THE latest in Ian Allan Publishing's 'View from the Past' series 'Chester and North Wales Border Railways' covers an area between Chester and the Mersey in the north and Herefordshire in the south.

The publishers have set out to produce a book with a mixture of text and photographs, concerned mainly with the post-war steam era, that would appeal to 'train buffs' and readers interested in the social history of the area.

But with such a wide area to cover in so few pages, there is little opportunity to include anything more than very basic information. Details on Hereford are limited and appear out of context with the main flow of the text.

And sadly, among the collection of 159 very clear photographs of steam engines and railway paraphernalia - many not seen in previous publications - few relate to Herefordshire.

Overall, from a county point of view, this is an expensive and disappointing book which failed to inspire.

'Chester and North Wales Border Railways - A View from the Past' by Rex Christiansen,

published by Ian Allan, is available at £16.99.

GW