A fascinating but much overlooked era for the modern traction enthusiast is the changeover era from the old British Railways green and maroon to the corporate image Rail Blue of the new British Rail which stretched from the mid 1960s to the very early 1980s. The attention of enthusiasts and rail publications of the era was focussed on the dying of the steam age and much of interest to the generations of rail fans who grew up with modern traction has lain undiscovered since. This book aims to portray the many varied livery styles of the times worn by the locomotive, units and coaching stock of BR. It illustrates every major change of the green to blue period, including many little known and surprising combinations, and aims to answer many questions that have puzzled enthusiasts since.

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 1977, as ever an eventful year, that included:* The Centenary Test Match * Red Rum wins Grand National for third time * Silver Jubilee of HM The Queen * Smaller GBP1 note released * Concorde New York service begins * London Underground Heathrow extension opensFor 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.

This, the first of two volumes covering the railways of Cornwall, follows the railway through the changing landscapes of the county. It takes the reader from the rich farmland west of St Germans, through the unique Glynn Valley down to Bodmin Road and the freightabundant area of Lostwithiel and Par before reaching clay country on the way to the final destination of St Austell. In addition, also explored are the branch lines, which range from the rural line to Looe, the splendour of the River Fowey on the clay line to Carne Point and the varied and ever-popular Newquay branch. Lavishly illustrated with 180 full-colour photographs, many set in glorious countryside, this book shows a variety of locomotives. Service trains dominate the images, though there are many charter trains featured, some with exotic traction for the far south west. Taken from the short days of winter with piercing low sunlight, to the long days of high summer when the upside of the Cornish mainline is lit, allowing a different perspective, the photographs capture not just the trains, but the beautiful landscapes, rivers and coastline of the Duchy.

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. The Routes 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.

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'

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.

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.'

Which was the first railway in Great Britain? Certainly not the one engineered by George Stephenson - one of the first was laid down at Wollaton, near Nottingham, open by 1610, long before Stephenson's birth in 1781. In this comprehensive history, Colin Maggs, one of the country's foremost railway historians, tells the story of over 400 years of British railway history. He covers early horse and gravity-worked lines to those powered by steam, electricity and diesel. The development of locomotives, rolling stock, signalling and major accidents - often marking major changes in how the network was run - are all described in detail. Pivotal moments including the Amalgamation of 1923 when most railway companies became part of the GWR, LMSR or LNER, nationalisation and privatisation are set in their historical context. Colin Maggs also ventures his views on where Britain's railways will go in the future, including HS2 and beyond. Great Britain's Railways is illustrated with more than 200 photographs of rolling stock, railway architecture and period ephemera.

Following on from the author's previous successful books on Southern coaches, this volume looks at an additional selection of classes of coaches that operated on the Southern Railway and the Southern Region of BR that have not so far been covered. The book concentrates on pre-Grouping and BR Mark 1 types, and each is examined in detail in separate chapters. The detailed text is supplemented with scale drawings, photographs, set/coach numbering and some details of the services they worked upon and areas in which they could be found. This volume is aimed primarily at modellers and the drawings reproduced at 4mm scale.

This book both celebrates and commemorates the last four dramatic years of steam, recording both working locomotives, shed scenes and a selected number of routes, many of which closed during the period of examination, by way of illustrating the disappearing steam age railway. The views are nostalgic, poignant and cannot be repeated.

The 1970s was a unique period for Britain's railways. Steam had not long been replaced by diesel traction, the West Coast Main Line electrification was well underway with new and more powerful locomotives, and the colourful 'rail blue' livery projected an image of a new and altogether cleaner railway - there was plenty to be optimistic about. It was also a good time for the railway photographer - much of the railway infrastructure and complex track layouts of the steam era remained intact, freight traffic was plentiful and invariably passed through marshalling yards for sorting, and there were plenty of locomotive classes of various shapes and sizes, often regionally based, to pique the interest. As well as this, though, the seeds were being sown for an altogether different railway - one where locomotive standardisation was being pursued as a means of lowering fleet maintenance costs, where the freight focus was a migration to block trains travelling from supplier directly to customer, avoiding the inevitable delay and expense of the marshalling yards, and one where track layouts were being simplified and streamlined to increase speed and reduce permanent way maintenance. The photographs in this book capture a flavour of the railways during this fascinating transition period.

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 Western Region of British Railways has always held a special appeal for railway modellers. Formed in 1948, the WR carried on the traditions of The Great Western Railway more or less unchallenged until the regions were abolished in the 1990s. Modelling the Western Region provides all the advice you need to model your own railway layout based on this fascinating region and era. This book considers the historical background of the Western Region; it reviews available ready-to-run and kit-built steam and diesel motive power; explains Western Region signalling practice; discusses rolling stock typically used on the Western Region and, finally, provides practical suggestions for branch and main line layouts.