As South Wales Passenger manager between 1983 and 1993, John Davies presided over a turbulent era in local railway management. In the face of substantial opposition from all sides he succeeded in transforming the Valley Lines operation into a rare railway success story. In Valley Lines - The People's Railway: The Inside Story of a Train Business 1983-1993 John, in his own words, and those of Rhodri Clark, Transport Journalist of the Year 1995/6, reveals the inside story of his efforts to revitalise train services in the Cardiff Valleys..
Contents include:
- Throwing out the baby with the bathwater. The Valley Lines before 1983.
- The Taff main line.
- Swashbuckling Times. Tackling the problems of 1983.
- The Merthyr Line.
- The People's Railway. The Marketing Revolution.
- Cardiff and its Local Lines.
- Running hard to stand still. How efficiency was improved.
- The Rhondda Line.
- Eight weeks on a knife edge. The 1987 timetable change.
- The Rhymney Line.
- Genies from a Bottle. New lines, new stations.
- Sprinters in the Valleys.
- Work with other Bodies.
- The Aberdare Line.
- Friends and Foes. The influence of other rail businesses.
- The Penarth and Barry Lines.
- Public transport under siege. Competitors on the roads.
- The Maesteg Line.
- It ain't necessarily so. How the tide could be turned again.
A map of the Valley Lines, images of advertising material and the 1982-1995 Valley Lines Passenger statistics are also included.
Published 1996. 28 colour and 78 black & white. 96 pages.