Do you love trains? Do you love adventure? If so, join Tom Chesshyre on his meandering rail journey across Europe from London to Venice. Escaping the rat race for a few happy weeks, Chesshyre indulges in the freedom of the tracks. From France (dogged by rail worker strikes), through Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Poland, he travels as far east as Odessa by the Black Sea in Ukraine. With no set plans, simply a desire to let the trains lead the way, he heads back via Hungary, the Balkans and Austria. Along the way he enjoys many an encounter, befriending fellow travellers as well as a conductor or two. This is a love letter to Europe, written from the trackside.

What sort of person undertakes to rob a multi-ton train surging down a set of rails at high speed? For the Old West’s most famous outlaws, including Jesse James, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the Dalton Gang, and Black Jack Ketchum, it was as much about the thrill of the crime as the riches to be won, thumbing their noses at the authorities, and getting away with their crimes more often than not. These men, and at least one woman, were dare devils, rule breakers, adventurers, and rebels. In addition to their train robberies, they led colorful, dramatic, and dangerous lives. The Old West's Infamous Train Robbers and their Historic Heists profiles sixteen noted train robbers (or train robbing gangs) along with the details of each their forty-seven hold-ups. The mechanics of each of their train robberies—planning, execution, and escape—are dissected and discussed. Pertinent background information relating to each outlaw/gang is included as well as what became of them following their train robbery days.

The cross-country Ruabon to Barmouth railway was originally built to fulfil the desire of connecting the town of Llangollen with the rest of the rapidly expanding network. The local Victorian promoters received the backing of the Great Western Railway, which had an ambitious plan to reach the Cambrian Coast and tap into the slate quarries around Snowdonia. As time was to prove, the GWR was to be temporarily thwarted by the construction of a branch inland from Barmouth by the rival Cambrian Railway, resulting in an end-on connection between the two railways in the market town of Dolgelly. The route developed into an important artery across rural Wales, bringing in its wake a revolution in agriculture, industry and daily life. Holiday traffic became big business, tapping into the big conurbations of Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham. The route would ultimately succumb to the Beeching axe during the 1960s, but even this did not go to plan following severe flooding a few weeks prior! Volume One explores the eastern half of the route, encompassing the towns of Ruabon, Llangollen, Corwen and Bala, and a brief introduction to the fundamentals of railway travel. The perfect companion for anyone visiting the preserved Llangollen Railway.

A facsimile edition of Bradshaw's fascinating guide to Europe's rail network. Bradshaw's descriptive railway handbook of Europe was originally published in 1913 and was the inspiration behind Michael Portillo's BBC television series 'Great Continental Railway Journeys'. It is divided into three sections: timetables for services covering the continent; short guides to the best places to see and to stay in each city; and a wealth of advertisements and ephemeral materials concerning hotels, restaurants and services that might be required by the early twentieth century rail traveller. This beautifully illustrated facsimile edition offers a fascinating glimpse of Europe and of a transport network that was shortly devastated by the greatest war the world had ever seen.

The North London Line from Richmond to Broad Street, and later, to Stratford was the capital's Cinderella railway for many years. An official report in 2006 called it 'shabby, unsafe, unreliable and overcrowded.' It was threatened with closure under the Beeching Axe in the 1960s and again in the 1970s, escaping on both occasions due to organised and effective protest groups. Today it thrives as a key part of Transport for London's Overground network, and the story of how it survived closure threats and lack of investment is essential to an understanding of the politics of public transport in London over the past half century

The Last Years of North West Steam contains over 250 stunning colour and black and white pictures that document the steam era drawing to a close in North West England. The area is taken as Crewe to Chester in the south and Carlisle in the north, visiting places in between such as Manchester, Liverpool, Stockport, Warrington, Wigan, Southport, Bolton, Bury, Preston, Blackburn, Burnley, Blackpool, Fleetwood, Lancaster and Carnforth. Beautiful scenes have been captured across the area by a number of highly-skilled amateur photographers. The images feature locomotives at stations, sheds, industrial sites and charming countryside locations. A good portion of the book features rare colour pictures and these are complemented by high-quality black and white photographs. This collection features many of the locomotive classes employed in the area, such as Stanier's Pacifics, Class Five and `Jubilee' 4-6-0s and 8F Class 2-8-0s, Hughes 2-6-0s, Fowler `Royal Scot' and `Patriot' 4-6-0s and 4F 0-6-0s. BR Standard Classes supplement these, whilst ex-London & North Western Railway 0-8-0s are also included, as are engines built for the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway and the Great Central Railway. `Foreign' locomotives from the London & North Eastern Railway and Great Western Railway further illustrate the diversity of the motive power scene. The images are accompanied by informative captions, describing the locomotives, the scene and other interesting details.

Andrew Grant Forsyth's impressive catalogue of previously unpublished photographs portrays the work of locomotives from all parts of the former LNER territories between 1947 and 1958. On trips to sheds and stations across eastern England, he photographed a wide variety of stock, including the former Hull and Barnsley Railway tanks, North Eastern Railway 'Q' Classes, Nigel Gresley's Class A3 and A4, and the Arthur Peppercorn 'Pacifics'. From Newcastle to north London, East and North Eastern Steam is a valuable collection that provides a unique insight into the changing scene of locomotive power in the mid-twentieth century.

The arrival of the railway was one of the most far reaching events in the history of the Victorian city. The present study, based upon detailed case histories of Britain's five largest cities (London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester and Liverpool), shows how the railways gave Victorian cities their compact shape, influenced topography and character of their central districts, and determines the nature of suburban expansion. This book was first published in 1969.

The railways of Britain were battered and bruised after the First World War. Over 20,000 miles of track were owned and operated by 120 companies, and the government decided the country could no longer support so many inefficient, diverse and, in some cases, overlapping operations. To stem the mounting losses and regulate the system, the 1921 Railways Act, also known as the Grouping Act, became law on 1 January 1923. Just four large companies remained, nicknamed the 'Big Four': the LMS (London, Midland and Scottish Railway); the LNER (London and North Eastern Railway); the SR (Southern Railway); and the GWR (Great Western Railway). Remembering the Big Four looks back at the Big Four railway companies, 100 years after they were drawn together. Complete with contemporary images of the locomotives inherited and built by each company, it is essential reading for any railway enthusiast.

In 2010 the first volume of Mike Jacob's enchanting memories of his railway childhood was published. Memories of Isle of Wight Railways combined personal reminiscences with accurate factual information. Readers are privileged to see Hampshire railways in the 1940s, the time as a child he first saw a sailor carrying bananas at Portsmouth station-without knowing what they were, a strange machine that turned out to be the Leader on a test run, and later still, visits to Eastleigh and interviews with the works manager, which revealed some interesting facets on Mr. Bulleid and his engines. The story continues with equally wonderful descriptions of visits from Kent across to Cornwall. This new title is copiously illustrated with new material, a lot of which has never previously published. Just like the first volume, this is a compelling book that once started, will be difficult to put down.

Moquette is the carpet-like fabric covering the seats we sit on in London's Tubes, buses, trams and Overground trains - and here is a brilliantly colourful guide to all its patterns. London Transport has always wanted the best design, be it Charles Holden's superb art deco Tube stations on the Piccadilly Line, its elegant Johnston typeface or Harry Beck's Tube map. And this pursuit of excellence has extended even to the design of the fabrics it covers our bus and Tube seats with: moquette. In the Thirties top artists like Paul Nash and Enid Marx were commissioned to design patterns; nowadays every line like Crossrail or the Overground gets its own unique, colour-co-ordinated moquette pattern. Now, in conjunction with the London Transport Museum, which has the definitive London Transport moquette archive, Andrew Martin has written a delightful, surprising and covetable guide to all these patterns, from the first horse bus to the latest Tube train.

The year 2017 marked the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the People's Republic of China and the Federal Republic of Germany. On this occasion, an extensive nationwide cultural program takes place, which started in Berlin on 20 February with a great Chinese New Year's concert. As part of this cultural program, the exhibition "East Meets West: Maritime Silk Street" of the Guangdong Museum will be shown at the International Maritime Museum Hamburg, which will be shown here for the first time in Europe. In the center of the exhibition are finds of the shipwrecks Nan Hai No.1 and Nan Ao No.1., Which were salvaged off the South China coast. They stand for a little known chapter in Chinese history in the West: the early sea connections of the Middle Kingdom to the West.

In The Last Ten Years, author Brian J. Dickson presents stunning colour photographs from the collections of three enthusiasts of the Seafield Railway Club in north London. Meeting regularly at New Southgate station to record the steam-handled traffic, their focus was initially on all things connected with the former London and North Eastern Railway, but as steam traction became restricted to smaller and smaller areas of operation, regular visits were made further afield, to the north-east of England, Scotland and the former London Midland and Scottish Railway sheds and lines. This record of steam locomotion in its final years of mainline usage, from 1959 to 1968, is sure to enhance any steam railway enthusiast's library.

The author came to London from Lancashire as a nine-year old, having developed an interest in buses and trams at a very early age. He remained in south-west London for the next forty-five years. As a young teenager he took up locospotting, joining a small group of fellow enthusiasts who met regularly by the lineside at Clapham Junction, and avidly followed this hobby for roughly ten years. For the first half of that decade, his hobby was centred largely close to London because of age and money restrictions, and his trips further afield were rare. In this book, he describes his experiences: visiting stations, lineside watching, bunking sheds, and making more official trips to depots and works. He gives us a spotters-eye view of the changes to British Railways at the time: new steam locomotives still arriving; the early days of the Modernisation Plan; and seeing elderly locomotives at the end of their service life. Towards the end of this period, he acquired his first camera and uses these photographs to illustrate his exploits in the early years of his hobby.