In the 1980s and early 1990s, Scotland was an excellent destination for the railway enthusiast. The many locomotive hauled trains running through splendid scenery, together with the surviving railway infrastructure and mechanical signalling, provided many fine photographic opportunities. My first railway visit to Scotland was on board The Fair Maid rail tour to Perth, behind Flying Scotsman in 1983\. The following year, I again travelled to Scotland, this time on the F & W Railtours The Skirl O' The Pipes 4, to Kyle of Lochalsh and Mallaig, my first visit to the Scottish Highlands. I had previously been travelling abroad for railways, but impressed by what I saw, I decided that I would quickly return to photograph the Scottish railway scene, before it changed too much. This was the start of a series of visits, each for one or two weeks, between 1984 and June 1991, covering the whole country. This book is a photographic record of the locomotives, trains and infrastructure of the railways of Scotland and the landscapes through which the trains ran, as recorded by my various cameras during the period of my visits.

Since the first subway opened in 1904, the New York Subway system and its trains have provided millions of New Yorkers with cheap, fast, and remarkably reliable transportation. The New York subway system lacks the electronic complexity of such modern operations as the Washington, D.C. Metro or San Francisco's BART, and New Yorkers have few qualms in admitting that theirs is not the world's most beautiful subway. But as it is in no other city on earth, the subway of New York is intimately woven into the fabric and identity of the city itself. Transportation expert Brian Cudahy recounts the history of the New York subway systems in a book that is full of detail, historical anecdote, and the wonders of twentieth - century technology. Tracing the system from it first short IRT look to the extensive network of today, with information about such fascinating sidelights as the city's traim systems and the PATH trains linking New York and New Jersey, he has produced a complete, thoroughly researched and annotated, and fully illustrated history that will delight subway buffs, students of urban affairs, and all those who love the city of New York.

This book details 24 walks into the hills surrounding the historic and iconic Settle to Carlisle railway, based on the stations between Settle and Appleby. The area has some of the finest walking of the north Pennines: the Craven district around Settle; the Three Peaks area; Dentdale, and Mallerstang and the upper Eden valley. The walks, which vary from 4.7 to 17.4 miles with suggestions for variations, are graded, and the descriptions come with OS map extracts and points of interest. Guided walks take place most weekends of the year from these stations, as charter rail services for ramblers popularised the activity from the mid 1970's, but this book allows confident walkers to go it alone if they so wish, not necessarily along the same routes.

In the prelude to the privatisation of BR the Provincial Sector (later Regional Railways) became responsible for local / secondary train services and initiated the refurbishment of 31 Class 37 locomotives, fitted with train heating equipment - hence designated Class 37/4 - to support the shortfall of DMU trainsets. Their initial task was to work services on Scottish lines radiating from Inverness to points north and Glasgow to service the West Highland Line with a small batch based in South Wales to service Cambrian Line services and services from Cardiff traversing the Marches Line to serve Liverpool. These services were soon replaced by Sprinter trainsets thus releasing the fleet to other duties including freight operators hence, at privatisation in April 1994, the fleet became owned by freight companies who subsequently hired locomotives to both other freight companies and passenger operators. Throughout their working life the fleet members have proved invaluable and capable of powering a variety of services whose history confirms both the locomotives' adaptability and prowess in handling the duties allocated to them. Fred Kerr's book seeks to show this adaptability by detailing the reason for their initial creation and the tasks successfully undertaken once released from their initial roles as support for the shortage of DMU trainsets. The advent of privatisation saw an increased demand for their go-anywhere do anything' ability which is also displayed by the range of photographs that illustrate the wide range of duties performed by class members. Once withdrawn from service some class members were purchased for preservation and - such was their adaptability - that preserved examples were hired by train operators to cover duties that no other class of diesel locomotive was capable of achieving.

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.

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.

In 1789, when the First Congress met in New York City, the members traveled to the capital just as Roman senators two thousand years earlier had journeyed to Rome, by horse, at a pace of some five miles an hour. Indeed, if sea travel had improved dramatically since Caesar's time, overland travel was still so slow, painful, and expensive that most Americans lived all but rooted to the spot, with few people settling more than a hundred miles from the ocean (a mere two percent lived west of the Appalachians). America in effect was just a thin ribbon of land by the sea, and it wasn't until the coming of the steam railroad that our nation would unfurl across the vast inland territory.
In Railroads Triumphant, Albro Martin provides a fascinating history of rail transportation in America, moving well beyond the "Romance of the Rails" sort of narrative to give readers a real sense of the railroad's importance to our country. The railroad, Martin argues, was "the most fundamental innovation in American material life." It could go wherever rails could be laid--and so, for the first time, farms, industries, and towns could leave natural waterways behind and locate anywhere. (As Martin points out, the railroads created small-town America just as surely as the automobile created the suburbs.) The railroad was our first major industry, and it made possible or promoted the growth of all other industries, among them coal, steel, flour milling, and commercial farming. It established such major cities as Chicago, and had a lasting impact on urban design. And it worked hand in hand with the telegraph industry to transform communication. Indeed, the railroads were the NASA of the 19th century, attracting the finest minds in finance, engineering, and law.
But Martin doesn't merely catalogue the past greatness of the railroad. In closing with the episodes that led first to destructive government regulation, and then to deregulation of the railroads and the ensuing triumphant rebirth of the nation's basic means of moving goods from one place to another, Railroads Triumphant offers an impassioned defense of their enduring importance to American economic life. And it is a book informed by a lifelong love of railroads, brimming with vivid descriptions of classic depots, lavish hotels in Chicago, the great railroad founders, and the famous lines. Thoughtful and colorful by turn, this insightful history illuminates the impact of the railroad on our lives.

This is a new edition of Dr EM Patterson's first volume on the history of the narrow-gauge railways of North-West Ireland, originally published in 1962. The County Donegal Railways had a route of 124 miles, five termini and three junction stations. For the most part they traversed hilly and thinly-populated country and for two generations they were a busy and efficient operation. This edition adds a valuable chapter of interviews and memories of some of the surviving workers and others who had contact with the railway. It also includes a chapter on the County Donegal Railway today (as over 50 years after closure, much can still be seen of the former network), and some additional Glover drawings of locomotive, carriage and wagon stock.

George Stephenson is among the most famous engineers of all time. His rise from 'rags to riches' is a stirring story of its kind, but many of the works attributed to him should in fact be credited to young subordinates, not least his son, Robert. But much of the work of innovative engineers for his period lay not in the work itself but in persuading people that such work was desirable and necessary. It was in this field that George Stephenson excelled, providing openings in which his young proteges could change the world. They did not let him down, and we should give him full credit for being 'The Father of the Railways'. Adrian Jarvis specialises in the engineering and finance of dock and harbour construction, on which he has published extensively, but he also has a strong interest in early railways and in the general history of technology. Another book for Shire by this author is: The Victorian Engineer

Great Railway Journeys: London to Oxford and London to Cambridge is the fourth in Roger Mason's Great Railway Journeys series. It is a fascinating record of things that can be seen from trains running from London to the two great university cities. The London to Oxford line includes Brunel's wonderful bridge over the Thames at Maidenhead and the Didcot Railway Centre, which is a living museum of the Great Western Railway. Included here is the story of how the author of a world famous book left the manuscript in a cafe at Reading Station. He had not kept a copy so he went home and wrote it again. The London to Cambridge line includes Mountfitchet Castle, a fabulous copy of the one that stood on the site shortly after the reign of William the Conqueror. There is also the Eleanor Cross at Waltham Cross, erected by Edward I in the 1290s as a tribute to his late wife, Eleanor of Castile.

Gripping forensic tales explain how and why trains crash. Trains are massive-with some weighing 15,000 tons or more. When these metal monsters collide or go off the rails, their destructive power becomes clear. In this book, George Bibel presents riveting tales of trains gone wrong, the detective work of finding out why, and the safety improvements that were born of tragedy. Train Wreck details numerous crashes, including 17 in which more than 200 people were killed. Readers follow investigators as they sift through the rubble and work with computerized event recorders to figure out what happened. Using a mix of eyewitness accounts and scientific explanations, Bibel draws us into a world of forensics and human drama. Train Wreck is a fascinating exploration of * runaway trains * bearing failures * metal fatigue * crash testing * collision dynamics * bad rails

India was the jewel in the crown of the British Empire, an Empire that needed a rail network to facilitate its exploitation and reflect its ambition. But, by building India's railways, Britain radically changed the nation and unwittingly planted the seed of independence. As Indians were made to travel in poor conditions and were barred from the better paid railway jobs a stirring of resentment and nationalist sentiment grew. The Indian Railways network remains one of the largest in the world, serving over 25 million passengers each day. In this expertly told history, Christian Wolmar reveals the full story, from the railway's beginnings to the present day, and examines the chequered role this institution has played in Indian history and the creation of today's modern state.

A dynamically written visual history of the world's largest transit system in all its intriguing, colorful, and even seedy glory packed with compelling information, as well as fascinating graphics and illustrations. New York wouldn't be New York without the subway. This one-time engineering marvel that united and expanded the city has been a cultural touchstone for the last 114 years. Subway is a complete, concise history of the transit system, from the technical obstacles and corruption which impeded plans for an underground rail line in the late 1800s, to the current state of the systems and plans for the future. Interspersed throughout are sidebars and stand-alone sections including profiles of characters who helped make the subway what it is today; graphics and imagery showing the evolution of subway cars, tokens and MetroCards, graffiti, and even subway etiquette ads; how the subway has been characterized in movies, television, and music; a look at abandoned cars and stations and more. A passion project for writer and train-buff John Morris, he brings wit and a journalist's instinct to the book, grabbing readers' attention with fascinating facts and anecdotes, conveying a sense of wonder and fun about the world's largest transit system. With engrossing imagery and a dynamic design, Subway will be a visual feast and must-have gift book for history buffs and train fanatics.

Whistle-stop posts along a picturesque cycling trail. An abandoned roundhouse in a new industrial park. A piece of "Black Diamond" anthracite coal lying in the grass. These are silent witnesses to the golden age of American railroading, 1946, when the steam locomotive's sonorous whistle could be heard from Pennsylvania to Vermont, from New York to Chicago.

The second installation of Richard C. Carpenter's highly acclaimed series covers an area criss-crossed by some of the oldest railroad lines in America. This volume includes over 191 beautiful, hand-drawn maps of rail systems in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. These masterpieces, accompanied by detailed sections on stations, track pans, tunnels, and viaducts, capture a time when rail was king in New England, before cars, trucks, and planes became dominant.

As in many countries in the 1970s, South Africa's railways were making the change over from steam to diesel and electric traction at an ever-increasing pace. As a member of the Locomotive Club of Great Britain the author was able to join a tour organised in 1973 to see steam in action at a time that some of the older types of locos were still around, and there was still a considerable amount of regular steam working. Featuring a variety of rare and unpublished colour photographs, George Woods shows the great variety of locos in action - from 4-8-2 tank engines to huge 4-8-4s and Beyer-Garratts, often polished and decorated by their crews, which could be seen in daily service.

The Metropolitan Railway can claim to have had an influence on the evolution of our railway system out of all proportion to its tracks reaching just forty-seven miles from London. However it was the world's first underground passenger railway, built in 1863 to ease the traffic congestion of a growing London and thus creating the first metro system. Embraced by the notorious Victorian entrepreneur Sir Edward Watkin as part of his ultimately unsuccessful ambition to link Manchester and Paris by rail, the Metropolitan decided to use Watkin's land to create the iconic 'Metro-land', an Arcadian form of suburbia embracing affordable housing with easy commuting to London. The brand soon became accepted as the generic description of a lifestyle and by the end of the First World War Metro-land represented the appealing factors of aspiration and affordability. This fascinating history of London's first tube line and the people involved in its evolution brings us up to date with the latest plans for this idiosyncratic railway in line with the coming 2012 Olympics. Featuring many previously unpublished photographs, it is a must for all railway enthusiasts and social historians.

With 980 million passengers a year, more than 250 miles of track, literally hundreds of different stations and a history stretching back nearly 150 years, the world's oldest underground railway might seem familiar, but actually, how well do you know it? Do you know, for example, who the Queen sat next to when she first went on the Tube in 1939? Or what they did with all the earth dug out to make way for the Piccadilly Line? Or indeed why it is that without the common shipworm, Teredo navalis, the Tube network might not even exist? Thought not. But now, with 10,000 wacky facts at your fingertips, The Little Book of the London Underground will tell you everything you need to know - and plenty more that your probably don't.