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Books > Sport & Leisure > Transport: general interest > Trains & railways: general interest
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.
There is always a sense of adventure when going on a railway
journey. Whether it is aboard the Orient Express from London to
Istanbul, or travelling the Transcontinental railroad through the
Canadian Rockies to the Pacific coast, or riding the Serra Verde
Express through the Brazilian rainforest, Rail Journeys takes the
reader on a journey through some of the most unusual, romantic and
remarkable landscapes in the world. Find out about the Coast
Starlight, which carries passengers from Los Angeles along the
Pacific coast to Seattle and all points in between; or the 7,000
kilometre Trans-Siberian, crossing the entirety of Mongolia and
Russia from Beijing to Moscow; or 'El Chepe', the Mexican Copper
Canyon railway, a line which took 90 years to build and negotiates
87 tunnels, 36 bridges and sweeping hairpin bends as it climbs from
sea level to the rim-top views it offers at 2,400m; or enjoy the
engineering excellence of the Konkan Railway in India, connecting
Mumbai with the port of Mangalore via some 2,000 bridges and 90
tunnels; or experience the Shinkansen 'Bullet Train' as it races at
speeds of more than 300 km/h between Tokyo and Kyoto, passing the
iconic Mount Fuji on the way. With 200 outstanding colour
photographs, Rail Journeys takes the reader to some of the most
historic, spectacular and remotest locations in the world, places
where trains still offer romantic and astounding experiences of
rail travel at its best.
This is the story of a quarter-century struggle to rebuild from
scrap condition a unique locomotive, it being an essential part of
the British engineering heritage.It covers the unusual and
efficient Caprotti valve gear in depth and solves the mystery of
why the locomotive did not work properly in service. It was never
improved until it was restored and its secrets revealed with a
surprising conclusion.
The Brighton Atlantic locomotives were some of the most handsome
machines ever constructed at Brighton Works. They were signed by
the D. Earl Marsh, Locomotive Superintendent of the London Brighton
and South Coast Railway, and produced as two classes, the H1,
introduced in 1905-1906, and the H2, introduced in 1911-1912. The
Brighton Atlantic type has had a following among enthusiasts and
model engineers for over a century, with many fine examples of
models of these machines being constructed in all scales, both as
live steam and electric powered. Great interest is still there
today, with many models of these fine locomotives on show at model
engineering exhibitions and on smaller scale Brighton or Southern
layouts. The Bluebell Railway in East Sussex is currently
constructing a full-size replica of the last H2 Atlantic (Beachy
Head) in a workshop at Sheffield Park, using some parts from the
original locomotive and a rescued Great Northern Atlantic boiler.
The project to construct a replica machine has aroused a great deal
of public interest in this design of locomotive.At this time there
are no books available on the market for anyone who would like to
construct a model on, or take an interest in, the replica project
on the Bluebell Railway.
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