England has a long and involved relationship with the sea. It has provided a final line of defence against invasion, the route over which the country's global trade has travelled, the source of a bountiful harvest of fish and seafood that has sustained the population, the essential links in the empire that saw Britain emerge as the world's first 'Great Power', and, more recently, it has fostered the leisure industry. For many, the sea was to provide their final view of their homeland as emigration took them to far-flung corners of the world, while for others, perhaps fleeing religious or political persecution, the sea offered them a route to safety. For almost a century the photographers from the Aerofilms company recorded Britain from the air. Alongside the photographs taken of the great castles and abbeys of the country, the views also recorded industrial and commercial activity - including the docks and ports that were an essential part in maintaining Britain's place in the world. In this book, Peter Waller has delved through the collection of Aerofilms photographs held by Historic England to explore the country's maritime heritage. Selecting 150 images, the author looks at how the docks and ports have evolved since the years immediately after World War I, how traditional patterns of trade have changed, how the Royal Navy has shrunk and how the leisure industry has come to dominate.

The final volume in the Regional Tramways' series focuses on the history of tram operation in the London area. Starting the story with the pioneering horse tramways operated by George Francis Train in the 1860s, the book narrates how the various horse, steam, cable and electric tramways evolved in the period leading up to the creation of the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933\. The primary focus of the book is the period immediately after World War 2 when, following the retention of the tramways for longer than anticipated, the process of conversion - codenamed Operation Tramaway' - saw almost 1,000 trams eliminated from the streets of London in less than two years. Also covered in the book are the two second-generation tramways - the Docklands Light Railway and Croydon Tramlink - which now serve parts of the Greater London area. The book concludes with an overview of those London trams that survive into preservation.

For almost a century, from its inception in the years immediately after World War I, the Aerofilms company recorded the changing face of England from the air. At the start of the era, the railway was still the predominant form of transport, with a network of main, secondary and branch lines that stretched to virtually every corner of the realm. As the 20th century progressed, however, this dominance declined as the private motorcar and the lorry increasingly became the preferred mode of transport. The early railway builders - such as the London & Birmingham - had invested much in creating impressive stations for this new and revolutionary form of transport and, during the 19th century, many of the country's leading architects undertook commissions on behalf of the burgeoning railway industry. After World War II, however, many of these buildings were were swept away. The Aerofilms collection provides a unique vantage point to explore the country's railway heritage. It is only from the air that it is possible to appreciate fully how much the railway came to dominate the landscape; even in relatively small country towns, the railway station with its platforms and goods yard was significant. Add to this the construction of tunnels and viaducts, and the railway can be said to have shaped much of the landscape of modern England. Drawing upon some 150 images from the collection, Peter Waller explores various aspects of England's unique railway heritage: from the major stations in cities like Birmingham to the humble goods yard and signal box.

This is one of four volumes covering the history of British Trolleybus systems. This book looks at the networks in Yorkshire. Bradford and Leeds were the pioneering systems in the country and, more than six decades later, it was Bradford that was to the final bastion of this once important form of transport. The author is an authority on tram and trolleybus systems, with a series of books already published on the history of British and Irish tram networks. This volume covers the history and background surrounding the networks looking at the reasons why they were opened and why they eventually closed down.

Although there had been experiments with the use of a new form of transport - the trackless tram' (better known as the trolleybus) - during the first decade of the 20th century, it was in June 1911 that Bradford and Leeds became the country's pioneering operators of trolleybuses. There had been earlier experimental users - in places like Hove and London - and as the tide turned against the tram in many towns and cities, the trolleybus became a popular alternative with the trolleybus comping to dominate the provision of local public transport in places like Derby and Ipswich. This volume - one of four that examines the history of all trolleybus operators in the British Isles - focuses on the systems that operated in Wales, the Midlands and East Anglia.

Although there had been experiments with the use of a new form of transport - the trackless tram' (better known as the trolleybus) - during the first decade of the 20th century, it was in June 1911 that Bradford and Leeds became the country's pioneering operators of trolleybuses. Some of the earliest operators were in Lancashire, northern England and Scotland; indeed Scotland can lay claim to having both the first system in Britain to close - Dundee in 1914 - and the last to open - Glasgow in 1949. This volume - one of four that examines the history of all trolleybus operators in the British Isles - focuses on Lancashire, Northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.