The aim of this series is to appeal to readers of all ages, perhaps for different reasons...In this volume: We travel back to the year 1969 For the younger reader there are wonderful pictures of trains, real trains. There will, for example, be tank engines, steam engines, electric trains and multiple units and many more varieties besides! Some will be recognised from train sets, model railways and books, while others will be seen for the first time. For the older reader the books are designed to build into a collection placing the railway in the context of key events thus providing an historical perspective of travel in times past. For those old enough to remember the years depicted, the series will, we hope, provide reminders for many of school days, time perhaps spent train-spotting, shed bashing and generally gricing! The books also make ideal theme gifts for the year of birth, marriage, retirement, starting work and other such events in life.

The author has been a railway modeller for many years and he is also a trained draughtsman. As detailed drawings of current wagons are difficult to obtain he decided to produce a series of his own drawings of modern British railway wagons (back as far as the 1980s). The book contains approximately 50 collections of drawings in 4mm/ft scale with enlarged detail at 8mm/ft or scaled as appropriate. Each wagon is shown in three elevations, normally over two pages, most accompanied by a colour detail photographs of each particular wagon. There is also an appendix of wagon loads to fit the drawings, which includes Hapag/Lloyd containers, RMC 'Inbulk' Tank, Charter Rail lorry for KOA wagon and Scorpion light tank for KFA wagon. Photographs accompany about half the wagons shown in the appendix.

The book concentrates on the London Midland Region in the final years of steam traction covering the period 1948 to 1966. All major London Midland Region towns and cities are represented. - A fascinating collection of hitherto unpublished black and white photographs by former Senior British Medical Council researcher, Ben Brooksbank. - Over 275 photographs are included. - The photographs show remarkable clarity even though photographic materials were difficult to obtain during the immediate post-war period. - Many different classes of locomotives are featured, ranging from the old Midland and LNWR engines ready for withdrawal in the late 1940s, the ex- MR Johnson 0-6-0s which would survive a little longer, the Fowler classes quietly going about their business, the Stanier Class 5 and 8Fs covered in grime, but still efficient, while a bit of 'glamour' is provided by (some) neatly turned out named 'Jubilee' 4-6-0s and 'Coronation' Pacifics. The next generation of locomotives - the BR Standards - also appear, with the 'Britannia' Pacifics included along with Class 5 4-6-0s, Class 4 4-6-0s, Class 4 2-6- 0s, Class 3 2-6-2Ts and the heavy freight 9F 2-10-0s. - Photographs have been taken from the line-side, on station platforms, on shed, around a number of Works and along lines which have long since disappeared. - The captions are well researched and include locomotive details as well as historical information about the various routes, stations and other architectural features

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.

Join David Hindle for a fascinating trip along one of the most scenic railway routes in the British Isles. This is a book for those with an apetite for discovery and those that enjoy the Lake District and its wildlife and scenery. As the tile suggests there is much to interest those with an interest in Railways too! Section One1) A concise history of the Furness Railway2) 'Hindle Wakes' to the growth of leisure and tourism3) A Journey along the Furness Railway from Carnforth to Whitehaven4) Photo gallery of steam and diesel locomotives on the Furness Railway5) Memories of the Furness Railway and travel with the 'ten bob ticket'Section Two Linear and circular great bird watching walks From Stations along the Cumbrian coast:'Silverdale change here for Leighton Moss RSPB Reserve' and Gaitbarrow 'Arnside with connections to Arnside Knott' 'Roose Station for Foulney and Roa Islands and railway heritage' 'Green Road alight here for a coastal walk to Millom' 'Millom Station for Hodbarrow RSPB Reserve"Silecroft for the ascent of Black Combe' 'Ravenglass change here for the Ravenglass and Eskdale Steam Railway.' Walking and cycling from the Ratty 'St Bees change for St Bee's Head RSPB Reserve'Appendix 1 - Bus connections for more walks in northern LakelandOsprey walk at Bassenthwaite I walk the line with a 'single ticket Keswick to Threlkeld please' Keswick, Borrowdale and the circuit of Buttermere

The Crimean War, fought by the alliance of Great Britain, France, and the tiny Italian Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia alongside Turkey against Tsarist Russia, was the first 'modern' war, not only for its vast scale (France mobilised a million men) but also the technologies involved, from iron-clad battleships to rifled artillery, the electric telegraph and steam. Best known for the blunder of the Charge of the Light Brigade, the fearful conditions in the trenches at the front, and the quiet heroism of Florence Nightingale, the Crimean War saw the railway go to war for the first time. The Grand Crimean Central Railway was the brainchild of two Victorian railway magnates, Samuel Morton Peto and Thomas Brassey; in order to alleviate the suffering at the front, they volunteered to build at cost a steam railway linking the Allied camps at Sevastopol to their supply base at Balaclava. In the face of much official opposition, the railway was built and operational in a matter of months, supplying hundreds of tons of food, clothing and materiel to the starving and freezing men in their trenches. Largely worked by civilian auxiliaries, the Grand Crimean Central Railway saw the railway transformed into a war-winning weapon, saving countless thousands of lives as it did so.

Todays beautifully scenic LLangollen Railway runs over a ten mile section of the former Ruabon Junction to Barmouth route that was absorbed into the Great Western Railway in 1877. The line originally opened to freight traffic as far as Llangollen in December 1861, with passenger train services commencing early in June the following year. The current day section of the heritage line to Corwen, was opened to traffic on 1st May 1865, by which time a larger and more centrally located station had been constructed in Llangollen. Closure by British Railways came about in 1964 as a result of the infamous report of Dr Beeching which had been commissioned by the government of the day in order to study potential rationalisation of the rail network in Britain. In the early 1960s standard gauge railway preservation was very much in its infancy in Britain although there were a number of narrow gauge preservation concerns up and running in Wales, so the idea of a dedicated band of enthusiasts restoring and operating services along no longer commercially viable stretches of line had already become established. The beginnings of a Preservation Society in this corner of Wales came about in 1975 when the whole process, which has eventually resulted in what exists today, started with the humble presence of a band of enthusiastic volunteers taking over the occupancy of Llangollen Station in order to start the process of restoration and reconstruction. Over the ensuing years progress was made with the gradual extension of the line, from initial running within the station limits at Llangollen, to Corwen, where a temporary station is currently in use whilst a new purpose built station is constructed. The position of the Llangollen Railway as one of Britain's leading heritage lines is clear to see from the images included in this edition of the Recollections series of publications, which captures the character of this preserved section of the former Great Western Railway in Wales.

Built in the turn of the twentieth century, the Hejaz Railway was initially mocked in Europe as a wildly improbable scheme. Still used partially in Syria and Israel, the railway was constructed at colossal cost and despite countless obstacles, it received great enthusiasm across the Muslim world. This book provides many details about the construction of this project based on British documents from a technical and cultural point of view.

The Tarka Line threads through beautiful Devon countryside from the city of Exeter to the ancient market town of Barnstaple. The Dartmoor Line leaves the Tarka Line near Crediton, and runs along the northern edge of the Moor to Okehampton and Meldon. First published in 1998, this book has been fully revised and updated, with many photographs and now in colour. It features a wealth of locations along the two routes, seen both yesterday and today, and the comparisons will be of absorbing interest to anyone who uses the line, passengers, rail enthusiasts, cyclists and walkers alike.