The name of Tony Atkins should need little introduction to followers of the Great Western Railway. One of the original contributors to the books on Great Western Wagons and more recently on Great Western Goods Services, his expertise in this particular field of history, operation and commerce is probably without equal. Now he turns his attention to the Docks services operated by the Company and while shipping cannot be totally ignored, this is a book which concentrates primarily on the docks - how they operated, and the traffic that each of them handled, both goods and passenger. Neither were the Great Western docks limited to just South Wales, instead the book starts at Brentford, moves to Weymouth, then travels around the coast to Kingswear, Totnes and Plymouth before continuing through Bristol, Gloucester and finally into South Wales.

For nearly half of the nation's history, the steam locomotive was the outstanding symbol for progress and power. It was the literal engine of the Industrial Revolution, and it played an instrumental role in putting the United States on the world stage. While the steam locomotive's basic principle of operation is simple, designers and engineers honed these concepts into 100-mph passenger trains and 600-ton behemoths capable of hauling mile-long freight at incredible speeds. American Steam Locomotives is a thorough and engaging history of the invention that captured public imagination like no other, and the people who brought it to life.

This new volume in the highly popular Impermanent Ways series is the second to be produced in 2014, the first on Dorset being released in January 2014. Author Jeffrey Grayer has once again sourced a fantastic selection of unusual and topical images to bring to life the numerous closed lines that once existed in this rural county. Lovely locations such as the Forest of Dean, Lydney, Tetbury, Cirencester, Tewkesbury. Contrasting with the views of closure are a carefully chosen selection of contemporary colour scenes showing the featured lines in operation. The vast majority of the photographs included in the book have never been seen before.

L.T.C. Rolt's fame was born from his unique ability to produce works of literature from subject matter seemingly ill suited to such treatment - engineering, canals, railways, steam engines, agricultural machinery, vintage cars - such as in his classic biographies of Brunel, Telford, Trevithick and the Stephensons, and in his superbly written volumes of autobiography. In this, the first part of his autobiography, Rolt tells of his childhood in Chester, on the Welsh border near Hay-on-Wye and in Gloucestershire; of an engineering apprenticeship and career which took him from a farm in the Vale of Evesham to a locomotive works in Stoke-on-Trent and from Dursley to the Wiltshire Downs until he finally settled in a Hampshire village, running a garage which specialised in veteran and vintage cars. Imbued with the author's love of England and his intense feeling for the beauties of the English countryside, the book reveals a landscape populated not only be men, but by machines: steam-ploughing engines, steam wagons, steam locomotives, canal boats and a variety of unusual motor cars. This vividly told tale of rural England sets the stage of a life that was to be consumed by preserving the best the country had to offer in landscape and the technology of a now bygone age.

Jeffery Grayer, author of many of the Impermanent Way titles, has once again sourced a lively and unusual selection of images to illustrate the wide variety of lines that once existed in Dorset but have now long been closed. Contrasting with the views of closure are a carefully chosen selection of colour scenes showing the featured lines as they were in operation. The vast majority of the photographs in the book have never been seen before. Locations such as Bournemouth West, Corfe Castle, Swanage and Bridport/West Bay feature strongly as does Lyme Regis and the changes that have occurred around Weymouth.

In World War 2 the railways of Britain played a pivotal part in the ultimate defeat of Germany and its allies - as they had done in World War 1. Under centralised control, the war effort put a considerable strain upon the infrastructure, equipment and staff of the railway industry. Certain lines which might otherwise have closed, such as the Shropshire & Montgomery, found new roles as military bases and munition dumps were established. Other lines, such as the line from Didcot to Winchester, underwent considerable expansion in order to provide increased capacity. In order to make the railways more efficient a limited number of passenger services were either suspended or withdrawn completely; in many cases, these were never to be restored. This atlas is designed to provide a guide to the impact of the war on the railway industry, illustrating the evolution of the railway network during these years. The various lines are differentiated between those that had passenger services throughout the war, those lines that saw passenger services temporarily or permanently withdrawn, freight-only lines, routes opened during the war and lines that saw capacity increased.

The year 1963 will always be remembered as the one when the Sixties really started to swing. The Beatles and Rolling Stones were topping the charts while the mini-skirt and the Mini car had become the latest fashion accessories. For those with an interest in railways however, 1963 was memorable for the publication by Her Majesty's Stationery Office of Part 1 of the report 'The Reshaping of British Railways' by Dr Richard Beeching, then chairman of the British Railways Board. The term 'reshaping' was somewhat of a euphemism as the report envisaged a radical reduction in the national rail network. Hundreds of stations were to be closed to both freight and passenger traffic, along with thousands of miles of track, while several thousand staff would be made redundant. This series is intended as a record of how the proposals affecting passenger services throughout England, Scotland and Wales were ruthlessly implemented over a ten-year period. Since then, despite the introduction of modern high-speed rolling stock and much track rationalisation, the extent of our rail network has remained basically the same. Train services today are therefore still very much Dr Beeching's legacy. In addition he bequeathed to the nation a linear network of derelict land which could be put to other purposes, including that of heritage railway. The passenger rail network in each regional volume before and after Beeching is shown using maps, text and illustrations. Featuring the lines listed for closure including: Swansea Victoria - Craven Arms - Shrewsbury Gloucester Central - Hereford Carmarthen - Aberystwyth Cardiff Clarence Road - Cardiff General Abercynon - Aberdare Low Level Porth - Maerdy Caerphilly - Senghenydd Barry - Bridgend Bridgend - Treherbert Cardiff - Coryton

The heritage railways around Britain today operate hundreds of miles of track. The role of signalling on these railways is vital in enabling them to operate their services safely. This is the first guide to be published aimed specifically at those who wish to learn how the signalling operates on the heritage railways. The reader is given a background history of the development of railway signalling since its beginnings in the 19th century but the book also gives the reader practical advice on the operation of the signalling. Although the practices vary from railway to railway according to the different traditions and the variations in the equipment, the principles are followed by all. This book will give examples of the range of signalling to be found on the heritage railways in the UK as well as explaining the rules of signalling that are established on all railways. This book will be an indispensible manual for all those wishing to take up railway signalling on one of the main heritage railways in Britain as well as being of interest to all those with a more general interest in the operation of railway signalling.

The railway came to Peebles in July 1855. However, this small town in the Scottish Borders soon became the subject of a dispute between the North British Railway and the Caledonian Railway. The Peebles Railway, the first to reach the town, was taken over in 1876 by the North British. In 1855, however, the Symington, Biggar & Broughton Railway was authorised and, in 1861, formally absorbed by the Caledonian Railway. The North British responded with a new line from Peebles to Galashiels which blocked the Caledonian. In this book, Roy G. Perkins and Iain MacIntosh look at the two North British lines, from where the original Peebles Railway left the line south of Edinburgh to Galashiels, using a fascinating collection of modern and period photographs. Although the railways in the Borders were closed in the 1960s, sections of them are still in partial use as cycle paths and the new Borders Railway will also bring fresh life to parts.

The Class 58s were introduced in 1983, and were a significant departure from normal build standards. The fifty members were built by BREL at Doncaster Works, and were built to a modular design: BR had one eye on the export market with this class of loco. They were fitted with a Ruston Paxman 12RK3ACT prime mover, which proved very suitable for their main use on merry-go-round coal traffic. The only problem the class encountered was with wheelslip. No. 58050 was to become the last locomotive to be built at Doncaster, as no export orders were received for the class. All fifty of the class passed to mainline, and a few members received the blue livery before passing to EWS. This was a class of loco that was withdrawn from service in the UK far too early, as the Canadian-built Class 66s replaced them. Only one member has been physically preserved, but in this book Andrew Cole pays tribute to the whole class with an array of period photographs and technically detailed captions.

This is the fourth book in the very popular and highly acclaimed Pullman Profile series, which as with all the other titles, is a meticulously researched and beautifully presented work covering the famed Brighton Belle trains as well as the slightly less well known 'PUL' sets. There is much new information in this book, and it covers the rationale behind the design, build and their operation in service. Antony Ford has gone to great lengths to secure previously unseen material as well as recounting the stories from many of the regular travellers who used the service. Although this is the fourth book in the series, it will stand well on its own.

Written by a leading expert in the field, this volume contains comprehensive numbering and building details of almost every variety of Engineers Department wagon built by or for British Railways between 1978 and 1994.

Although published in 1999 when the WHR ran only from Caernarfon to Dinas, John Stretton covers the whole route through to Porthmadog. The remarkable archive views of the course of the old line serve to illustrate what has since been achieved in reinstating this railway through some of the most magnificent scenery in the British Isles.