The Salisbury & Dorset Junction Railway was built to consolidate the L&SWR's domination of Hampshire and south Dorset, in an effort to keep the GWR away from Bournemouth. It also gave Salisbury businessmen a more direct route to Poole and Weymouth. Passing through three counties, it traversed contrasting landscapes and served a wide if thinly populated agricultural area. The water meadows between Downton and Fordingbridge produced cattle, milk, and watercress. Year-round passenger traffic on the line was at best erratic, but the line provided a useful diversionary and holiday route. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that the line sadly became a victim of the Beeching axe in 1964. Since then, however, the populations of the towns it once served have grown considerably, and had it remained open, it would have proved very useful, particularly for travel to Salisbury and the Bournemouth-Poole conurbation.

Never before has a comprehensive history been written of the track used by railways of all gauges, tramways, and cliff railways, in Great Britain. And yet it was the development of track, every bit as much as the development of the locomotive, that has allowed our railways to provide an extraordinarily wide range of services. Without the track of today, with its laser-guided maintenance machines, the TGV and the Eurostar could not cruise smoothly at 272 feet per second, nor could 2,000-ton freight trains carry a wide range of materials, or suburban railways, over and under the ground, serve our great cities in a way that roads never could. Andrew Dows account of the development of track, involving deep research in the papers of professional institutions as well as rare books, company records and personal accounts, paints a vivid picture of development from primitive beginnings to modernity. The book contains nearly 200 specially-commissioned drawings as well as many photographs of track in its very many forms since the appearance of the steam locomotive in 1804\. Included are chapters on electrified railways, and on the development of mechanised maintenance, which revolutionised the world of the platelayer.

The picturesque county of Hampshire in southern England boasts an astonishing variety of railway lines and attractions to delight the enthusiast. From one of the world's oldest operational railways at Hythe, a unique island line, to successful preserved steam railways such as the Isle of Wight, Mid Hants and Swanage railways, as well as the many busy commuter routes to London and bustling freight traffic to and from its Channel ports, Hampshire in the twenty-first century is perhaps unique in the diverse nature of its rail heritage. Just an hour by train from the capital, one could be at the controls of a steam or diesel locomotive, riding on a former London Underground train, or enjoying a sumptuous meal and watching the countryside drift by. This book will offer anyone interested in trains in the county a pictorial guide to the best that Hampshire has to offer.

Concentrating on the famous 16-mile preserved stretch, this book also looks at the whole of the original route from Shrewsbury to Kidderminster and Hartlebury, and on to Droitwich and Worcester. We also enjoy a glimpse of the connecting lines to Craven Arms, Wellington and Woofferton, including the delightful Cleobury Mortimer and Ditton Priors Light Railway.

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.

The Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society was the first such organisation in the world, and the inaugural society-operated train on 14 May 1951 heralded the dawn of the railway preservation movement in Britain. In the ensuing years, from its decrepit state in 1950 to its present-day role as one of the 'Great Little Trains of Wales', many changes have taken place on the railway, while some aspects remain remarkably unchanged.

The story of Gresley and his locomotives is a well-trodden path. But our view of his achievements is a blinkered one because it fails to recognise all the other people who played a part in his work. As the leading American aviation engineer Paul S Baker wrote in 1945 the day of one-man engineering is long gone. You might as well print the organisation table of the engineering department when trying to assign credit for a particular design'. To Gresley must go great credit for many of the LNER's achievements, but those around him have faded into obscurity and are now largely forgotten even though their contributions were immense. To redress this balance, the author has explored the lives of Gresley and his team and sought to uncover a more expansive picture of these events. This in no way diminishes Gresley's accomplishments, which are immense by any standards, but builds a more authentic view of a dynamic period in railway history. The book draws upon many sources of information, some of it previously unpublished. This has helped present a fascinating picture of all that happened and all that was achieved, often in the most difficult of circumstances, by a very gifted team of engineers and their exceptional leader.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel considered the Great Western Railway the 'finest work in England' and he contributed many groundbreaking features, none so unorthodox as the decision not to adopt the 'standard' track gauge of 4ft 81/2in and instead introduce the new 'broad gauge' of 7ft 1/4in. Describing the rationale behind the choice of broad gauge, and also the unique track and locomotives used, this beautifully illustrated introduction to broad gauge railways chronicles the building of the original GWR between Bristol and London, and the expansion of that original 112-mile main line into a network stretching across the West of England, Wales and the Midlands. It describes how the clash between broad and narrow led to the 'Battle of the Gauges' and also provides a list of places to visit where broad gauge artefacts still survive.

Of all the products of the Industrial Revolution, none left its mark on the landscape of Britain, or changed the lives of the British people, more than the railway. The encyclopedic Oxford Companion to British Railway History reveals, for the first time, the full story of this remarkable achievement: the inspired pioneers, the unprecedented feats of engineering, the romance, and the reality. From the primitive wagonways of the seventeenth century, through the eras of horse, steam, diesel, and electric traction, it explores the railway's unique place in our history, and the reasons for its extraordinary and enduring hold on our collective imagination. Unrivalled authority Over 600 entries by 88 distinguished contributors chart the progress of rail travel from 1603 to the late twentieth century. Comprehensive coverage Covers not only the technical and historical development of the railway, but its social, economic, political, and artistic aspects. Illustrated throughout Maps, diagrams, tables, and illustrations bring the text to life and demystify technical concepts. People, places, and politics Covers the key figures who influenced the development of the railways, the towns that were changed forever, and the policies that brought about the network's rise and fall.

Even in 1973 much of the steam infrastructure was still to be found, but as modernisation took hold diesels were being joined by electric locomotives in increasing numbers. This was the height of the 'loco-hauled' era on the main line. In the wider world hostages were taken at the Olympic Games, and President Nixon visited China.

A pictorial journey along the famous rail route from London to the West of England, well known by thousands of travellers and holidaymakers over the years, this book will show many of the views that are so familiar, along with the branch lines that offer links to resorts such as Torquay, Looe, Newquay and St Ives. For the railway enthusiast, the past generation has seen a remarkable transformation from the end of steam and the reign of the popular Warship and Western diesels, through the High Speed Train (HST) years, and more recently the electrification of the London to Bristol section of the line and the introduction of bi-mode diesel/electric units. The images cover the route from London's Paddington terminus, along the Thames Valley past Reading and on towards Bristol, before turning south to Taunton, Exeter, Plymouth and on into Cornwall. The Berks & Hants line through Newbury, Westbury and Castle Cary is also included.

An eminent early preservationist, John Crawley was able to amass an enviable photographic archive of steam traction engines and road rollers in their working days, of which this Aveling & Porter selection formed just a part. Organiser of over eighty steam rallies, John saved up to thirty steam traction engines for preservation from the mid-1950s to the early 1960s, at a time when they were considered not much more than worthless scrap. Indeed, he became the first owner of no fewer than twenty-two of them. Utilising this incredible and unique collection of images, most of which are previously unpublished, Colin Tyson tells the story of this important manufacturer and iconic British brand.

The two most westerly counties in England remain hugely popular for travellers looking for a break in the UK. Perhaps less well known is the fact that, against all the odds when faced by the Beeching Axe, a number of popular destinations can still be reached by today's railway. From Barnstaple to Gunnislake, Exmouth to Falmouth, John Jackson explores the variety of lines and stations that remain on the railway map in the counties of Devon and Cornwall. With much of the area's industry now consigned to history, there is little remaining freight traffic in the area. The main exception is the flow of Cornish china clay for export that is still carried by rail and centred on the area around Par and St Blazey. The author has spent countless hours chasing these somewhat elusive workings in recent years. From rolling countryside to seaside views, these two counties have it all.

This is the 49th volume in the Recollectios series and the second title published by Silver Link to celebrate the Talyllyn Railway. As with all the titles in the recollections series this volume is aimed at the general market as much as the enthusiast - designed for easy reading and enjoyment rather than a 'rivet counting' approach! Since 1951, when the railway was first taken over by preservationists, great improvements have been made; volunteer members of the TRPS now provide most of the train crew and station staff required to operate the line, and assist with maintenance work and with many other activities. The track has been relaid, locomotives have been acquired and rebuilt, additional carriages have been constructed, a safe and flexible signalling system has been installed, and the many other improvements needed to cater for the much increased number of passengers have been carried out. But the TR is still very much the railway it always was, a rural byway where the pace of life is gentle, the average speed of the train is still less than nine miles per hour, and passengers can have an unhurried journey along the beautiful and unspoilt Fathew Valley. Both the original locomotives and all the original carriages remain in regular use to this day.

As the modernisation of the former British Railways moved forward into Railtrack and then Network Rail, various schemes to bring the West Country railway network up to date came... and went! Consequently, the far west of the network from Plymouth to Penzance became locked in a kind of time warp of semaphore signalling and cascaded rolling stock. During the last forty or so years, Cornwall has seen the demise of once common classes of locomotives and the introduction of the famous HSTs, Class 66s and Voyagers, though journey times have changed little - mainly due to the nature of the route, but the largest hindrance to an improved service is the lack of signals. The signalling was over-rationalised, though the issue was partially rectified with minor upgrade schemes. This book aims to bring back memories of traction once common, or not so common, on the rails of the Duchy of Cornwall.

One of the best accounts of the story of The Great Siberian Railway.

British Railways Past and Present is a natio nwide series of books featuring photos of railway locations taken several decades ago and comparing them with the same s cene today. This volume covers Avon, Cotswolds and the Malve rns. '

This new history reveals the previously untold story of why and how trains have been used to transport the dead, enabling their burial in a place of significance to the bereaved. Profusely illustrated with many images, some never previously published, Nicolas Wheatley's work details how the mainline railways carried out this important yet often hidden work from the Victorian age to the 1980s, as well as how ceremonial funeral transport continues on heritage railways today. From royalty, aristocrats and other VIPs (including Sir Winston Churchill and the Unknown Warrior) to victims of accidents and ordinary people, Final Journey explores the way in which these people travelled for the last time by train before being laid to rest.