Peter J Green first photographed Class 50 diesels in action in 1975, while they were still being transferred from the London Midland to the Western Region of British Rail. But it was in the early 1980s, when they were named and painted in Large Logo livery, that his interest in the class really took off. For Peter, they stood out from most other locomotives that were painted in the rather drab Rail Blue livery. The sound of the locomotives, particularly when running at speed, was also very impressive, producing shouts of '50!' from waiting photographers, even before the train was in sight. The class became a particular target for his railway photography and many of his trips were made with them in mind. They regularly worked trains around his home town of Worcester, so if he did not want to go too far, it was easy to find a satisfactory subject at which to point his camera. Before their withdrawal in the late 1980s and early 1990s, they were used on many railtours, which always provided good photographic opportunities. Today, with many of the class working on heritage railways, and a number of privately owned locomotives registered for main line use, there is still plenty to keep his cameras occupied. A selection of Peter's best photos of the Class 50 diesels, taken over a period of forty-five years, appear in these pages.

The steam locomotive was a British invention and even today, the world speed record for steam remains with a British locomotive, Mallard. Steam's first significant contribution to British industry was through powering pumping engines for mines. When steam was applied to the railways, the 'railway age' began. The steam locomotive went through several distinct phases during its long life, which came to an end on regular service in the late 1960s. The early phase was followed by the trend for large single driving wheels, then compound locomotives with connected driving wheels once steel became strong enough for the connecting rods. Further developments included tank engines that could run equally well forwards and backwards; the 4-6-0 and 4-6-2 expresses; the passion for speed records and streamlining; and the standardisation years of British Railways. This insightful, fully illustrated story book follows the history of the steam locomotive and will delight all those interested in the steam age.

London's Underground is one of the best-known and most distinctive aspects of the city. Since Victorian times, this remarkable feat of engineering has made an extraordinary contribution to the economy of the capital and played a vital role in the daily life of generations of Londoners. Stephen Halliday's informative, entertaining, wide-ranging history of the Underground celebrates the vision and determination of the Victorian Pioneers who conceived this revolutionary transport system. His book records the scandal, disappointments, and disasters that have punctuated the story and the careers of the gifted, dedicated, sometimes corrupt individuals that have shaped its history. It also gives a fascinating insight into the neglected, often unseen aspects of this subterranean system - the dense network of tunnels, shafts and chambers that have been created beneath the city streets.

The British Railways Pilot Scheme' orders of 1955 included ten BTH and ten NBL Type 1 locomotives, these being introduced during 1957-61 for use in East London, and on the Great Eastern and London, Tilbury & Southend lines. The BTH fleet subsequently expanded to forty-four, as a consequence of their light axle-loading and the availability of spare manufacturing capacity which BR chose to exploit in their quest to eliminate steam traction. Further construction of these two classes ceased after the fifty-four units, with preference being given to the highly reliable English Electric product which by mid-1962 had proliferated to 128 examples. The NBL fleet survived until 1968, being withdrawn after ten years of indifferent performance. The BTH locomotives followed by 1971, although four lingered on as carriage pre-heating units. Dramatic reductions in goods traffic during the 1960s/70s particularly impacted local trip and transfer freight duties, the bread and butter' work for the Type 1s, and it was inevitable that the less successful classes were retired from traffic first. This book looks at the short history of these two classes, making extensive use of archive sources, combined with the primary observations of numerous enthusiasts. Previously unpublished information, covering the introduction, appearance design and performance issues of the locomotives, form a central focus, and, allocations, works histories, storage and disposals, liveries and detail differences are covered in the same level of detail as previous volumes in the Locomotive Portfolio series.

The Poster to Poster series is a nine-volume definitive collection of British railway posters which showcases many of the railway posters from the National Railway Museum at York and other museums and galleries. Each volume is a mixture of travel documentary, geographical and historical study, graphic artists' reference and poster database - all interlinked using the central theme of railway posters. This 9th volume, takes a journey from around the USA from the east to the west coast. The result is a stunning artistic guide to North American destinations and railway poster heritage. This is a high quality production and is fully illustrated with beautiful and memorable posters. it is a stunning book that should appeal to everyone, not just railway enthusiasts.

David Maidment has unravelled the complex history of the Johnson, Deeley and Fowler 4-4-0 locomotives of the Midland Railway and its LMS successor, covering their design, construction, operation and performance in this book with over 400 black and white photographs. It recounts their working on the Midland main lines from St Pancras to Derby, Manchester, Leeds and Carlisle, the latter via the celebrated Settle & Carlisle line, and the later work of the Fowler LMS engines on the West Coast main line. The book also describes the history of the Midland 4-4-0s built for the Somerset & Dorset and Midland & Great Northern Railways. The book covers the period from the first Midland 4-4-0 built in 1876 to the last LMS 2P withdrawn in 1962 and includes performance logs, weight diagrams and dimensions and statistical details of each locomotive.

Railway Memories No.33 reveals a whole treasure chest of inspirational railway scenes throughout North West England that are no longer there to be appreciated in real life. Steam era scenes predominate but there are also vintage electric trains for which the North West has a notable place in history. The 260 black and white photos range from steam trains on the long lost branch lines of the Lancashire coalfield and the great termini of Manchester and Liverpool to steam-hauled London-Glasgow expresses fighting their way up to Shap summit in the Cumbrian fells. A few classic diesels are included but no picture is later than the British Rail era.

This new title in the growing Recollections series takes us back through the years using archive pictures of The Great Central Railway, selected to show the line in day-to-day use, we see pre-preservation scenes and preserved era scenes along the route. The run-down of the Great Central route began in 1960, following transfer to the Midland region, with the withdrawal of the daytime Manchester-London expresses. Long stretches were closed altogether in 1966, and the remaining Nottingham-Rugby section in 1969. But also 1969, saw a group of enthusiasts deciding to recreate for future generations the magic and nostalgia of the great British age of steam. From small beginnings, the Great Central Railway is now one of the region's top tourist attractions, providing an unforgettable day out for all the family. Visitors can step back in time and enjoy the charm of steam travel as it once was. Loughborough Central Station is typical of the 1960's. Quorn & Woodhouse Station recreates the 1940's. And Rothley Station captures the Edwardian period. The Great Central Railway now boasts over 20 steam locomotives and an extensive selection of rolling stock, passenger carriages, wagons, first class dining cars and kitchen/buffet vehicles. In fact, being a mainline railway means that the largest, heaviest and most impressive of British steam locomotives can be operated. In addition to the home-based fleet, famous guest locomotives visit the line on a regular basis. Double track is being re-laid from Rothley to Loughborough Central to allow the passing of trains and the re-creation of true main line operation. This latest volume in the growing series is once again aimed squarely at the tourist/general interest visitor as much as it is to the true railway enhusiast young or old!

'All Italy is here' Sunday Times From the bestselling author of Italian Neighbours, An Italian Education and A Season with Verona Longlisted for the Dolman Travel Book Award In 1981 Tim Parks moved from England to Italy and spent the next thirty years alongside hundreds of thousands of Italians on his adopted country's vast, various and ever-changing networks of trains. Through memorable encounters with ordinary Italians - conductors and ticket collectors, priests and prostitutes, scholars and lovers, gypsies and immigrants - Tim Parks captures what makes Italian life distinctive. He explores how trains helped build Italy and how the railways reflect Italians' sense of themselves from Garibaldi to Mussolini to Berlusconi and beyond.

Covering almost every line in the country, this acclaimed series of books juxtaposes photographs of the same railway location separated in time by just a few years, or maybe a century or more. Sometimes the result is dereliction or disappearance, in others a transformation into a modern high-speed railway. In both cases, the contrasts are intriguing and informative. This volume includes: GWR main lines from Brent Knoll and Frome to Wellington and Whiteball; Railways around Taunton; GWR lines to Yeovil, Dulverton, Chard, Axbridge and Mells Road; the Minehead branch, preserved as the West Somerset Railway; the Somerset & Dorset from Burnham and Chilcompton to Templecombe; and, the LSWR main line from Templecombe to Chard Junction.

Great Western Railway Stars, Castles and Kings examines the history and workings of these legendary classes of passenger steam locomotives, the first of which, the North Star, was built in 1906. Richly illustrated with over 200 photographs, the book includes illustrated explanations of how Great Western Railway steam engines work; details of the engines' work on named expresses and in ordinary service; overview of the survivors, heritage organizations and their futures; technical specifications and timelines of each class and finally, GWR and British Rail Motive Power Depot codes and train head codes.

Lancashire and Yorkshire led Britain and the world into the industrial revolution, yet were long cut off by the Pennine chain. The railway age finally brought the two counties together and ensured the continued growth of Manchester as Britain's second city. It was linked to Leeds and Sheffield by a series of heroic railway tunnels, three of which were successively the longest in the world when completed in the 1840s. Often taken for granted, this book portrays them as extraordinary achievements against seemingly insuperable odds that deserve the fullest recognition. These pages look not just at the tunnels and the men who created them but also at how lines built through them connected key stations either side of the Pennines. They step back further in history to show how canals paved the way for the railways and also look forward to the future with its brave talk of HS3 achieving journey times that seem unimaginable. There is a remarkable collection of illustrations ranging from period lithographs through to present-day photographs. The many varied themes in this book include: * The vision of George Stephenson - 'Father of Railways' * Navvies left to fend for themselves in huts thrown together with loose stones and thatch * Drunken riots following pay day * Death and chronic illness at Woodhead tunnel on top of the Pennines * Enginemen coming close to suffocation when working heavy freights through the tunnels * Early travellers who preferred to get off and walk rather than travel through a tunnel behind a 'steam monster' * Branwell Bronte, errant brother of the literary sisters, dismissed for constant carelessness at a Calder Valley station * The magnificent Huddersfield station - a stately home with trains * The Midland Railway with almost eight miles of tunnel between Sheffield and Manchester * Inferno in a tunnel when a derailed tanker train caught fire and temperatures reached 1,500 degrees C. * The superb new Woodhead tunnel with its electric services that closed to passengers after only 16 years

The Erewash Valley line, linking the busy railway junctions at Trent through the once bustling yards of the iconic railway location of Toton and to the main line at Clay Cross, has seen much in the way of change over the last half a century. Infrastructure, traffic types, wagon and locomotive classes have all seen a mixture of rationalisation, overhaul, replacement, withdrawal and investment. This changing scene has provided enthusiasts and photographers with outstanding variety and opportunities to record the changing times, and while the amount of traffic lost can be lamented, the modern-day photographer can still find good variety. With 180 previously unpublished photographs, this book provides a snapshot of diesels working over the route through this period of change, from the corporate British Rail era to the early years of privatisation and up to the present day.

The line from Settle to Carlisle is one of the world's great rail journeys. It carves its way through the magnificent landscape of the Yorkshire Dales - where it becomes the highest main line in England - descending to Cumbria's lush green Eden Valley with its view of the Pennines and Lakeland fells. But the story of the line is even more enthralling. From its earliest history the line fostered controversy: it probably should never have been built, arising from a political dispute between two of the largest and most powerful railway companies in the 1860s. Its construction, through some of the most wild and inhospitable terrain in England, was a Herculean task. Tragic accidents affected those who built, worked and travelled the line. After surviving the Beeching cuts of the 1960s, the line faced almost certain closure in the 1980s, only to be saved by an unexpected last-minute reprieve. This book describes the history behind the inception and creation of the line; the challenges of constructing the 72-mile railway and its seventeen viaducts and fourteen tunnels; threat of closure in the mid-1980s and the campaign to save it, and finally, the line today and its future.