The first edition of this popular volume has been out of print for several years and has become much sought after. Produced in black and white, the first edition was the first volume in the series taking a detailed regional look at the Beeching Report, its proposals for closures and modifications of the UK railway network. The report has become legendary and the interest and debate it generated is no less today than it has ever been since first published. Indeed with railways now rejuvinated and passenger numbers growing ever larger, the reflection on what Beeching got right and what perhaps in hindsight got very badly wrong makes for fascinating reading. This new expanded 2nd edition has been completely reworked and is now published with colour illustrations both new and replacing the original black & white images where possible. The text has been expanded and updated as appropriate and there are 32 extra pages bringing the total extent to 192pp.

Despite being one of the best-known and admired rail companies in the country, by 1947 the GWR was at the lowest ebb of its entire history. Worn out by war, there had been no maintenance for six years and the government couldn't supply the steel it needed for repair. The latter half of the 1940s presented a multitude of challenges to overcome, some due to the recent war and others individual to the GWR: the staff coped with rationing, a desperately cold winter and a blazing hot summer, and dealt with floods, collisions, broken rails and failing locomotives. The incredible strength of character and can-do attitude of GWR workers kept the railway running through it all. This history, taken from GWR papers and illustrated from them throughout, reveals the details of every day, as well as the problems and difficulties the staff faced. Above all, it shows how well they overcame their problems with only muscle power and a steam crane to help - and, of course, no health and safety regulations and arguments to slow them down. Adrian Vaughan's unique history of this famous rail company shows just how special the GWR was right through to the end of its very last year.

London Underground By Design is the beautifully illustrated new book from Mark Ovenden, the acclaimed author of Great Railway Maps of the World, published to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the Tube in 2013. Since its establishment 150 years ago as the world's first urban subway, the London Underground has continuously set a benchmark for design that has influenced transit systems from New York to Tokyo, Moscow to Paris and beyond. London Underground by Design is the first meticulous study of every aspect of that feat, a comprehensive history of one of the world's most celebrated design achievements, and of the visionaries who brought it to life. Beginning in the pioneering Victorian age, Mark Ovenden charts the evolution of architecture, branding, typeface, map design, interior and textile styles, posters, signage and graphic design and how these came together to shape not just the Underground's identity, but the character of London itself. This is the story of celebrated designers - from Frank Pick, the guru who conceptualised the modern Tube's look under the 'design fit for purpose' mantra, to Harry Beck, Tube diagram creator, and from Marion Dorn, one of the twentieth century's leading textile designers, to Edward Johnston, creator of the distinctive font that bears his name, as well as Leslie Green, designer of central London's distinctive ruby-red tiled stations, and the Design Research Unit's head, Misha Black, who in the 1960s rebranded British Railways and created the Victoria line's distinctive style, and Sir Norman Foster, architect of Canary Wharf station. 'Fascinating ... authoritative ... bristles with photographs I've never seen before ... the book does ample justice to a network that - overcrowded and overpriced - is a glorious palimpsest of design' Andrew Martin, Observer 'I wouldn't ordinarily enthuse about one book at such length, but this is an important work...not because it's an entertaining read (it is), but because it identifies the birth of a brand...and records the birth of a new idea - the transport interchange' Kevin McCloud, Grand Designs Magazine 'Mark Ovenden has devotedly documented the designs associated with [the Underground] ... "addictive" for anyone interested in the look of everyday life' Telegraph 'This beautifully illustrated history is a worth tribute [to 150 years of design]' Shortlist 'A wonderful, handsome book ... it makes me want to nerd out, get a travel card and whiz out to the strange ends of Metroland or the UFO shape of Southgate station' Robert Bownes/Andrew Tuck, Monocle Weekly (Radio programme) Mark Ovenden is a British writer and broadcaster. His previous books are Metro Maps of the World, Paris Metro Style and Great Railway Maps of the World. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society and lives in London.

Following on from the author's previous successful books on Southern coaches, this volume looks at an additional selection of classes of coaches that operated on the Southern Railway and the Southern Region of BR that have not so far been covered. The book concentrates on pre-Grouping and BR Mark 1 types, and each is examined in detail in separate chapters. The detailed text is supplemented with scale drawings, photographs, set/coach numbering and some details of the services they worked upon and areas in which they could be found. This volume is aimed primarily at modellers and the drawings reproduced at 4mm scale.

The second Silver Link Silk Edition takes us to the major northern railway city of York. David Mather takes us on a journey through time from the early steam age to the high speed trains of today. Areas covered include: Steam Days After the Age of Steam Railway Infrastructure - heritage or burden? Maintaining the Permanent Way Traction The 'Golden Age' of Diesels The Early Diesel Freight Locomotives The Purpose Built Heavy Freight Diesel Locomotives Electrics to Scotland Yet Steam Lives On ...York on Show at the National Railway Museum Steam Still Special 2013, the year of the A4s Reunion for 'Mallard 75'

Explore Ontario’s rich railway heritage — from stations and hotels to train rides, bridges, water towers, and roundhouses. Rails Across Ontario will take the reader back to a time when the railway ruled the economy and the landscape. Read about historic stations, railway museums, heritage train rides, and historic bridges. Follow old rail lines along Ontario’s most popular rail trails. Find out where steam engines still puff across farm fields and where historic train coaches lead deep into the wilds of Ontario’s scenic north country. Discover long forgotten but once vital railway structures, such as roundhouses, coal docks, and water towers. Learn about regular VIA Rail routes that follow some of the province’s oldest rail lines and pass some of its most historic stations, including one that has operated continuously since 1857.

John Dixon (1835-1891) was one of the generation of British contractors who built railways, bridges and other civil engineering works around the world. Today most are generally forgotten, a fate entirely undeserved by the man who erected Cleopatra's Needle on the Thames Embankment and who built the first railway in China. John Dixon was competent and self-confident, with the boundless enthusiasm and energy typical of Victorian contractors. Had his tender for the construction of the Forth Railway Bridge been accepted, and it was the lowest tender received, history would have treated him differently. This book describes the life and works of John, his bridges, railways, jetties, seaside piers and other projects. His wider business interests, his professional colleagues and his family life are also covered. It includes an explanation of why his tender for the Forth Bridge was unsuccessful, but only mentions Cleopatra's Needle briefly as this is worthy of another book. Indeed, John's brothers, Sir Raylton Dixon (1838-1901) and Waynman Dixon (1845-1930) were also distinguished engineers and it is hoped to publish similar books on their careers. John, Raylton and Waynman Dixon were members of the same Dixon family, from Raby, Cockfield and Newcastle upon Tyne, as was Jeremiah Dixon of Mason-Dixon Line fame.

The excellent photographs of railway historian and former Senior British Medical Council Researcher B.W.L. `Ben' Brooksbank capture the twilight years of the steam railways of the Western Region. Nearly three hundred images are featured, including rare shots of the post-Nationalisation period, in an impressive hardback book. The collection includes locomotives running along trunk routes and branch lines, in stations and goods yards, and at engine depots and main workshops. Classes characteristic of the area are presented, such as: Collett's `Castle', `Hall', `Grange' and `Manor' Class 4-6- 0s, `5700' and `8750' Class 0-6-0PTs and `5101' and `6100' 2-6-2Ts, Churchward's `2800' 2-8-0s, `4200' Class 2-8-0Ts and `4300' 2-6-0s and Hawksworth's `County' Class and `Modified Hall' Class 4-6-0s and `9400' Class 0-6-0PTs. Several absorbed classes, particularly in South Wales, are seen, in addition to BR Standard designs, such as the Standard Pacifics and 9F Class 2-10-0s. The Western Region covered a wide area and some of the places included are: Totnes, Teignmouth, Dawlish, Exeter, Bristol, Salisbury, Taunton, Gloucester, Swindon, Oxford, Reading, Paddington, Old Oak Common, Southall, Birmingham, Shrewsbury, Cardiff, Newport, Swansea, Port Talbot, Llanidloes, Fishguard and Wrexham. The photographs are accompanied by informative captions highlighting details of the locomotives, the stations, sheds and locations.

Continuing his series of regional books reviewing the industrial railways of England, Wales and Scotland, author Gordon Edgar looks at the railways of what is today Northumbria, County Durham and Teesside, covering a period of the last six decades, with an emphasis upon the former National Coal Board railways. This is the eighth volume in the series, covering an area once proudly boasting widespread coal mining, steelmaking and shipbuilding activities, as well as numerous other traditional industries large and small, most now sadly history. The industrial railway diversity that one could have witnessed in this region up until the latter part of the twentieth century was arguably unequalled in Britain. The National Coal Board's Lambton, Hetton, Bowes, Derwenthaugh, Ashington and Backworth railway systems, and the steel and ironworks complexes at Consett, Lackenby and Skinningrove, and Doxford's shipyard in Sunderland are just some of the locations familiar to many industrial railway enthusiasts, all of which are covered. Far-reaching changes in this region over the last half-century sadly leave just three bona-fide industrial railway locations featured in this book surviving today. Primarily utilising previously unpublished photographs, the author offers a fascinating insight into the industrial railways and locomotives of this region, endeavouring to convey the raison d'etre of such railways held in great affection by many.

Last Train to Paradise is acclaimed novelist Les Standiford’s fast-paced and gripping true account of the extraordinary construction and spectacular demise of the Key West Railroad—one of the greatest engineering feats ever undertaken, destroyed in one fell swoop by the Labor Day hurricane of 1935. Brilliant and driven entrepreneur Henry Flagler’s dream fulfilled, the Key West Railroad stood as a magnificent achievement for more than twenty-two years, heralded as “the Eighth Wonder of the World.” Standiford brings the full force and fury of 1935’s deadly “Storm of the Century” and its sweeping destruction of “the railroad that crossed an ocean” to terrifying life. Last Train to Paradise celebrates a crowning achievement of Gilded Age ambition in a sweeping tale of the powerful forces of human ingenuity colliding with the even greater forces of nature’s wrath.

“A dramatic story . . . and Les Standiford has a good deal of fun with it all.” —Washington Post Book World
“A rousing—a deeply sobering—story.” —Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed
“A fascinating and incredibly compelling account . . . I could not put it down.” —Donald Trump
“A definitive account of the engineering feat that became known as ‘Flagler’s Folly’. . . A rousing adventure."—Atlanta Journal-Constitution

This folded map (890mm x 1000mm) pictorially illustrates the history of Britain's Railways up to its previous publication date of 1974. Drawn by Laurence Richardson and last published in 1974 by Collins Bartholomew as a fold up map. Now re-digitized and re-published by Mapseeker in association with the Collins Bartholomew Archive, the map covers all of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland with various historical events, progress, iconic steam locomotives, and heritage railways illustrated pictorially in the form of eye catching vignettes. The map is surrounded by the crests of many of the Railway Companies that were founded over time until they were consumed under the Amalgamation of 1923.