David Wroe
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DAVID JOHN WROE
As a small boy, David was hoisted onto the footplate of a goods engine for a ride. What excitement that was! It started off David's love for railways.
Born and brought up in Cornwall in the UK during the heyday of the railway era, he was one of the thousands of boys who wanted to be a train driver. At that time, air travel had not got off the ground and the only fast cars were on the circuit at Brooklands. David Matriculated and could have gone to university but money was not available, so he was taken on by the Great Western Railway and trained to be a surveyor.
He wrote two books (incidentally, both now out of print). The first was about his hometown branch, The Bude Branch, which was published in 1988 by Kingfisher Railway Productions. He used his considerable skill in drawing detailed track plans and foraged around for over one hundred and thirty original photographs, thus rendering the book one that enthusiasts found to be a page-turner. The second book was published in 1994 by Irwell Press. This was about the North Cornwall railway branch; another packed illustrated history of a well-used and well-loved line.
Sadly, David Wroe's unexpected death on 27th October 1994, aged just sixty three, meant not only the loss of a much loved husband and father but also of a great source of inspiration and a mine of information to many people interested in railways past and present. Irwell Press inserted this commemorative inscription beside the foreword by Peter Prideau Brune of Padstow.
I know there are still railway enthusiasts who remember David and his books. I am his sister Dorothy and I have a sister Elisabeth and we would like to invite comments on this entry.
