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Books > Sport & Leisure > Transport: general interest > Trains & railways: general interest
This title talks about: Sheffield and Rotherham; Pennine routes
from Penistone; lines around Barnsley; Wakefield, Castleford and
Knottingley; the railway town of Doncaster; and Goole and Selby.
Based on the historical record, rail transportation in the United
States is an extremely safe mode of transportation. However,
distraction of a railroad employee who is entrusted with safety
related duties has the potential, which has been realised in
several accidents described below, to compromise performance and
endanger the employee, coworkers, or members of the public.
Accordingly, the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (RSIA)
required the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to conduct a
study and prepare a report addressing this issue. FRA is responding
to this mandate in two phases. This book addresses the information
available concerning the effects of distraction on railroad
operating employees, including train crews and other operating
personnel, engaged both in the locomotive cab and on the ground
during switching operations.
Gary Morecambe writes: `David J. Hindle is an author and social
historian with a particular interest in the genre of music hall and
the history of the railways. In this, his latest book, he flags up
parallels to be drawn between the origins of railways and music
hall. This is an original concept, notwithstanding that long before
the age of the automobile, it was the railways that conveyed
audiences and performers to the music halls that evolved to become
variety theatres. I look no further than my father's experiences to
illustrate the point: `A second class train ride between Birmingham
and Coventry in 1940 is not the most obvious starting point for the
best loved double act in British comedy history. World War Two was
well underway in 1940, but not for Morecambe and Wise. Fourteen
year old Eric Bartholomew and his best friend Ernie Wiseman were
travelling that day with my paternal grandmother, Eric's mum and
mentor, Sadie Bartholomew. The star-struck teenagers had been
performing in a touring youth theatre as solo acts. As usual the
boys were over-excited after the show, and going through their
Abbot and Costello, Laurel and Hardy impressions. Sadie, who was
trying to sleep, made a suggestion that would change showbiz
history for ever. `Why don't you two stop fooling around and put
your minds to something else. Why not form a double act of your
own?.' For over twenty years Morecambe and Wise learned their craft
in Britain's variety theatres whilst travelling extensively
throughout the country. When variety effectively died and many
theatres went permanently dark in the 1950/60s, they switched to
television spectaculars, which were enjoyed by millions throughout
the world. The profusely illustrated narrative will offer something
more than mere reading enjoyment. David's enthusiasm and expertise
on music hall history is unbounded, and, in railway nomenclature, I
give this publication the green light.'
M&GNJR was a Midlands to East Anglia railway linking towns and
villages like a patchwork knitted together by clever business
entrepreneurs. It started in the 1850s when there was intense
rivalry between railway companies and two rich and powerful
companies - MR and GNR - were behind the project. Joint,' added by
a Special Act of Parliament in 1893, confirms this patchwork was
the amalgamation of several small independent railway companies
plus the MR and GNR. The company was especially interested in
stealing a march on the Great Eastern Railway (GER) which believed
it was the principal railway serving East Anglia. Poppyland was the
nickname created for the Cromer area of the Norfolk coast by
Clement Scott, an influential poet, author and drama critic of The
Daily Telegraph who first visited in 1883. He claimed that . . .
clean air laced with perfume of wild flowers was opiate to his
tired mind.' Scott publicised his delight and many rich families,
and their servants, visited too; the railway business entrepreneurs
saw a growing market for their patchwork. The M&GNJR grew
eastwards to Norwich, Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and attracted
passengers from the Midlands and London. The M&GNJR grew - then
withered as cars, buses, overseas travel offered new holiday
options. Closure came on 28 February 1959 but North Norfolk Railway
- the Poppy Line - has survived as a heritage line so the Joint is
not forgotten!
Nicholas Whittaker's much-loved classic recollects the long sunny
days of his childhood when, notepad in hand, jam sandwiches in the
duffel bag, he happily spent his time jotting down train numbers
during the Indian summer of steam and the heyday of diesel.
Whittaker returns to his roots in this updated edition, casting a
sceptical eye over recent developments, catching up with old
acquaintances and considering the toll that half a century of
ridicule and a couple of decades of privatisation have wrought upon
his beloved pastime. As Andrew Martin notes in his Foreword, this
is 'one of the best books ever written about rail enthusiasm'.
Equally it is a poetically written memoir of growing up in a more
innocent age, a hymn to British eccentricity and to the virtues of
observing the world around you: 'Spotters - of trains, planes,
buses or birds - are a last redoubt for something rapidly vanishing
from our lives: looking outward, seeing, observing. People notice
things less and less these days, while watching things more and
more.' Praise for the first edition: 'An elegy: for the steam
trains already vanishing when Whittaker's hobby began in 1964; for
the short-lived diesel age which followed; for an era of near
innocence.' Times Literary Supplement 'Whittaker writes with humour
and considerable evocative power . For anyone who will admit to
having a childhood brush with this now derided hobby, Platform
Souls brings it all rushing back.' Independent
An illustrated historical tour of London's 13 great railway
termini, on a clockwise circuit from Paddington to Victoria.
London's railway termini are among the most recognisable and
familiar landmarks in the city. Famed for their bustling platforms
and architectural innovation, they comprise a fascinating mixture
of Neo-Gothic exuberance and purposeful modernity. Though each owes
its existence to a long-extinct Victorian railway company, these
stations continue to be central to London life, with millions of
visitors passing through every year. This historical whistlestop
tour takes you on a circuit of London's thirteen great railway
termini, from Paddington, through King's Cross, to Victoria.
Ranging from the earliest stations to the latest restorations and
ongoing developments, this beautifully illustrated book examines
both their legacy and their future.
Scottish Railways in the 1960s makes a broadly clockwise journey
around the country visiting many long-closed railways, branch
lines, a few industrial locations, plus the locomotives that worked
over them. Locations seen include: Alloa, Alva, Auchtermuchty, Ayr,
Ballachulish, Beattock, Brechin, Burghead, Dumfries, Callander,
Carstairs, Castle Douglas, Coalburn, Douglas, Drongan, Duns,
Edinburgh, Elgin, Fort William, Georgemas Junction, Glasgow,
Gleneagles, Greenock, Hawick, Helmsdale, High Blantyre, Inverness,
Killin, Kilmarnock, Larkhall, Lennoxtown, Lesmahagow, Lugar,
Montrose, Muirkirk, Paisley, Rannoch, Stonehouse, Stranraer,
Tburso, & Turriff. The time period is mainly between 1958 and
1966. Steam motive power largely dominates except in the far north.
Scottish Railways in the 1960s will appeal to railway enthusiasts,
modellers and those interested in local history. Virtually all of
the photographs, a mixture of black & white and colour, have
never previously been published and all were taken by the author,
his father, and their friend Alan Maund. An extensive and
informative commentary accompanies the photographs.
There is a widely held belief that Thomas Cook invented the railway
excursion. In fact the railway excursion is almost as old as the
railway itself, dating back to the 1830s, when hordes of people
from one town would descend on another for a 'cheap trip'. Susan
Major has carried out much in-depth research for this book, drawing
on contemporary Victorian newspapers, and discovered that in fact
Cook played a very minor role, mainly in encouraging middle-class
people to go on more expensive excursions. Her book fills an
important gap in railway history. It explores for the first time
how the vast majority of ordinary working people in Britain in the
middle of the nineteenth century were able to travel cheaply for
leisure over long distances, in huge crowds, and return home. This
was a stunning experience for the excursionists and caused great
shocks to observers at the time. These 'trippers' had to overcome
many obstacles, particularly from the Church of England and the
non-conformist movement, who were affronted by the idea of people
enjoying themselves on a Sunday, their only day away from work.The
book takes the story of the early railway excursions from the 1840s
to the 1860s, a dramatic period of railway and social change in
British history. It looks at how these excursions were shaped and
the experiences of working class travellers during this period,
demolishing a number of cliches and myths endlessly reproduced in
traditional railway histories. While Michael Portillo paints a
picture of travellers sitting tidily in their railway carriages,
consulting their Bradshaws, many working class excursionists on
their trips were hanging on to the roof of a crowded carriage,
endangering their lives, or enduring hours of travel in an open
wagon in heavy rain.
Through 215 nostalgic black and white photographs plus track plans
and operating data, this latest addition to the Railway Memories
series takes us back to the time when Sherwood Forest was a
bustling hive of coal mining and railway activity, when such places
as Mansfield, Worksop, Retford, Shirebrook and Tuxford were busy
railway hubs, when Retford was graced by the most famous
steam-hauled expresses, when colliery branch lines meandered into
the depths of the forest in search of modern 20th century
collieries, and when steam was king. Some more recent scenes which
have also passed into history are included.
The route from Euston to Carlisle has always been the 'Premier
Line' and, in Roaning the West Coast Rails, Derek Cross has
captured its atmosphere and beauty during the transition from steam
to the diesel and electric era. Dealing briefly with the
construction of the lines, the reader gains insight into the work
of the engineers who built them: Joseph Locke who followed the
natural contours of the countryside in long, sweeping curves, and
the Stephensons who cut straight through them, straighter than
Roman roads. An expert photographer can capture the beauty of both
landscape and locomotives: Derek Cross is one of these and the 200
images contained in this book will bring back to life the memories
of a 'Duchess' storming Shap summit and show the younger enthusiast
what working steam was really like.
A symbol of the "new Japan" displayed at World's Fairs, depicted in
travel posters, and celebrated as the product of a national spirit
of innovation, the Tōkaidō Shinkansen—the first bullet train,
dubbed the "dream super-express"—represents the bold aspirations
of a nation rebranding itself after military defeat, but also the
deep problems caused by the unbridled postwar drive for economic
growth. At the dawn of the space age, how could a train become such
an important symbol? In Dream Super-Express, Jessamyn Abel contends
that understanding the various, often contradictory, images of the
bullet train reveals how infrastructure operates beyond its
intended use as a means of transportation to perform cultural and
sociological functions. The multi-layered dreams surrounding this
high-speed railway tell a history not only of nation-building but
of resistance and disruption. Though it constituted neither a major
technological leap nor a new infrastructural connection, the train
enchanted, enthralled, and enraged government officials, media
pundits, community activists, novelists, and filmmakers. This
history of imaginations around the monumental rail system resists
the commonplace story of progress to consider the tug-of-war over
the significance of the new line. Is it a vision of the future or a
reminder of the past, an object of international admiration or a
formidable threat? Does it enable new relationships and identities
or reify existing social hierarchies? Tracing the meanings assigned
to high-speed rail shows how it prompted a reimagination of
identity on the levels of individual, metropolis, and nation in a
changing Japan.
The first of two volumes, "Wildfire through Staffordshire" presents
the very best from Osborne, Wild and Roscoe, who each published
their own early "Railway Traveller's Guides" shortly after the
opening of the country's first ground-breaking trunk line, the
Grand Junction railway, on the 4th of July 1837. This publication
is lavishly and uniquely supplemented with commissioned poems by
Ian Henery as well as many antique views, vistas and rare maps from
the period, and covers the first half of the journey from
Birmingham to Liverpool or Manchester. The second volume continues
as the Wildfire crosses the border of Staffordshire into Cheshire.
The guides, published back in 1838, became must-haves for those who
could take advantage of the ability to travel by rail over long
distances. When the Grand Junction line opened, with the Wildfire
engine making the inaugural run, the distance between Birmingham,
Manchester and Liverpool could be covered in a matter of hours
rather than days, as before it opened when long distance travel was
only then available to the privileged few. Railway travellers were
keen to find out more about the land, the people and places that
they could gaze out at from the safety of their railway carriage,
and as some took advantage of the opportunity to explore
recommended destinations along the route, the age of tourism
arrived. Readers boarding the Wildfire at Curzon Street on the
edges of the booming manufacturing town of Birmingham in 1838, the
year of Queen Victoria's coronation, and join our contemporary
commentators on a thought-provoking journey. Travelling out of
Warwickshire along the tranquil, picturesque Tame valley, the route
crosses the border into Staffordshire, and continues through the
scarred and barren wastelands of the mining and manufacturing
districts. Yet the journey also discovers many splendid gentlemen's
seats of residence and stately houses along the way, allowing us to
marvel at the ever-changing scenery as our journey unfolds across
windswept Cannock Chase, up into northern Staffordshire and its
districts famed for pottery. Along the way our commentators delve
into the lives of the people who dwell in the many manufacturing
and agricultural towns along the route, their lives changed forever
by the rolling tide of industrialization rapidly sweeping the land.
This is truly a living, spoken local history at the dawn of the
Victorian age. The lines that made up the Grand Junction Railway
now form the backbone of the West Coast Main Line. The first from
the Railway Time Traveller's Guide series, this book provides the
reader with an opportunity to retrace the journey made in 1838,
sadly though not by steam. Wildfire through Staffordshire is not
only a must-have for railway enthusiasts and local historians, but
appeals to anybody interested in Britain's history and heritage.
After completing the journey through Staffordshire aboard the
Wildfire back in 1838, readers can re-visit the many places
described in that early journey, as some now make up the famous
modern day visitor attractions in Staffordshire. These are listed
with visitor information in the last section although, sadly, many
have disappeared in the mists of time.
The accomplishments, and initiatives, both social and economic, of
Edward Watkin are almost too many to relate. Though generally known
for his large-scale railway projects, becoming chairman of nine
different British railway companies as well as developing railways
in Canada, the USA, Greece, India and the Belgian Congo, he was
also responsible for a stream of remarkable projects in the
nineteenth century which helped shape people's lives inside and
outside Britain. As well as holding senior positions with the
London and North Western Railway, the Worcester and Hereford
Railway and the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway,
Watkin became president of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada. He
was also director of the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railways,
as well as the Athens-Piraeus Railway. Watkin was also the driving
force in the creation of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire
Railway's 'London Extension' - the Great Central Main Line down to
Marylebone in London. This, though, was only one part of his great
ambition to have a high-speed rail link from Manchester to Paris
and ultimately to India. This, of course, involved the construction
of a Channel tunnel. Work on this began on both sides of the
Channel in 1880 but had to be abandoned due to the fear of invasion
from the Continent. He also purchased an area of Wembley Park,
serviced by an extension of his Metropolitan Railway. He developed
the park into a pleasure and events destination for urban
Londoners, which later became the site of Wembley Stadium. It was
also the site of another of Watkin's enterprises, the 'Great Tower
in London' which was designed to be higher than the Eiffel Tower
but was never completed. Little, though, is known about Watkin's
personal life, which is explored here through the surviving diaries
he kept. The author, who is the chair of The Watkin Society, which
aims to promote Watkin's life and achievements, has delved into the
mind of one of the nineteenth century's outstanding individuals.
Inspired by the hit board game that has sold over 12 million
copies, travel the world from the comfort of your home with the
Ticket to Ride Puzzle Book. Based on the award-winning board game,
this book is packed full of 100 original, colourful and exciting
challenges for puzzlers and board-game enthusiasts alike. It's the
year 1900, and you are a young tourist setting off on a global rail
journey. Voyaging from city to city across countries and
continents, you meet an entertaining set of characters who provide
you with a perplexing set of brainteasers, from logic problems and
train track puzzles to riddles and linguistic conundrums. Climb
aboard and ride across the world in 100 globe-trotting puzzles!
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