'Masterful.' - The Economist The Congo-Ocean railroad stands as one of the deadliest construction projects in history. It was completed in 1934, when Equatorial Africa was a French colony. African workers were conscripted at gunpoint, separated from their families and subjected to hellish conditions as they hacked their way through dense tropical foliage; excavated by hand thousands of tonnes of earth in order to lay down track; blasted their way through rock to construct tunnels; or risked their lives building bridges over otherwise impassable rivers. In the process, they suffered disease, malnutrition and rampant physical abuse, likely resulting in at least 20,000 deaths. Drawing on exhaustive research in French and Congolese archives, a chilling documentary record and eye-opening photographic evidence, J. P. Daughton tells the epic story of the Congo-Ocean railroad, and in doing so reveals the human costs and contradictions of modern empire.

The Railway Research Institute (Instytut Kolejnictwa) in Warsaw was established in 1951 and was, until 2000, part of the Polish State Railways (PKP). At present, it serves as an independent entity, it is subordinated to the minister responsible for transport. Since its inception, the Institute has been the centre of competence for technology, technique and organization of operation and services in rail transport, particularly in respect to innovation. One of its fundamental tasks also includes activities connected with safety which are carried out in close cooperation with the National Safety Authority, i.e. the Office of Rail Transport. At the same time the Institute participated in the process of upgrading and modernization of the rail network in Poland. Experience in high speed rail, gained as a result of international cooperation and basing on the effort to increase speed on railway lines in Poland (so far 200 km/h), is included in the monograph "Koleje Duzych Predkosci w Polsce" (High Speed Rail in Poland) published in 2015 for the benefit of the Polish reader. This monograph aims at reaching an international audience of experts so as to present Polish determinants of HSR implementation. In order to elaborate this monograph, apart from specialists from the Railway Research Institute, experts from other research and academic centres were invited. Not only presenting a wide range of problems connected with future construction of High Speed Lines in Polish conditions, but also a number of operational ones. The authors have created a reference work of universal character, solving problems in order to build and operate high speed rail systems in countries on a similar level of development as Poland. Features: providing requirements for design and upgrade of engineering works on High Speed Rail development information on restructuring and building railway lines for countries starting to develop a High Speed Rail system dealing with organizational, engineering, socioeconomic and economic demands for transport services and the formation of human resources for constructing and operting a High Speed Rails system. Presenting these problems on the international arena will facilitate future cooperation and application of world experience to create HSR in Poland and integrate the Polish HSR network into the international one.

The accomplishments, and initiatives, both social and economic, of Edward Watkin are almost too many to relate. Though generally known for his large-scale railway projects, becoming chairman of nine different British railway companies as well as developing railways in Canada, the USA, Greece, India and the Belgian Congo, he was also responsible for a stream of remarkable projects in the nineteenth century which helped shape people's lives inside and outside Britain. As well as holding senior positions with the London and North Western Railway, the Worcester and Hereford Railway and the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway, Watkin became president of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada. He was also director of the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railways, as well as the Athens-Piraeus Railway. Watkin was also the driving force in the creation of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway's 'London Extension' - the Great Central Main Line down to Marylebone in London. This, though, was only one part of his great ambition to have a high-speed rail link from Manchester to Paris and ultimately to India. This, of course, involved the construction of a Channel tunnel. Work on this began on both sides of the Channel in 1880 but had to be abandoned due to the fear of invasion from the Continent. He also purchased an area of Wembley Park, serviced by an extension of his Metropolitan Railway. He developed the park into a pleasure and events destination for urban Londoners, which later became the site of Wembley Stadium. It was also the site of another of Watkin's enterprises, the 'Great Tower in London' which was designed to be higher than the Eiffel Tower but was never completed. Little, though, is known about Watkin's personal life, which is explored here through the surviving diaries he kept. The author, who is the chair of The Watkin Society, which aims to promote Watkin's life and achievements, has delved into the mind of one of the nineteenth century's outstanding individuals.

This is an important contribution to the new urban history, describing and analysing one of the best examples of a company town in nineteenth-century Europe. This archetypal railway town was built on a green-field site by a railway company in 1842-3. It was a major junction, an administrative centre and an important manufacturing centre. Thus it provides an ideal arena in which to study the relationship between company and people and the effects of this claustrophobic association on emerging economic and social structure and politics in the era of large-scale development and modernisation in Europe and America. Dianne Drummond applies the full range of modern urban-historical approaches in this work. It is a shining example of the ways in which new techniques in research, analysis and comparison can redraw the best-known histories. It will be essential reading for urban historians.

Frederick Smeeton Williams (1829-86) was a Congregational minister and pioneering railway historian. His first major transport work, Our Iron Roads (1852), enjoyed significant popularity, reaching its seventh edition by 1888. This, his second such effort, first published in 1876, is a lively history of the incorporation and development of one of Britain's first major railway companies following the earliest large-scale railway amalgamation of the Victorian age. Including 123 illustrations and 7 maps, this book is especially valuable for its contemporary description of the building of the Settle and Carlisle line, a notoriously difficult and expensive route to construct, with costs reaching GBP3.8 million by the time of its opening in 1875. Williams's spirited style lends colour to his portrayal of the Midland Railway's beginnings, its increasing competitiveness and the everyday concern of railway operations, making this an engaging resource for historians of transport, business and engineering.

At its zenith, the British railway network was 21,000 route miles long, twice its present size. Yet it now carries more passenger miles than at its fullest extent and urgently needs more capacity to grow further. The massive reduction in Britain's national railway network resulted from a sustained campaign by a number of individuals, who believed that railways had had their day, that economies had to be made and that you could not stop what they saw as 'progress'. Although the process of railway closure started early, the pace accelerated during the 1950s and peaked in the years following the Beeching report- The Reshaping of British Railways - published in early 1963. However, it could have been even worse. Original research by the authors reveals plans to reduce the size of the railway network further and an assumption, in the early 1990s, that market forces would shrink the network where Government policies had failed. Had these been implemented, only a handful of lines would have remained with the network destroyed forever. The past is vital to understanding today's railway as the industry struggles to meet the demands made of it.Trimming at the margins remains a compelling argument for policy makers unaware of history, and the risk remains that mistakes could be repeated. Drawing upon a wide range of documents, including cabinet papers, Holding the Line is an explosive account of how close the railway industry came to being eviscerated and how the dangers of 'closure by stealth' still exist in the contemporary age.

Although there is a growing body of literature on the process and potential political consequences of class-formation in Africa, there are virtually no detailed studies of the political attitudes and behaviour of African industrial workers. First published in 1978, this study analyses the political history and sociology of one particular group - the railway workers of Ghana's third city, Sekondi-Takoradi, who are renowned for their leading role in the Ghanaian nationalist movement and for their sustained opposition to the elitism and authoritarianism of post-Independence governments. In seeking to explain the ideological consistency which has informed the political activities of the railway workers, Richard Jeffries shows how, within a close-knit and relatively stable community, a keen sense of their own history has provided the basis for a shared political culture.

This was the first anthropological monograph to have dealt at length with the labour force of a major East African industry. It is a study of the African employees of the East African Railways and Harbours stationed at Kampala, Uganda, and living on the Railway-owned Nsambya housing estate. Set in the years 1964 5, shortly after Uganda's and Kenya's Independence, the book explores some of the consequences for African migrant workers of the changes affecting their society. Dr Grillo describes how falling prices for primary agricultural products, educational expansion and rising wages have created a high demand for employment. Those fortunate enough to find work enjoy a relatively high standard of living. Partly in consequence, the Railway labour force has become stabilised with a low turnover of employees, the majority of whom bring wives and children to live in town. They are, however, still migrants who maintain social and economic ties with their areas of origin. By fulfilling customary and personal obligations, individuals retain a position within an 'ethnic' system which provides one framework for relationships of solidarity and opposition. The industry itself with its work-units, occupational groups and grading system provides another.

This book relates the history of Italian railways with special regard to their relation with the Italian state from the 1840s, when the first lines were constructed, until nationalization in 1905. It shows that while the Italian state interfered continuously in railway matters, it was nevertheless incapable of creating viable conditions for railway companies. Throughout the nineteenth century 'the railway question' continued to have a pernicious and divisive influence on Italian political life; and because of the low quality of railway regulation, and other factors, the railways' contribution to the creation of a national market and the economic unification of the country was limited. The book also examines Italian regional social and economic statistics before and after political unification in order to obtain a deeper insight into the continuing disparity between northern and southern Italy. Finally, the book places the development of the Italian railways in a European context, and compares their construction with those in Germany.

This work provides coverage of: Edinburgh and Leith; the East Coast Main Line and the Waverley Route; the Forth Bridge and East Fife; the West Fife and Clackmannan; and the West Lothian and Stirling to Hilton Junction.

Efforts to create and mold new technologies have been a central, recurrent feature of the American experience since at least the time of the Revolution. Many of the most tumultuous events in the nation's history have involved disputes over the appropriateness and desirability of particular technologies. For nearly a century, railroad technology persistently posed novel challenges for Americans, prompting them to reexamine their most cherished institutions and beliefs. Covering a now neglected aspect of American history, Usselman traces their myriad struggles in rich detail.

Efforts to create and mold new technologies have been a central, recurrent feature of the American experience since at least the time of the Revolution. Many of the most tumultuous events in the nation's history have involved disputes over the appropriateness and desirability of particular technologies. For nearly a century, railroad technology persistently posed novel challenges for Americans, prompting them to reexamine their most cherished institutions and beliefs. Covering a now neglected aspect of American history, Usselman traces their myriad struggles in rich detail.

Through courtroom dramas from 1865 to 1920, Recasting American Liberty offers a dramatic reconsideration of the critical role railroads, and their urban counterpart, streetcars, played in transforming the conditions of individual liberty at the dawn of the 20th century. The three-part narrative, focusing on the law of accidental injury, nervous shock, and racial segregation in public transit, captures Americans' journey from a cultural and legal ethos celebrating manly independence and autonomy to one that recognized and sought to protect the individual against the corporate power, modern technology and modern urban space.

Through courtroom dramas from 1865 to 1920, Recasting American Liberty offers a dramatic reconsideration of the critical role railroads, and their urban counterpart, streetcars, played in transforming the conditions of individual liberty at the dawn of the 20th century. The three-part narrative, focusing on the law of accidental injury, nervous shock, and racial segregation in public transit, captures Americans' journey from a cultural and legal ethos celebrating manly independence and autonomy to one that recognized and sought to protect the individual against the corporate power, modern technology and modern urban space.