Our
STORY
'The Forest Railway Stories' is a series of children's books about the Dean Forest Railway, a heritage railway in Gloucestershire. The books are created by Matt Crossfield, who wrote the first book in 2019, entitled 'Counting Sheep'. Although the locomotives are based on the real engines that work on the heritage line, fictional anthropomorphic animals appear in the stories e.g. Wilbur Wabbit, Station Master Winston and Dai Llama.
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Each book focuses on a different locomotive character and their adventure in the story, the first book was about Prairie 5541, the second Pannier 9681 and the third, Teddy.
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5 books have been published so far, and more are yet to be released!
Book signing in April 2019
Book 2 "Teddy's Christmas" release in 2019 Christmas.
At Dean Forest Railway, signing and selling books!
2019 Santa Special Train.
Deck the halls! Santa's coming to town!
At Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, promoting books and art work.
August 2019
Meet the engines!
Prairie 5541
Prairie 5541 came to the Forest Railway in 1972, six years later she then became a regular passenger-pulling locomotive. Built in Swindon in 1928, both her and Pannier 9681 are designs from the Great Western Railway.
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No. 5541's wheel arrangement is 2-6-2, which is commonly called a Prairie.
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She appears in Book 1 'Counting Sheep'.
Pannier 9681
No. 9681 gets his name from the class nickname 'Pannier Tanks'. When withdrawn in 1965, Pannier 9681 was taken to Barry Scrapyard, an unpleasant place for trains.
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Fortunately he was saved in 1975 by the Forest Railway and loves pulling trucks up and down the line.
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He appears in Book 3 'Mr Thistle's Whistle'.
Teddy
No. D9555, is a large diesel engine. He is called Teddy from his class nickname 'Teddy Bears'.
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Like Prairie 5541 and Pannier 9681, Teddy was built in Swindon, but by British Railways. In 1965, he was the last locomotive to be built at Swindon Railway Works before it closed.
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He appears in Book 2 'Teddy's Christmas'.
The DMU
DMU came to the Forest Railway in 1960 and loves pulling passenger trains up and down the line. DMU stands for diesel multiple-unit.
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Many of his class have been preserved on many heritage railways in the UK. He loves birdwatching and sometimes can come across of being pompous.
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He hasn't appeared in the books but is yet to make his debut.
Charlie
No. D3308, Charlie was built in 1956; making him an older but cheekier brother to Gladys.
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Both Charlie and Gladys are nicknamed 'Gronks' and stick to their duties of maintaining the Forest railway track and shunting coaches.
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He hasn't appeared in the books but is yet to make his debut.
Gladys
No. D3937, Gladys is an 08 diesel shunter; sister to her mischievous brother, Charlie.
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She was built in 1960 along with many others of the same design, eventually totalling a fleet of 996 - the largest member of a loco class ever built in the UK. They can be found anywhere in the country.
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She hasn't appeared in the books but is yet to make her debut.
Matt Crossfield is a young author & illustrator who graduated from the University of South Wales, Cardiff, with a BA Hons in Animation. He was the winner of the Young Cartoonist of the Year Award 2018, a national competition organised by the British Cartoonist Association. Matt is also very pleased and excited to have been chosen to design the 2019 Christmas cards for The Prince's Trust.
Railways have always been one of his interests and Matt has been a volunteer on the Dean Forest Railway at Norchard for some time.
