed the town. Way back in 1828, the Hull Dock Company became extremely agitated by the new Port of Goole when it was formally constituted as a Customs Port and began foreign trade. Hull did not like the new competition.
Goole's staple diet used to be the shipment of coal mined in South Yorkshire with just over three million tons a year being shipped in 1913. This arrived at the port by railway and along the canal in "trains" of compartment boats, known as Tom Puddings.
Coal shipments from railway and canal had ceased by 1987 but Goole's strategic position, some 50 miles from the open sea with immediate access to the motorway system has encouraged new cargos and Goole has become a major distribution centre for a whole variety of products.
The new book, which is illustrated with colour and black and white images, will be launched at the Yorkshire Waterways Museum, Dutch River Side, Goole on Wednesday, 11 May 2016 and Mike will be available to sign copies from 12 noon until 3pm. The book is also available, price £16.95, from Irwell Press Ltd, 59A High Street, Clophill, Beds, MK45 4BE. Tel. 01707 876858.
The book is dedicated to six Goole port managers who Mike knew throughout his career and all royalties derived from its sale are being donated to The Sobriety Project, a Goole registered charity which uses the Waterways Museum and traditional canal and river craft for the personal development and training of disadvantaged people and those with learning disabilities.
Mike was Port Manager at King's Lynn from 1984 until 1987.Mike Fell's latest book which he has co-authored with David Woolliscroft, a fellow member of the North Staffordshire Railway Study Group. Royalties for this book will be donated to the Study Group and the Knotty Coach Trust which is restoring a third North Staffordshire Railway coach with access for disabled passengers.
About the Authors.
The authors, Mike G. Fell OBE is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Transport and Logistics and has spent over 40 years in the port transport industry, including the management of the east coast ports of Ipswich, King's Lynn, Goole and Hull. David is an archaeologist and Director of the Roman Gask Project which is studying the Roman Frontier which ran north of the Rivers Forth and Clyde in Scotland some 50 years before the building of Hadrian's Wall. Both authors were born in the Potteries.
The book (Ref: ISBN: 9781911038 02 3) is available from:-
1. Black Dwarf Lightmoor, 120 Farmers Close, Witney, Oxfordshire, OX28 1NR. Tel. 01993 773927 OR 01594 844789
email: info@lightmoor.co.uk
Price: £25.00, plus £5.00 postage and packing.
Website: Black Dwarf Lightmoor.
Also available locally from:-
2. Bob Pearman Books This hardback book is available locally for £25.00 - Freepost in the UK if ordered via the Special Offers page of our site. (Click on the following logo).
This book has won the Stephenson Locomotive Society's annual literary award! There is to be a presentation at the NEC model railway exhibition in Birmingham in November 2016.
This is an exhaustive history of the railway from conception to demise, based on extensive and detailed primary research. The hardback book of 240 pages has been some five years in the making and is copiously illustrated with photographs, maps and plans. The narrative describes the personalities, operation and traffic carried on the railway and the industries it served. The railway spent most of its independent life in receivership, until taken over by the Great Northern Railway in 1881. At the grouping of the railways in 1923, it became part of the London & North Eastern Railway whose locomotives could then be seen as far west as Stafford. The line survived nationalisation to become part of British Railways but closed as a through route in 1951. However, the track remained undisturbed so enabling the Stephenson Locomotive Society to run an amazing SLS Special on 23 March 1957, six years after the line had been closed and 18 years since it had last seen a passenger train!.
About the Authors.
The authors, now retired from full-time employment, have known each other for over 50 years, both being natives of Stoke-on-Trent where their interest in railways was first aroused and is still focused. Allan C. Baker is a Chartered Engineer, Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and a professional railwayman. He started his career as an apprentice working on steam locomotives at Crewe North motive power depot. His last permanent position was Engineering Director for a rolling stock leasing company. Mike G. Fell OBE is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Transport and Logistics and has spent over 40 years in the port transport industry, including the management of the east coast ports of Ipswich, King's Lynn, Goole and Hull. Both authors have written several books and articles on railways, ports and other transport related topics.
The book is available from Black Dwarf Lightmoor, 120 Farmers Close, Witney, Oxfordshire, OX28 1NR. Tel. 01993 773927,
email: info@lightmoor.co.uk ISBN: 9781899889907, Price: £30.00, plus £5.00 postage and packing.
AVAILABLE NOW.
A new pictorial book looking at the history of the railway in West Norfolk has been published and will bring back many memories.
King's Lynn to Hunstanton, including the Heacham to Wells branch, by Richard Adderson and Graham Kenworthy, is packed with photographs dating from the early years of the 20th century until May 3, 1969 - the day the line was closed.
In its 96 pages there are 120 photographs, most unpublished before.
Built in the 1860s, the line of 15 miles had numerous owners of the year, including the Lynn & Hunstanton Railway (1861-74), Hunstanton & West Norfolk Railway (1874-90) and then the Great Eastern Railway, later the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER).
It became part of British Railways in January 1948 and at first escaped closure under the Beeching report of 1963, although freight traffic ceased in 1964.
It was converted to "basic" status with single-line working, conductor guards and automated level crossings but it was closed for good anyway.
The docks railway, featured in the book however, continued until 1993.
The sister line of Heacham to Wells began in 1866, with passenger services being run until June, 1952. It suffered disastrous damage in the deadly floods of 1953 which then closed the Wells to Holkham section of the line for good.
The book also features pictures showing the damage wrought by the terrible and deadly floods of January 1953.
King's Lynn to Hunstanton is printed by Middleton Press under the Country Railway Routes imprint
The docks at King's Lynn are featured in a variety of photographs at the start of this fascinating journey.
We look back in time at the changes of rolling stock and see how little most stations altered, the amazing exception being the one serving Sandringham.
Outstanding are the pictures showing the extreme damage caused by the 1953 floods.
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ORDER NOW From Bob Pearman Books - This hardback book is eligible for £15.00 - Freepost in the UK if ordered via the Special Offers page of our site (Click on the following logo).
NOW AVAILABLE.
This book relates the history of ABP's west coast port of Garston which was once owned by the London & North Western Railway Company (LNWR). Bernard Pearson became the Docks Manager there after he left King's Lynn in 1976. The book, together with a facsimile of the brochure used to mark the opening of Stalbridge Dock in 1909, has been published by the London & North Western Railway Society of which Mike is a member. The Society is an educational charity which collects and makes available information about all aspects of the former railway company. The society's website can be found at: London & North Western Railway Society.
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NOW AVAILABLE.
A great LNWR survivor is the former steam tug/tender Ralph Brocklebank, now 110 years old. The vessel was sold to the Manchester Ship Canal Company (MSCC) at the end of 1921 and was subsequently renamed Daniel Adamson after the ship canal company's first chairman. It was often employed as a directors' launch taking parties of potential customers and dignitaries along the canal. A major refit in 1936 gave it a sumptuous art deco interior comprising both upper and lower saloons. The vessel was withdrawn in 1984 but found a new home at the Ellesmere Port Boat Museum. Unfortunately, the vessel was allowed to deteriorate and suffered much vandalism such that in February 2004 the MSCC, who still owned the vessel, took the decision to move it to Garston for scrapping. At the last moment a band of enthusiasts got together and persuaded the MSC to part with the vessel for the princely sum of £1! That, as they say, is history. The vessel is now safely berthed at Liverpool with a completely restored engine room and is currently subject to an application for a Heritage Lottery Fund Grant.
CONNECTIONS TO KING'S LYNN:
The Treasurer of DAPS is George Robinson who joined the British Transport Docks Board as a Management Trainee in 1967 and spent some time at King's Lynn both as a Trainee and a Lecturer at the Staff College. He was subsequently an Operations Manager with an ABP stevedoring company at Hull progressing to become Manager of Hull's Container Terminal and Commercial Manager for the port. George later became Mike Fell's Deputy at Hull and ended his ABP career as Port Manager at Goole. DAPS is also an educational charity with the aim of restoring the Daniel Adamson to full working order. The society's website is: DANIEL ADAMSON PRESERVATION SOCIETY (DAPS).
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April Edition of "RAILWAY BYLINES" Issue 5 - NOW AVAILABLE.
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By Mike G Fell OBE
An informative, personal and graphic portrayal of the Port of King's Lynn from the railway era until the present day. The author spent over forty years in the port transport industry, part of senior management of the east coast ports of King's Lynn, Goole, Hull, Ipswich and Whitby and the Trent wharves of Flixborough and Gunness.
It was at King's Lynn that he first held the position of Port Manager, from July 1984 until April 1987. He became passionate about the port's progress both past and, more importantly, during his reign. It was on Mike Fell's watch that the annual cargo throughput over the enclosed dock quays surpassed one million tons for the first time, an achievement shared with a highly enthusiastic and well motivated workforce and the King's Lynn Conservancy Board.
Order your copy today (see links below).
The first book signing took place in King's Lynn at "The Willow Tree" in Norfolk Street on Friday 28th September 2012.
Click on photograph left to see a selection of photographs taken at the event.
View Personal Message to all from Mike and Darral Fell.
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ORDER NOW From Bob Pearman Now - This book is eligible for Freepost in the UK if ordered via the Special Offers page of our site (Click on the following logo).
Also Available from:-