`The Last Years of Steam Across Somerset and Dorset' gives an excellent photographic study of yesteryear and the iconic steam locomotive at work. The renowned Somerset & Dorset Railway is covered in detail as are other railway locations across the two counties such as Bath, Bournemouth, Bridgwater, Bristol, Burnham, Chard, Clevedon, Dorchester, Dulverton, Evercreech Junction, Frome, Radstock, Shepton Mallet, Swanage, Taunton, Templecombe, Wells, Weymouth, Yatton and Yeovil. A captivating time capsule from the author's private collection from the mid-1950s to the end of steam in the 1960s. The Last Years of Steam Across Somerset and Dorset contains many previously unpublished photographs by an internationally renowned authoritarian figure on steam locomotives and their history.

The Blue Diesel years covered in this book started in 1964 when British Railways steam still had another four years to go. The blue - in a slightly lighter shade than that which became standard - first appeared on a demonstration train of new Mk1 coaches with a repainted Brush Type 4 loco. It was the start of around 20 years of the blue era, regarded by many as a less interesting time in BR history. However, what the railway may have lacked in colour it made up for in the variety of locomotive classes, the great majority of which are illustrated in this attractive new album from Gavin Morrison.

The District Railway was designed by a committee with impractical aspirations. A banking crisis and collapse of one of its contractors during construction created long term financial difficulties. It was complicit in completing the long hoped for `inner circle' railway that was a financial disaster and very difficult to operate. Its directors were for many years ineffectual and its managing director, though getting off to a good start, became complacent and distracted and failed to pursue with vigour the policies that were needed. Even the American entrepreneurs, who arrived with the twentieth century, had their work cut out trying to make something of a line that rarely paid dividends and had never been far from bankruptcy. In all this, the railway and its operational staff provided good and useful services to important parts of London or the suburbs it helped to shape. Why a railway like this found itself in such a sorry state is part of the story covered in this definitive volume. Well illustrated in colour and black and white.

A special board book edition of the original, classic story introducing Thomas the Tank Engine!

This is a beautifully-illustrated story about Thomas the little blue Tank Engine, who worked really hard on The Fat Controller's railway. Every day he puffed around Sodor shunting trucks and pulling freight. But what he dreamed about was having his very own branch line …

Thomas has been teaching children lessons about life and friendship for 75 years. He ranks alongside other beloved characters such as Paddington Bear, Winnie-the-Pooh and Peter Rabbit as an essential part of our literary heritage.

In one of the greatest engineering feats of his time, Claudius Crozet led the completion of Virginia's Blue Ridge Tunnel in 1858. Two centuries later, the National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark still proudly stands, but the stories and lives of those who built it are the true lasting triumph. Irish immigrants fleeing the Great Hunger poured into America resolute for something to call their own. They would persevere through life in overcrowded shanties and years of blasting through rock to see the tunnel to completion. Prolific author Mary E. Lyons follows three Irish families in their struggle to build Crozet's famed tunnel and their American dream.

Between soaring mountains, across arid deserts, parched plains and valleys of fruit orchards and olive groves, down glittering coastlines and along viaducts towering above plunging ravines... there is no better way to see Spain than by train. Rail enthusiast Tom Chesshyre, author of Slow Trains to Venice, Ticket to Ride and Tales from the Fast Trains, hits the tracks once again to take in the country through carriage windows on a series of clattering rides beyond the popular image of "holiday Spain" (although he stops by in Benidorm and Torremolinos too). From hidden spots in Catalonia, through the plains of Aragon and across the north coast to Santiago de Compostela, Chesshyre continues his journey via Madrid, the wilds of Extremadura, dusty mining towns, the cathedrals and palaces of Valencia and Granada, and finally to Seville, Andalusia's beguiling (and hot) capital. Encounters? Plenty. Mishaps? A lot. Happy Spanish days? All the way.

The DeAutremont brothers were looking for a big score. They brought dynamite, guns and a getaway car. On October 11, 1923, at the summit of the Siskiyou Mountains in southern Oregon, the three young men held up a passenger train, with disastrous consequences. Their rash actions resulted in the tragic deaths of three Southern Pacific trainmen and one U.S. Mail clerk, unleashing a public outcry that still rings through Oregon's history. In this riveting account, rail historian Scott Mangold draws on interviews, in-depth research and previously unpublished maps and photographs to document the events at Tunnel 13. Join Mangold as he chronicles the resulting four-year manhunt and eventual conviction of the DeAutremonts and provides insight into the lives derailed by the robbery's bitter legacy.

America was made by the railroads. The opening of the Baltimore & Ohio line--the first American railroad--in the 1830s sparked a national revolution in the way that people lived thanks to the speed and convenience of train travel. Promoted by visionaries and built through heroic effort, the American railroad network was bigger in every sense than Europe's, and facilitated everything from long-distance travel to commuting and transporting goods to waging war. It united far-flung parts of the country, boosted economic development, and was the catalyst for America's rise to world-power status.

Every American town, great or small, aspired to be connected to a railroad and by the turn of the century, almost every American lived within easy access of a station. By the early 1900s, the United States was covered in a latticework of more than 200,000 miles of railroad track and a series of magisterial termini, all built and controlled by the biggest corporations in the land. The railroads dominated the American landscape for more than a hundred years but by the middle of the twentieth century, the automobile, the truck, and the airplane had eclipsed the railroads and the nation started to forget them.

In "The Great Railroad Revolution," renowned railroad expert Christian Wolmar tells the extraordinary story of the rise and the fall of the greatest of all American endeavors, and argues that the time has come for America to reclaim and celebrate its often-overlooked rail heritage.

The book takes an in-depth look at the East Coast Main Line-King's Cross to Edinburgh-between 1939 and 1959. This is carried out in a series of chapters. In the first one a picture is painted of the state of the network in the late 1930s. It is followed by an account of the historical context of the changes on the ECML over the subject years. This includes wartime 1939-1945 and the fortunes of British Railways in the post-war period until the end of the 1950s; then follows an account of passenger services on the ECML in the summer of 1939 and in the war and changes thereafter. Towards the end of the book there are smaller chapters of specific interest. Amongst these are military and other government installations served by the ECML during WWII; specific wartime locomotive workings; the impact of war on the ECML at various locations along the line; accidents on the ECML September-December 1959 and snow and floods on the ECML in the 1940s and 1950s. The period covered is a crucial one in the history of the line and it is presented in an erudite yet readable manner.

As we recall the recent forty-fifth anniversary of the end of steam working on British Rail, Steam North West is a fascinating journey along the West Coast mainline from Crewe to Carlisle, also visiting a number of lines which made a junction with this vital railway artery. Set in the final two years of steam working in North West England, we call in at well known places such as Preston and some less well known like Heysham and Barrow. Also included are visits to the last remaining steam sheds and infrastructure of the steam railway. Views range from the industrial and suburban scene to the beauty of the Northern Fells. Steam North West concludes with a look at the very end of steam working on British Rail in August 1968 with the very last workings recalled with a final tribute to the steam era by night. Many memories are remembered with a wealth of colour material, mostly previously unpublished and nearly all taken from the author's private collection.

The two decades following the end of the Second World War was a period of great change in Britain. One of the most noticeable changes, apparent throughout the towns and countryside, was the switch from steam to diesel traction. It transformed the character of the railways, not only in the replacement of locomotives, but also in the enormous upheaval of infrastructure. Bill Reed's photographs capture all of this. The sight of grimy steam locomotives on turntables, trundling along branch lines, pausing in sleepy stations, waiting to be watered or coaled, and on the scrap lines, is now only to be witnessed in photographic archives such as this. Bill took the pictures when it was a privilege, not to mention a rarity, to have a decent camera. He also took them at time when it was not frowned upon, like it is today, to be interested in railways, and take pictures of locomotives. It was only natural for young lads to have a desire to gaze at the vast, almost human engines with awe, because maybe their dads, granddads or even great granddads had been part of building or working them. Looking back now, it is a shame that more locomotives and more pieces of infrastructure were not saved. Yet the 1950s and '60s was not a time for nostalgia and reflection; it was one, supposedly, for moving forward and embracing the new. But for those of us with an interest in Britain's great industrial and transport heritage, we have people like Bill Reed to thank for giving us a glimpse into the last years of this extraordinary era.

Join Thomas for an adventure on the Island of Sodor in this delightful new picture book! This action-packed story is filled with diggers, mud and lots of engine fun! Alfie the digger just wants to be a part of the team and help get Sodor ready for a big fair. But he is too little and nobody needs a digger. That is until Thomas gets himself stuck in the mud! Alfie must rush to the rescue to make sure Thomas gets to the fair on time. Thomas has been teaching children lessons about life and friendship for over 75 years. He ranks alongside other beloved characters such as Paddington Bear, Winnie-the-Pooh and Peter Rabbit as an essential part of our literary heritage.

All aboard the puzzle train! This book is fully loaded with 200 railway-themed puzzles, perfect for aficionados as well as inquisitive commuters More than just a means of transport, trains have changed the world. Across centuries and continents, they've been unstoppable. But when you're sitting back in your seat on a long rail journey, why not pause for a puzzle or two? From quick quizzes and riddles to more leisurely crosswords and sudoku, whether you're a locomotive obsessive or just enjoy the occasional trip, there's plenty in these pages to fire up your mental furnace and keep you going full steam ahead to the end of the line. Inside you will find a rich variety of puzzles, including these: Find the names of world-famous locomotives within word searches Shuffle the letters of anagrams to identify essential railway paraphernalia Guess the meaning of some technical train-related terms Figure out what happened during strange-but-true incidents from railway history