Continuing his series of regional books reviewing the industrial railways of England, Wales and Scotland, author Gordon Edgar looks at the railways of what is today Northumbria, County Durham and Teesside, covering a period of the last six decades, with an emphasis upon the former National Coal Board railways. This is the eighth volume in the series, covering an area once proudly boasting widespread coal mining, steelmaking and shipbuilding activities, as well as numerous other traditional industries large and small, most now sadly history. The industrial railway diversity that one could have witnessed in this region up until the latter part of the twentieth century was arguably unequalled in Britain. The National Coal Board's Lambton, Hetton, Bowes, Derwenthaugh, Ashington and Backworth railway systems, and the steel and ironworks complexes at Consett, Lackenby and Skinningrove, and Doxford's shipyard in Sunderland are just some of the locations familiar to many industrial railway enthusiasts, all of which are covered. Far-reaching changes in this region over the last half-century sadly leave just three bona-fide industrial railway locations featured in this book surviving today. Primarily utilising previously unpublished photographs, the author offers a fascinating insight into the industrial railways and locomotives of this region, endeavouring to convey the raison d'etre of such railways held in great affection by many.

The second Silver Link Silk Edition takes us to the major northern railway city of York. David Mather takes us on a journey through time from the early steam age to the high speed trains of today. Areas covered include: Steam Days After the Age of Steam Railway Infrastructure - heritage or burden? Maintaining the Permanent Way Traction The 'Golden Age' of Diesels The Early Diesel Freight Locomotives The Purpose Built Heavy Freight Diesel Locomotives Electrics to Scotland Yet Steam Lives On ...York on Show at the National Railway Museum Steam Still Special 2013, the year of the A4s Reunion for 'Mallard 75'

Continues from "Engine Sheds in Camera" (2005), which presented a record of engine sheds and motive power depots in Britain in the 1950s and '60s. This work returns to the same subject and includes a selection of black and white photographs, along with shed plans and extracts from contemporary logs that list engines on shed.

Based on the 'Disused Stations' website, this book looks at more than 35 closed termini of North West England from Bacup to Wigan, via Chester, Liverpool, Manchester, St Helens and Southport.

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.

An international seaport and an industrial powerhouse, Duluth was a natural for streetcar service, but making it successful was a challenge. The city, some twenty-five miles long yet only three miles wide in most places, has the tallest and steepest hills in Minnesota and a harbor separating it from its sister city, Superior, Wisconsin. "Twin Ports by Trolley" charts the history of the streetcar system that met the unique difficulties posed by Duluth, from the Interstate Bridge that crossed the harbor to the Incline Railway that carried travelers more than five hundred feet above Lake Superior.

Following the rails as horse-drawn cars gave way to electric trolleys, Aaron Isaacs takes us into the workings of the Duluth-Superior streetcars: politics and corporate maneuvers, engineering and maintenance, scheduling and setting routes, running and riding the trolleys. Along the way we meet motormen and conductors (including twenty-one women who stepped in during World War I) and learn what it's like to run a streetcar through obstacles ranging from heavy snowstorms to Halloween pranks to the heroism of evacuating a burning neighborhood. Then we ride the rails in a typical car, with a floor of varnished wood and seats of cushioned rattan, and a not-so-typical luxury car, outfitted to the nines with velvet curtains and a bar for lucrative "streetcar parties." We experience the ride, whether buying a token or braving the smokers on the rear platform when boarding, and we learn the routes as the streetcars deliver, along with passengers, mail pouches and newspapers, dogs, and, in the case of the Park Point funeral car, corpses and mourners. Isaacs traces traffic patterns and geographic features for each line and describes imaginary trips on three of the most interesting routes.

The book is, finally, a tour of the Twin Ports over time, with a wealth of maps and photographs illustrating routes and landmarks and picturing the people who made the rails hum. Interviews and newspaper features, "day-after reports" and management memos, stories told by employees and onlookers--all contribute to a rich evocation of a fascinating historical era. The streetcars are long gone from Duluth and Superior, but remnants survive if one knows where to look--and this street-level exploration points the way.

The year started with the resignation of Sir Anthony Eden as Prime Minister following the Suez crisis of the previous year. Harold Macmillan, who prior to the nationalisation of the railways in 1948 had been a director of the Great Western Railway, became Prime Minister on 11 January. On the railways Simeon T. Webb, Casey Jones' fireman on the fateful 'Cannonball Express' in April 1900 passed away in Memphis at the age of 83. Nearer to home, the new numbering system was introduced whereby diesel locomotives carried a 'D' prefix and electrics an 'E' prefix, and 3rd Class was phased out, leaving just 1st and 2nd.

As the British Rail years drew to a close and the new era of privatisation dawned, John Hillmer set out to record photographically the entire railway scene in Wales, and this remarkable and wide-ranging book is the result. Every Welsh Station that was open at the end of 1995 - the last year in which BR operated a fully nationalised and integrated system - is chronicled and pictured, and signal boxes, sidings, yards, locomotive depots, stabling and re-fuelling points are also covered, together with summaries of passenger services and freight flows, and locomotive classes and DMU types then in use.

By the late 1920s the existing trams operated by both the Metropolitan Electric Tramways and the London United Tramways were increasingly aged. Although the long-term future of the tramways was open to doubt, the two operators co-operated in the development of one of the most important types of tram ever built in Britain - the Feltham'. Conceived following detailed research and the construction of a number of prototype cars - facets covered in the book - the production Felthams' all entered service by the early 1930s. However, the LPTB's plans for converting tram routes to trolleybus operation soon saw these modern cars transferred from north of the River Thames to south of the river. Here the production cars mostly survived until the final conversion programme; this was not the end of the story, however, as the majority were sold for further service to Leeds, where the last survivors were to see the final closure of the West Riding system in November 1959. The book explores the story of the Felthams' in London, Leeds and Sunderland where the unique centre-entrance car - MET No 331 - was to operate following withdrawal in the metropolis.

The aim of this series is to appeal to readers of all ages, perhaps for different reasons...In this volume: We travel back to the year 1970 For the younger reader there are wonderful pictures of trains, real trains. There will, for example, be tank engines, steam engines, electric trains and multiple units and many more varieties besides! Some will be recognised from train sets, model railways and books, while others will be seen for the first time. For the older reader the books are designed to build into a collection placing the railway in the context of key events thus providing an historical perspective of travel in times past. For those old enough to remember the years depicted, the series will, we hope, provide reminders for many of school days, time perhaps spent train-spotting, shed bashing and generally gricing! The books also make ideal theme gifts for the year of birth, marriage, retirement, starting work and other such events in life.

In the 1960s, as steam locomotives were being hurriedly removed from Britain's railways, a band of enthusiasts formed to save what they could. In the process, they laid the tracks for the thriving network that is the British heritage railway scene today. To showcase this living industrial museum, photographer Geoff Swaine has selected over 200 photographs of Britain's heritage railways, including the Bluebell Railway to Llangollen, the Severn Valley, North York Moors, Great Western and Great Central railways, and many more. Steam Today is an evocative tribute to the engines and the people that keep our rail history in motion. Geoff Swaine embarked upon a career as a leading heritage photographer and photographic archivist after retiring from his work in architecture. He has written a number of books and articles on railways.

British Rail Standard Pacifics features steam locomotives in the Britannia,Duke of Gloucester, and Clan classes. - There are photographs of every Britannia class locomotive, the Duke of Gloucester and all the Clan class engines. - A book of this nature has not been seen hitherto. - There is a considerable number of evocative colour pictures as well as an abundance of pin-sharp black and white images. - The total number of pictures is around 300. - The captions are well researched and informative. - The Britannia class locomotives are seen in various locations up and down the country: in London, the West Country, East Anglia, North West, Yorkshire and many other areas. The Clan Class are mainly seen operating in Scotland but a few are seen south of the Border. - Many engines are depicted undertaking a variety of duties as well as being captured on shed. Several are seen on works and on the scrap line. - The book will be of interest to both rail enthusiasts and social historians alike.

From the north of Scotland, down the east coast into England to Kent, along the South coast to Penzance, up the north coasts of Cornwall and Devon, along the Bristol Channel, west into Wales to Fishguard, north to Aberystwyth and along the Welsh coast to Holyhead, east along the North Wales coast, round the Wirral, up to Southport, Blackpool and then north into the west of Scotland to Mallaig and to The Kyle of Lochalsh at the end. Plus the coastal termini in Northern Ireland.

Explore Ontario’s rich railway heritage — from stations and hotels to train rides, bridges, water towers, and roundhouses. Rails Across Ontario will take the reader back to a time when the railway ruled the economy and the landscape. Read about historic stations, railway museums, heritage train rides, and historic bridges. Follow old rail lines along Ontario’s most popular rail trails. Find out where steam engines still puff across farm fields and where historic train coaches lead deep into the wilds of Ontario’s scenic north country. Discover long forgotten but once vital railway structures, such as roundhouses, coal docks, and water towers. Learn about regular VIA Rail routes that follow some of the province’s oldest rail lines and pass some of its most historic stations, including one that has operated continuously since 1857.

Delves deep into the underbelly of the NYC subway system to reveal the tunnels and stations that might have been.
Robert A. Van Wyck, mayor of the greater city of New York, broke ground for the first subway line by City Hall on March 24, 1900. It took four years, six months, and twenty-three days to build the line from City Hall to West 145th Street in Harlem. Things rarely went that quickly ever again. TheRoutes Not Taken explores the often dramatic stories behind the unbuilt or unfinished subway lines, shedding light on a significant part of New York City's history that has been almost completely ignored until now.
Home to one of the world's largest subway systems, New York City made constant efforts to expand its underground labyrinth, efforts that were often met with unexpected obstacles: financial shortfalls, clashing agendas of mayors and borough presidents, battles with local community groups, and much more. After discovering a copy of the 1929 subway expansion map, author Joseph Raskin began his own investigation into the city's underbelly. Using research from libraries, historical societies, and transit agencies throughout the New York metropolitan area, Raskin provides a fascinating history of the Big Apple's unfinished business that until now has been only tantalizing stories retold by public-transit experts.
The Routes Not Taken sheds light on the tunnels and stations that were completed for lines that were never fulfilled: the efforts to expand the Hudson tubes into a fullfledged subway; the Flushing line, and why it never made it past Flushing; a platform underneath Brooklyn's Nevins Street station that has remained unused for more than a century; and the 2nd Avenue line long the symbol of dashed dreams deferred countless times since the original plans were presented in 1929. Raskin also reveals the figures and personalities involved, including why Fiorello LaGuardia could not grasp the importance of subway lines and why Robert Moses found them to be old and boring. By focusing on the unbuilt lines, Raskin illustrates how the existing subway system is actually a Herculean feat of countless political compromises.
Filled with illustrations of the extravagant expansion plans, The Routes Not Taken provides an enduring contribution to the transportation history of New York City.