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Written by a well-known transport expert, this comprehensive history covers the progress of railways from the earliest prototypes and Stephenson’s Rocket through to the bullet trains and Maglev technology of today. With illustrations, maps and diagrams throughout, it shows how railways opened up new continents, supplied the frontlines in wartime and fundamentally changed societies, while also telling the stories of famous lines including the Trans-Siberian and the Orient Express.

Freight and specialist wagons on the British railway network are designated with a three letter code, called a 'carkind', identifying the category, size and brake type of the wagon. This volume includes the Y- and Z-coded carkinds, covering a variety of types from open ballast hoppers to rail grinders and snowploughs, many of which are illustrated with colour photographs.

David Maidment spent over 30 years in the railway industry, rising to be a senior executive of British Rail. Illustrated with over 100 of the author's own photographs, this memoir recounts his early trainspotting and the railway journeys he undertook in Britain and Germany in the 1950s before describing his first years as a professional railwayman in the early 1960s.

The chief engineering problem faced by the Chester to Holyhead Railway was crossing the Menai Straits – a problem that was overcome by Stephenson's Britannia Tubular Bridge in 1850. Following a brief history of the line, this photographic survey illustrates the route in a collection of archive images from the steam era to the BR blue diesel period and early 2000s.

Archive photographs and printed ephemera dating back to the 19th century illustrate this history of the railway network in the Bristol area. The book explores the many now-defunct branch lines as well as the city's locomotive building industry and the experiences of railwaymen who worked in the area.

The huge diesel locomotives that have moved much of the freight around the country since the middle of the 20th century have mostly been built by General Electric, EMD, Alco, Baldwin and Fairbanks-Morse. This photographic collection captures the most popular vintage and contemporary models of each manufacturer alongside historical notes and extended captions.

The Peppercorn Class A1 Pacific, Tornado, was completed in 2008 and is the first steam locomotive built in Britain since 1960. This illustrated celebration of the achievement reveals how it was designed and constructed and is now run and maintained. Including a technical breakdown of the engine, the book was originally published in a larger format as the Tornado Owners’ Workshop Manual.

This illustrated guide to the rolling stock of London’s rail network covers the London Underground, London Overground, TfL Rail and the engineer’s trains. It gives insights into the evolution of the system and the afterlife of old stock in locations around the British Isles, and includes a directory of the serial numbers of all units currently in service.

Thanks to Isambard Kingdom Brunel and the Great Western Railway, Bristol was a crucial link the early rail network, a role that expanded when the Midland Railway arrived. This collection of colour photographs with detailed explanations shows the last days of steam in the region, including branch lines such as those to North Somerset, Portishead and the Severn Tunnel route.

In 1863 the world’s first underground railway, the Metropolitan Railway, connected Paddington, Euston and King’s Cross to the City, using gaslit wooden carriages. The author tells the history of the line’s concept, creation and later extensions, which reached Hammersmith and St John’s Wood, initiated the Circle Line, and triggered the suburbanisation of the countryside North-West of London, the area that became known as ‘Metroland’.

The 1921 Railway Map of London and its Environs provided a comprehensive overview of all the railway and underground lines serving the capital, colour coded for the different operators and marked with stations, junctions and geographical features. This new review of the network reproduces a facsimile of the chart in sections, opposite a matching contemporary map which demonstrates how the system has been adapted, and highlights lost stations, old lines with new uses and newly built lines and stations.

Most of the vast workshops that produced this country’s rolling stock are now disused or demolished, including those at Darlington, Stratford, Cowlairs and Gateshead (although trains are still being refurbished at the one in Doncaster). Peter Tuffrey explores the history of the works, from their creation by the original rail companies, through their consolidation into the London and North Eastern Railway and conversion from steam to other forms of power, to their ultimate decline in the post-war period.

Demonstrating the tremendous impact Brunel had on Britain in the 19th century, this well-illustrated volume describes his most important ventures, transforming transport infrastructure with groundbreaking designs for bridges, tunnels, docks, railways and steam ships. Part Two of the book identifies the engineering projects that can still be visited today, particularly in Bath, Bristol and London.

After nearly 200 years of expansion and contraction, dozens of different railway operators, competing lines and changing national strategies, Britain’s railway network has inherited stations of various sizes and architectural styles. With historic and contemporary illustrations, this personal selection explores the histories of 101 stations that represent this great variety, from the grand edifice of stations including Bristol Temple Meads to humble halts such as Filey Holiday Camp, and reveals how the railways have adapted to changing times.

While the Beeching cuts are commonly remembered for their role in closing rail stations and lines, there have been station closures throughout the history of the network. This atlas maps all of Britain’s standard gauge railway lines and the dates when each line or station was closed. It also features photographs of selected stations, and an index and gazetteer listing the dates of closures and the company in charge. This revised edition contains all the maps reproduced in the first edition and a new selection of images.

Since the early days of rail travel, the civic importance of the stations has been reflected in their architecture. From the splendour of New York’s Grand Central to the simpler structures serving small towns, this account of some of the most interesting examples focuses primarily on North America. Including many historic and modern photographs, it explores the changing requirements the buildings have been presented with and the developments they have undergone. American spelling.

George Churchward’s Star class locomotives, launched in 1907, set the pattern for the engines that would haul GWR’s glamorous passenger expresses during the golden age of steam. Examples of the Castle and King class developments of 1923 and 1927 remained in service until the end of steam in the region. This analysis provides an illustrated technical evaluation of the three locomotive designs and details of their allocation and work on the network up to the 1960s.

Box Tunnel in Wiltshire is one of the great engineering feats of the railway age but tragically, up to 100 navvies lost their lives during its construction. This history of the building of Britain’s railway infrastructure investigates the many collapses, explosions, floodings, collisions and other accidents that occurred in the tunnels and how lessons about their dangers were gradually learned.

Richard Garrett and Sons were a long-established manufacturer of steam wagons and traction engines when they developed their first electric vehicles immediately after the First World War, and petrol and diesel-engined vehicles in the 1920s and 1930s. This volume reviews all the models of wagons, municipal vehicles, electric trolleybuses and electric and motor lorries produced by the company, many illustrated with contemporary photographs.

The engineering firm Richard Garrett & Sons Ltd of Leiston, Suffolk, began as bladesmiths and edge-tool manufacturers in 1789; by the mid-19th century the company was famous for its threshing machines and portable steam engines. Following his history of the company, RA Whitehead wrote a series of immensely detailed, illustrated books on its various manufactures: in this volume he describes the undertype steam wagons built during the 1920s, with 148 illustrations including photographs and technical drawings.

The engineering firm Richard Garrett & Sons Ltd of Leiston, Suffolk, began as bladesmiths and edge-tool manufacturers in 1789; by the mid-19th century the company was famous for its threshing machines and portable steam engines. Following his history of the company, RA Whitehead wrote a series of immensely detailed, illustrated books on its various manufactures: this volume deals with the early (undertype) steam wagons, then traces the story of the overtypes up to 1927.

The south-east of England has much to offer the railway enthusiast: as the most highly populated area of the country it was served by a variety of routes, many of which no longer exist, from the steam era onward. The images of locomotives and rolling stock in this photographic collection depict both main and branch lines, and the goods yards and engine sheds that served them.

These vintage photographs from the well-known Dart collection are drawn from the Home Counties and suburbs of north and west London. Each of the photographs is accompanied by a brief text, the images are organized by locomotive wheel arrangement and types from the largest downwards, and the locations are identified according to the 1938 Railway Clearing House Handbook of Stations.

Photographer, photographic historian and incurable steam enthusiast, John Hannavy uses his own collection of postcards to explore the rolling stock, stations and operation of the railways in the period from 1902 up to the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. As well as trains in the land- and cityscape, the 290 postcards reproduced include views of the Travelling Post Office, the Snowdon Railway, trackside buildings and railway disasters.

The first underground railway in London was an instant success in 1863, providing a link between Paddington, Euston and King’s Cross stations, and carrying 9.5 million passengers in the first year. This illustrated account of the development of the system describes the evolution of the lines, the traction, rolling stock and stations as well as exploring how the complex modern system is managed, reporting recent developments and discussing the challenges of ever-growing passenger numbers.

This reference work reproduces diagrams showing the gradient profiles of British railway routes, originally published in 1966. Organized into the ‘Big Four’ railway companies, this new edition represents the network as it was in 1947 and contains details not in the original, such as the location of water troughs, as well as a complete index of features marked on the profiles, including stations, tunnels, junctions and sidings.

The 2019 edition of the guide focuses on main line operations and the extensive new train orders and fleet developments across the network. It features at least 15 new types of rolling stock.

In a separate volume for the first time, the Light Rail and Preservation listings reflect the continuing growth of preserved traction and offer greater coverage of light rail, including full numeric listings of London Underground stock.

This collection of 250 photographs by the amateur photographer BWL Brooksbank depicts mainline and minor stations in the Greater London area from 1946–1962, spanning the final years of steam and the expansion of diesel and electrification. Along with images of freight trains, expresses and local trains there are pictures of staff engaged in their duties and dilapidated stations awaiting post-war renovation, with captions by prolific railway author Peter Tuffrey.

Largely designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Paddington has been a crucial transport hub since the 1830s. This is a highly illustrated history of the main terminal of the Great Western Railway, and the people, planning, trains, rolling stock and architecture associated with it.

An expert on Britain’s architectural heritage and founder of the Railway Heritage Trust, Simon Jenkins presents an introductory history of the railway station and a personal selection of 100 buildings, chosen for their ‘architectural beauty, eccentricity or setting’. Beginning with the great London termini and ending at Wemyss Bay (‘a coherent work of art’), this richly illustrated volume is an erudite and engrossing survey of stations throughout England, Wales and Scotland, and the architects, engineers and railway companies that built them.

In order to have enough work to sell at his first exhibition, Jonathan Clay left the backgrounds to some locomotive compositions blank, intending to complete them later. The sale of these canvases helped establish his career as a railway artist and also set a signature style of composition. This collection of 150 paintings includes historic British steam engines, diesels from the BR era and narrow-gauge locos as well as engines from America and elsewhere.

The arrival of the railways in the 19th century changed Britain, physically, socially and economically. This study examines its effects, from the countryside where great viaducts transformed the valleys, to the rapid expansion of cities and development of whole new towns such as Crewe. Illustrated with modern and period photographs, the book concludes with a case study of one particular railway, the London & Birmingham, over 170 years.

The photographer David Cable visited the United States 14 times between the mid-1970s and 2008, witnessing changes on the network through various operator mergers and the development of the Class 1, 2 and 3 railroad designation system. His images record the impressive freight locomotives, often multi-engined on the principal routes, as well as Amtrak passenger services and suburban commuter trains. Slightly off-mint.

The varied railway infrastructure across Northern Europe in recent decades includes high speed trains and electric multiple unit sets as well as diesel and electric locomotive-hauled expresses and freight. Showing trains in transit as well as at stations and yards, this volume covers Scandinavia, the Baltic States, Germany, Poland, Holland, Belgium, France, Ireland and the UK.

Electrification is widespread in the southern countries of Europe and the locomotives in use are often built by local manufacturers, such as Škoda in the Czech Republic and Ansaldo Breda in Italy. The photographs in this collection range from Southern France, Spain and Portugal to former Eastern bloc states including Romania and Ukraine.

Beginning with the last years of British Rail, this collection demonstrates an array of different operators and liveries on the British network since privatization. The images cover locations from Scotland to Cornwall and a wide range of tractions, from modern commuter sets and London Underground trains to aged diesel freight locomotives.

The 1896 Light Railways Act led to a two-decade boom in new rail lines that relied on cheaper, less resilient materials and slower speeds than existing routes. This reissue of a classic 1985 book, extensively illustrated with images of lost lines and stations, details the way that light railways filled gaps in the rail network before post-war competition from roads led to their decline.

Working on the railways from the early 1960s, David Maidment was in a privileged position to witness the last days of steam and continued his interest by seeking out steam across the world after its demise in Britain. Accompanied by 200 of his own images, this 'railway biography' tells the story of his career and his pursuit of working steam and steam specials in Europe and China.

Linking the achievements of the great medieval cathedral builders with the engineering genius of the 19th century, Naylor journeys to 33 cathedrals, among them the modern buildings of Liverpool, Coventry and Guildford, and he provides ‘Railway Notes’ on the history and present-day operation of trains, track and stations en route.

In this companion volume to England’s Cathedrals by Train, Naylor visits 32 churches, including abbeys and priories as well as parish churches, each one chosen for a particularly interesting feature; whether the twisted spire of St Mary and All Saints, Chesterfield or the 1,000-year-old Bath Abbey, where England’s first king was crowned (and nearby, Brunel’s Box Tunnel).

The Daily Mirror's picture archive is a repository of British social history reaching back to the end of the 19th century. This selection of 250 images recalls the days of steam from before the First World War to the preserved lines and locomotives of today.

Before the opening of the Great Western Railway, the journey from London to Bath by mail coach took 13 hours; the railway cut the journey time to four hours – it also ruined business for the coaching inns. Their decline is the first of many changes Swift describes, including the invasion of navvies and the cutting through Sydney Gardens; but the focus of the book is Brunel and the construction of his great railway with its bridges, viaducts and the Box Tunnel.

In his popular TV travel series, Michael Portillo followed 19th-century railway guides, tracing the history and development of each destination since their original publication. This historical companion to the BBC series focuses on the railways of America, telling the story of the first pioneers, engineering mavericks and tycoons and how the railroad helped to shape the country before and after the Civil War, and into the 20th century.

By the end of the 19th century, the steam locomotive was the most prominent and glamorous symbol of industrial modernism. This review of its history and operation was first published in 1897 and deals in the first part with the earliest locomotive designs, explaining the basic technology and outlining the improvements that gradually refined it, and in the second part with how a contemporary engine works, with diagrams and photographs.

Ten years before the phasing out of steam on British railways in 1968, BR’s fleet numbered over 16,000 locomotives; some were as much as 80 years old when decommissioned and some almost new. Thanks to the preservation movement, there are now operational examples of about 150 different classes, but a large number are extinct. This comprehensive illustrated reference book provides detailed information about these lost engines, representing almost 350 classes and over 10,000 machines.

The first railway entrepreneurs considered that their real business would be in freight, the tremendous demand for passenger travel coming as something of a surprise. This well-researched history challenges the traditional notion of rail travel as a middle-class activity in the first decades of steam, exploring the cheap excursions that were promoted to the working classes by enterprising tour operators and railway companies, and revealing the appalling conditions, often in open carriages, that the day trippers had to endure.

Renowned for its engineering prowess, Scotland was a prolific producer of railway locomotives as well as ships in the steam era, accounting for about a fifth of British stock when BR was formed in 1948. This book profiles the locomotive constructors and railway company works in Scotland, and the engines that they built, from major manufacturers such as the North British Locomotive Company of Glasgow to the most remote depot, Inverurie Works, north of Aberdeen.

David Bell made his name as a marine artist, having spent time in the merchant navy, but his boyhood passion was for the railways, fuelled by visits to Doncaster Carr shed during the last days of steam. This selection of his detailed yet atmospheric watercolour paintings and pencil sketches presents a mixture of scenes, from nostalgic imaginings of the great locomotives in their heyday to preserved steam railways and exhibits at the National Railway Museum.

In 1981, with the Cold War at its height, Christopher Knowles embarked on the first of 24 train journeys as a tour guide from London to Hong Kong. In this memoir, he recalls travelling on ordinary passenger services through East Berlin, Poland, the Soviet Union and China, describes his eccentric fellow-travellers, and recounts a series of bizarre and sometimes frightening experiences, including being mistaken for a Red Army deserter in Mongolia.

Covering the 20 years following railway nationalization in 1948, this account of BR-owned vehicles covers topics including the Express Parcel Service, wagon-load traffic and operations during the Suez crisis.

One of the first of the new diesels, the Class 40 locomotives, nicknamed 'whistlers' after their exhaust sound, worked the West Coast Main Line in the early 1960s with broader duties later in their career.

When introduced in 1961, the Class 55 'Deltics' were the most powerful diesel units in operation and also the most expensive. They worked the East Coast Main Line for most of their front-line service life.

Class 44, 45 and 46 locomotives are known as Peaks after the first ten were named after mountains. The photographs in this volume chart the diverse operations and various liveries of their long service career.

Starting work on the West Coast Main Line in 1967, the Class 50s were retired from the Crewe-Glasgow route when it was electrified, moving to operate passenger services from Paddington.

The North Eastern Region encompassed the industrial centres of Tyneside as well as the sparsely populated expanses of North Yorkshire. This collection ranges from main-line locos, such as A4 Pacifics, to rural and industrial workhorses.

Playing a crucial role in building one of the world's best transport systems, London's bus, tram, rail and Underground workers have fought hard to improve working conditions over the years. This book studies workforce and management relations from the late 19th to the 21st century.

Peter Saxton conducts a ‘whistle-stop tour of railway history’, from Stephenson’s Rocket and the first underground line to the Chinese high-speed magnetic levitation train. En route there is information on topics from engineering to railway poets, including descriptions of memorable rail incidents and introductions to such notable figures as George Bradshaw, Richard Beeching and Sir Nigel Gresley.

Photographing the railways of the North East in the 1960s, Richard Gaunt strove to create more interesting scenes than the standard three-quarter 'wedge' train composition and many of the images in this portfolio display atmospheric and unusual views of platform, shed, siding and loco. Covering the Midland and West Coast Main Lines in Lancashire and Yorkshire and further north, the images are accompanied by the author's recollections of the period.

Victory in the two world wars would have been impossible without the railways: ‘everything that was grown, made or mined, had to be carried, and soldiers, sailors, airmen, and civilians also had to be carried.’ The scale of the task and dangers faced by the women and men of the railways were enormous, and this book, with its wealth of statistics and archival photography, pays tribute to the resourcefulness of railway staff, from cleaners and clerks to drivers and porters.

Walt Disney fell in love with trains as a boy, and featured them in his work for the rest of his life. With anecdotes about Walt’s job on his local line, and Mickey Mouse’s ‘birth’ on a train, this publication catalogues the locomotives in Disney movies, from Trolley Troubles, in 1927, through to 2014’s Planes: Fire and Rescue. Also featuring Walt’s own miniature railways, and the full-size Disney Railroad, the book includes colour photographs and previously unseen conceptual artwork.

By 1910 railway pioneers worldwide had laid over half a million miles of track, tunnelling through the Alps, crossing Andean peaks and linking Moscow with the Pacific coast. Talbot’s classic account of the romantic age of railway building celebrates the innovation, hardship and sheer determination of surveyors, engineers and workers in building the world’s great iron roads, including the American First Transcontinental Railroad, the never completed ‘Cape to Cairo’ Trans-African railway, and the Ffestiniog ‘toy’ railway in Wales.

Famous for its record-breaking express service on the LNER in the 1920s and 1930s, then as a globe-trotting preserved locomotive after 1963, the Flying Scotsman is now a national icon. This history of the engine, from Nigel Gresley’s drawing board to the National Railway Museum in 2016, is illustrated with over 130 photographs and reproductions, from a rare shot of the newly constructed locomotive at the Doncaster shed in 1923, to a stunning picture of the train on an evening test run, 2016.

Despite the electrification of many of the main line routes in Sussex during the 1930s, there were still steam locomotives running across the region in the 1950s and 1960s, including Bulleid Light Pacifics working services beyond the county and smaller engines on freight and shunting duties. Charting the scene during the last years of steam, many of the photographs in this collection are in colour and additional illustrations include period tickets, labels and timetables.

The 1955 British Railways Modernization Plan called for the replacement of steam locomotion, and British Railways placed 'pilot scheme' orders for diesels with a number of British manufacturers. The lack of standardization caused logistical problems and some of the many different models built proved unreliable or unsuited. All the major first-generation diesel locomotives, produced by English Electric, Metropolitan-Vickers and others, are featured in this collection of mostly colour photographs.

The railways in Dorset evolved around four main routes, two running east–west and two running north–south. Including some images dating to the early 20th century, this collection of archive photographs explores the county's lines during the steam era, including the small branch lines and other interesting aspects of the region's railways, such as the Weymouth Quay Tramway where trains ran on public roads through the town.

The Southern Railway was formed in 1923, an amalgamation of three companies. This meticulously detailed study by the veteran railway historian Colin Maggs traces the history of the three main companies and smaller railways, such as the Isle of Wight Railways and the London, Chatham and Dover Railway. It also describes and illustrates, with around 100 period photographs, the locomotives and rolling stock, and covers topics such as major accidents and the railways’ cross-Channel shipping enterprises.

The Severn Tunnel, opened in 1886, brought increased traffic to South Wales. Communications were further improved in the early 20th century with GWR's 'Badminton Line' providing a direct link to London. Telling the history of the line, including its upgrading for high-speed trains in the 1970s, this book explores the stations, junctions, signal boxes, tunnels and other features of the route as well as the duties of staff who have worked on the railway.

Services on South African railways were in the process of modernization during the 1980s when renowned railway photographer, Keith Pirt, made several visits. He was nevertheless able to capture dramatic colour images of steam working the passenger network across the country and steam locos doing heavy work in South Africa's coal, gold and platinum industries.

In 1962 the Scottish Region decided to speed up services between Glasgow and Aberdeen using steam traction. The surprising decision to employ steam was against the trend towards diesel and it prompted a massive upsurge of interest in the route. The action photographs in this album date from 1948 to 1966 and pay tribute to the BR steam era and, in particular, Sir Nigel Gresley’s magnificent Class A4 Pacifics as they ran their final race.

Across five continents, Julian Holland travelled on some of the world’s most remote and rugged railways, such as the Ferrocarril del Sur, climbing from Peru’s Pacific coast into the high Andes, but he also sought out less well-known railways kept alive by enthusiasts, tourists and heritage-minded governments. Here, he describes 50 journeys – under steam, diesel or electric power – along lines as varied as Le Petit Train Jaune in the French Pyrenees and ‘The Ghan’, crossing Australia from Adelaide to Darwin.

This collection of 130 colour images shows 71 different liveries and 37 classes of locomotive units, photographed in spectacular locations across Britain in the first decade after privatization in 1994.

Opened in 1907, the branch of the Piccadilly Line from Holborn to Aldwych was a little-used appendage that managed to survive until 1994. This illustrated history of the Aldwych branch explains why it was built at all and describes the alternative ways in which the Strand (later Aldwych) and Holborn stations and the track have been used, including their roles as art depository, offices and shelters during the Second World War and for experimental architectural purposes since 1994.

From Brunel's Royal Albert Bridge across the Tamar to Aberdovey and Towyn on the Cambrian Coast Line, David Soggee's colour photographs show the stations and tracks of Western Region branch lines as they were in the 1950s and early 1960s, before diesel traction and the Beeching closures had made significant impact. The photographs are accompanied by detailed commentaries, packed with information on the lines and locomotives.

The 90 railways listed in this guide bear testament to the success of the preservation movement and the public's continued fascination with steam. Including a location map and visitor information about each site, it catalogues the best places to see working steam all over Britain, from the 79 historic steam locomotives kept at the National Railway Museum to former industrial railways and picturesque preserved lines.

David Weston established his reputation in the 1970s through a major commission (which became an exhibition) of 24 large canvases celebrating the history of the British steam locomotive. This retrospective of his work includes Weston's thoughts and memories about his art and the subjects he paints, as well as fine reproductions of many of his pictures in oil and watercolour, covering everything from abandoned industrial locomotives to glamorous main line engines from the last years of steam.

Keith Strickland's enthusiasm for steam led him to visit Austria in the 1970s to see the locomotives still running there on some secondary routes. The trip initiated a 40-year odyssey to experience and photograph steam railways around the world. This collection of his images focuses on regular service railways rather than heritage lines and includes chapters on Eastern Europe, China, India, South Africa and Cuba. The explanatory captions include technical details about the locomotives and railways. Foreword by Sir Mark Tully.

Railway closures were underway in Scotland from the 1930s as remote lines built in the 19th century proved uneconomical. The 1963 Beeching Report recommended further cuts, and by the end of the 1960s large parts of the country were without a service. This exploration of forgotten railways, first published in 2009, traces twelve routes, mixing archive images of the lines in operation with contemporary photographs of what remains of the stations, bridges, signalling and other lineside equipment.

The GWR Swindon Works produced some of the iconic locomotives of the steam era, but its rolling stock - the all-important freight wagons and passenger cars - have received less attention from steam enthusiasts and historians. This study tells the story of the other half of the GWR Works, traces the development of carriage and wagon design and, with the help of archive photographs, explains how carriages and wagons were built at Swindon in its heyday.

Ten people died in the Staplehurst train crash of 1865, but accidents were not uncommon at the time and the disaster is now most notable because Dickens was one of the passengers. This history focuses on the most serious accidents on the British network from the beginnings of rail travel to the present day, comparing official reports with contemporary newspaper accounts and examining how attitudes changed as court claims became more common and safety was taken more seriously.

SN Pike's legendary hand-drawn route maps are a guide to Britain's major railways on the eve of nationalization, with notes on the view from the train as well as trackside data for railway enthusiasts. The 1947 routes of the LNER, Southern Railway and LMSR are reproduced here; plus a new route, drawn in Pike's style, for the GWR. With new introductions by Peter Herring.